Taking the measure of the culture wars

Many conservatives think advocating for unborn life is a continuation of the civil rights movement. Many liberals believe they’re carrying on the legacy of the civil rights movement in the struggle for LGBT equality. Of course, conservatives tended to oppose or sit out the actual civil rights movement. Some admit that their fervor for the right-to-life movement is a way of making up time, of compensating for their earlier error.

These two issues have been the hot-button issues of the culture wars for several decades now. It seems to me that we are now getting a sense of how those wars are playing out. Gays and lesbians are gaining acceptance in society. Abortion, on the other hand, continues to be a contentious issue, and the numbers of people on each side of the debate don’t change much over time.

But maybe that’s the way it should be: advancement on the one issue, stalemate on the other. As King said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Sexual orientation and gender identity have less to do with personal morality and more to do with social justice. To the degree LGBT people are gaining equal rights, they are getting their due, however slowly.