Christianism Watch

Tim Graham, at NRO, says the following:

On the occasion of the final episode of NBC's Will & Grace, Katie Couric insisted, "on a serious note," that it's one of her daughter's favorite shows, and it's so important to teach tolerance of "people who are different" at a "very early age." Anyone who expected a fair and balanced anchorwoman at CBS on the hot-button social issues, shred your illusions now.

Is Graham saying that he favors active intolerance of people who are different? I guess we should be grateful for gaffes like Graham's. They help reveal that the Christianist right is not actually that interested in social policy as such, in issues such as whether marriage rights for gay couples will hurt or help society, or whether discrimination laws make sense. They're not even interested in judging whether Will and Grace is a decent show (for the record, I can't stand it.) They're interested merely in sustaining stigma against people different from them. That's the real impulse behind the movement to ban legal protections for gay relationships: such legal rights may defuse the remaining stigma now attached to being gay. And it's stigmatization that these people are so adamant about.