Debra J Saunders thinks that emotion has no place in the discussion of California's proposition to ban Gay Marriage which is now under review by the Federal Courts.

She objects strongly to witnesses who have testified that they dropped their opposition to gay marriage when they found that one of their children was gay and wanted to get married.

She probably objected even more strongly to the emotional testimony by gay people who grew up with pervasive discrimination and hatred. Wonks Anonymous expects that she did not like the testimony of the young man whose parents sent him off to be "cured" of his homosexuality when he was 13 and who seriously considered suicide as a result of that cure.

She did not mention these witnesses. Wonks Anonymous expects that she passed them by because their blatant displays of emotion were so out of place in a court of law where reason ought to rule. She thinks that the discussion should be all about the rights of the majority to interfere in the lives of minorities and to decide questions of private religious practice without restrictions.

That and thousands of years of Western Tradition.

Now Wonks Anonymous thinks that Ms. Saunders has other reasons for discomfort, aside from the fact that her side is clearly losing the emotional discussion. Wonks Anonymous quotes:

Toward that end Thursday, anti-8 attorney David Boies succeeded in marginalizing Prop. 8 supporter Hak-Shing William Tam by prompting Tam to admit that he believes homosexuals are 12 time more likely than heterosexuals to molest children. Talking to the press later, the Yes on 8 folks tried to distance themselves from Tam, but he was one of the measure's official proponents.

Thing is: Tam does not speak for the 7 million Californians who voted for Prop. 8.

Mr. Tam is so unrepresentative of the supporters of Prop. 8 that he wrote the official pro argument for the ballot and toured the state campaigning for the measure with the support of the pro 8 campaign.

Because there are many people like Debra J Saunders who support Prop 8 who are not at all like Tam or the folk who just pushed the hang homosexuals laws in Uganda. They are concerned with promoting a stable, rational society where traditions are respected, taxes are low and economic freedom is unrestricted by the government.

People like Tam and the street preachers who tell us that gays will burn in hell are useful allies in the battle to preserve tradition and economic order but Debra and her friends would like us to know that these guys make them uncomfortable too.

They believe in tolerance and enlightenment and all of that, in the privacy of the home naturally. Some of their best friends are gay. They throw the coolest parties and frankly Debra J wonders why she is not getting any more invites. And she thinks that it is downright impolite to dredge up all those emotional stories of ordinary people whose lives have been ruined by the vicious homophobia that her allies cultivate.

What purpose can this possibly serve, aside from confronting "decent" people with the consequences of their cowardly and self serving actions?