Over at The Christian Post, General Jerry Ralph Curry gives an astonishingly bad argument against gay marriage.

Should SCOTUS actually declare homosexuality a civil right, it logically follows that polygamy, pedophilia and bestiality would one day also be declared a civil right by the Court. In spite of society’s thirst for more modernism, inclusiveness and diversity, who would want to live in the midst of such moral depravity? . . . (emphasis mine)

Umm, in a word, “No.“

With all due respect to General Curry, he needs to take (or retake) an introductory course in logic. If homosexuality is a civil right, it does NOT logically follow that “polygamy, pedophilia, and bestiality would one day also be declared a civil right by the Court.” This can be clearly seen by expressing the logical structure of the argument and observing that the premises do not entail the conclusion.

In fact, as it stands, he hasn’t even given an inductively strong argument, i.e., an argument in which the premises make the conclusion highly probable. At least part of the basis for legalizing homosexuality is the freedom of consenting adults to engage in sexual activity with other adults in the privacy of their own bedrooms. General Curry seems oblivious to the fact that this basis is incompatible with declaring that pedophilia is a civil right. In the General’s defense, this philosophical basis does seem to support the legalization of polygamy between consenting adults. But to try to saddle the proponent of same sex marriage with an acceptance of pedophilia is completely unjustified.

(HT: Jerry Coyne)