By Mark Rhoads -
What does the word "equality" mean to the Left and Right of the American political spectrum? A Boston federal appeals court has declared the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act as "unconstitutional" because "heterosexual" and "homosexual" marriages are not treated the same. Idiotic? Yes. For most of American history the idea of a "homosexual marriage" did not exist and even the idea is a creature of the last 12 years or so.
Two high-ranking female Army officers are suing the Army and claiming their careers were harmed because women are not able to work in any combat position in the Army. To the American Left, the word "equality" apparently means identical interchangeablility of any role regardless of cirumstances and common sense. To most conservatives, the idea of "equality" often means all people are equal in the eyes of God and are entitled to equal protection of laws but allowing for physical or common-sense differences in cicumstances. Not all distinctions between men and women are necessarily invidious distinctions and some laws and regulatons were designed to benefit women against men but those disappear under a false idea of what equality means. What is your idea of what the word "equality" means?
