It is true that popular opinion is not “very, very much in favor of gay rights.” But it is not true to say that the public is opposed to gay rights just because of referenda on the question of gay marriage.

In fact, while the voters narrowly passed Proposition 8 banning gay marriage, as a California resident I can safely say that our civil union provisions giving legal rights to committed homosexual relationships are widely accepted and utterly uncontroversial these days. A recent Washington Post/ABC poll even showed that a majority of Americans across the country (57%) support civil unions — despite the fact that only 42% support gay marriage.

Seriously, if I posted “shorter Barbera: The left and right have to come together so they can form a unified front to allow human beings to be trated as property”, surely that wouldn’t be a fair assessment of your viewpoint.

The right following a cultural campaign equivalent to “Just say no” looks ridiculous. The left standing on the ground of choice ignores the fact that at some point – which will never be known – the fetus is a baby.

What we are left with then is to either:
1. fully support a woman who has conceived, but mandate that she carries it to term.
2. allow her to terminate if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.

The left and the right have to come together in some meaningful and compassionate way. The left accepting that there are real life consequences to pregnancy. The right taking a compassionate stance to the mother instead of being seen to continually attack women’s rights.

The left’s arguments will melt away as soon as the right focuses on women’s health and natal care, instead of taking what is perceived to be playing cultural war games.

For me this is an issue of life and of rights – and as you say, violence and sentience etc. This is a moral issue to me that is far more important than sexual ones, which is one reason you see me pushing for marriage equality. I do think monogamy is important, but it is nowhere near as important as the question of abortion; I do think that a sexually disciplined society is best, for men and women and children alike, but that is not the motivation behind my beliefs on the question of abortion.

On the abortion issue: why are Americans so stuck on controlling sex as the motivation for being against abortion? In this whole discussion I don’t see the non-violence argument. After a certain point the fetus has brain waves and with that starts to have personhood and therefore rights.. when it is just tissue it doesn’t have rights, but when it can move and react it’s another reality. In fact the law in many European countries forbids aborting the fetus AFTER 10 or 12 weeks because it is developed enough to be considered a baby

Not just in religions but in most philosophical traditions and ethical systems and even at the level of pure intuition, killing sentient beings is a bad thing, to be avoided unless absolutely necessary (self defense, saving a life). The more it is sentient the more it has to be considered