2:49 pm - 08/21/2012
Add Hugh Hefner to the list of celebrities and other high-profile figures speaking out in favor of same-sex marriage.
The 86-year-old Playboy founder calls the struggle for marriage equality "a fight for all of our rights" in an editorial featured in the September issue of his magazine, according to Politico.
“Today, in every instance of sexual rights falling under attack, you’ll find legislation forced into place by people who practice discrimination disguised as religious freedom," Hefner writes. "Their goal is to dehumanize everyone’s sexuality and reduce us to using sex for the sole purpose of perpetuating our species. To that end, they will criminalize your entire sex life."
After noting that conservatives "assault the right of gays, whether by denying them to right to marry or, as in Kansas, by attempting to empower landlords, business owners and employers to discriminate against gays on religious grounds,” Hefner adds, "This is a religious nation, but it is also a secular one. …No one should have to subjugate their religious freedom, and no one should have their personal freedoms infringed. This is America and we must protect the rights of all Americans.”
This isn't the first time Hefner has spoken out in favor of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights. The 2009 documentary "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel" reportedly details the entrepreneur's then-controversial 1955 decision to publish "The Crooked Man," a short science-fiction story by Charles Beaumont.
After a number of readers responded angrily to the Beaumont's story, which reportedly depicts a society in which homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuals are persecuted, Hefner wrote, "If it was wrong to persecute heterosexuals in a homosexual society, then the reverse was wrong too," according to The Advocate.
Upon the release of the 2009 documentary, Hefner told the Daily Beast: "The idea that the concept of marriage will be sullied by same-sex marriage is ridiculous. Heterosexuals haven't been doing that well at it on their own."
Source
Hugh Hefner, Playboy Founder, Calls Gay Marriage Struggle 'A Fight For All Our Rights'
Add Hugh Hefner to the list of celebrities and other high-profile figures speaking out in favor of same-sex marriage.
The 86-year-old Playboy founder calls the struggle for marriage equality "a fight for all of our rights" in an editorial featured in the September issue of his magazine, according to Politico.
“Today, in every instance of sexual rights falling under attack, you’ll find legislation forced into place by people who practice discrimination disguised as religious freedom," Hefner writes. "Their goal is to dehumanize everyone’s sexuality and reduce us to using sex for the sole purpose of perpetuating our species. To that end, they will criminalize your entire sex life."
After noting that conservatives "assault the right of gays, whether by denying them to right to marry or, as in Kansas, by attempting to empower landlords, business owners and employers to discriminate against gays on religious grounds,” Hefner adds, "This is a religious nation, but it is also a secular one. …No one should have to subjugate their religious freedom, and no one should have their personal freedoms infringed. This is America and we must protect the rights of all Americans.”
This isn't the first time Hefner has spoken out in favor of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights. The 2009 documentary "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel" reportedly details the entrepreneur's then-controversial 1955 decision to publish "The Crooked Man," a short science-fiction story by Charles Beaumont.
After a number of readers responded angrily to the Beaumont's story, which reportedly depicts a society in which homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuals are persecuted, Hefner wrote, "If it was wrong to persecute heterosexuals in a homosexual society, then the reverse was wrong too," according to The Advocate.
Upon the release of the 2009 documentary, Hefner told the Daily Beast: "The idea that the concept of marriage will be sullied by same-sex marriage is ridiculous. Heterosexuals haven't been doing that well at it on their own."
Source
the problem with that being it's really not his rights that are being effected. he is applauded for his sexual behavior by most because he is a straight white male and as far as i know no one is infringing on his right to be sex god.
People who are vocally anti-gay (I mean not just the average person who feels uncomfortable with the idea, but the politicians and groups lobbying against it) are more often than not the same people who also try to limit the distribution of and the censoring of porn, which is obviously relevant to his interests, or try to curb (heterosexual) unmarried sex with different political measures.
I agree with him, because I'm also a straight person who feels very deeply about gay rights. True, it doesn't have any bearing on who I can or cannot openly date or marry, but the implication of the religious right attaining or deluding themselves into having the right to play sex-police is a principle that concerns me.
Edit: Not to make it sound like I only support LGBTQ rights because I'm worried about my own (straight, cisgender) ass lololol, it's just one of the reasons why I'm an ally to their cause, and why I agree with his argument that it concerns all of us in a round-about way with its status as civil rights issue.
Edited at 2012-08-21 08:24 pm (UTC)
In addition, straight allies are the way that laws are changing as, statistically, minorities of any sort aren't able to make the changes happen 100% on their own without the numbers, which require allies' assistance. By attempting to take away some of the power of allies, it segregates them, which is the exact opposite of what the entire point is. It's like discussions over whether you have to be "Black enough" or whether someone is "trans enough," detrimental and judgmental all around.
First they came for the socialists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.
So no, he's not equating them as the same thing or saying that he's being oppressed or anything, just that if conservatives don't stop here, his deviant lifestyle is probably next on their list.
sry, edited 'cause my html tag didn't work and it got visually confusing
Edited at 2012-08-21 10:53 pm (UTC)