In the same-sex marriage battle, the left’s heroes have consistently been portrayed as committed gay couples whose only desire is to be accorded the same legal status and recognition for their families that straights have enjoyed for centuries but are denied homosexuals. Although characterized as victims of a religio-conservative conspiracy to oppress, these gay superheroes with super powers that allow them to be just like heterosexual couples, have managed to outwit and out-organize marriage advocates at every turn with a well-thought out, brilliantly-executed game plan that culminated in the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell.   

The left’s campaign for marriage equality has been feverishly and systematically mainstreamed into the culture through the media, the educational system, and Hollywood which, over the years, have banded together and formed a rapid-response-defensive-bloc that pushes back against any deviation from the evolved, pro-gay orthodoxy. 

The goal of radical activist groups like GLSEN (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network) has been to turn tolerance into full-blown acceptance and to normalize homosexuality by equating it with heterosexuality and obliterating from the culture any sense of heterosexism -- the observation that heterosexuality is the norm, which it overwhelmingly is given that 98% of the population is straight. With sleight of hand, extremists in the gay rights and marriage equality movements have successfully deconstructed the ironclad, scientifically-based genders of male and female and recast them as malleable social constructs. (It seems that science is a fairweather friend to the left and of no use in the gender wars, but incontrovertible for global warming.) They have cleansed our vocabulary of verboten words and punish anyone who uses them or even thinks about them. Any action taken against anyone who is gay is presumptively hate-based.     

On the other side of the political divide, conservative heroes in the same-sex marriage battle are the pastor threatened with jail; the videographer who is fined; the church or synagogue that has its tax-exempt status revoked; the photographer who is forced to take pictures; the florist who is driven out of business; the CEO who is dismissed from his job; the baker who is silenced by a gag order; and the marriage license bureaucrat who must decide between her livelihood and her conscience. 

The enemies in this conflict are legion:  the overweening state that imposes the fine, threatens the jail time, forces the baking, and denies the speech; the justices who substitute their hubris for the will of the people; the activists who protest, bully and boycott the pizzerias, smear anyone who dissents, and defame adversaries as haters and bigots; and the journalists who glowingly write about the courage of gay marriage advocates versus the zealotry of ignorant believers who want to impose their outmoded dogma on everyone else.    

But it’s not enough to have heroes and enemies. We must be willing to lose our jobs, go to jail, pay the fines, bring the lawsuits, protest in the streets, and get louder and louder until we are heard.  Like the left, we must make ourselves a constant irritant until we get our way. Every time someone’s tax-exempt status is revoked, we must respond.  Every time someone’s voice is silenced, we must speak out. Every time someone’s compliance is compelled or resistance is punished -- no matter how painful or inconvenient --we must be willing to make the personal sacrifices and fight back.  Conservative pundits, talk radio hosts, and authors talk; it is up to us to take serious action.

And, we have to move swiftly for the barbarians are already at the gates and they are clamoring for more. Justice Kennedy’s emotional opinion in Obergefell -- which recognizes a fundamental right to marry in order to confer dignity on the individuals and legitimacy to their relationships -- is just the opening salvo in the marriage wars.

This isn’t unfounded hysteria.  There is no imaginary slippery slope. The floodgates have opened and the legal push to recognize polyamorous relationships and legalize polygamy is underway. And, quite frankly, given the limp-wristed reasoning of Kennedy in Obergefell, marriage will have to be extended to these other relationships because they all can persuasively argue -- just as the petitioners did in Obergefell -- that their relationships are fulfilling, deserve the dignity that comes with marriage, and their families should be accorded the same legitimacy that heterosexual and homosexual couples enjoy.

While many are convinced we are throwing off the shackles of oppression and evolving by accepting “anything goes” relationships and unstructured societies, it is hard to see much good coming out of this brave new world. What is clear, is that mankind is destined to repeat the same mistakes. Although intellectually we know we are supposed to learn from history, we neglect to do so time and time again. We continually delude ourselves into thinking we know better now. This time we will get it right. Today’s ideas are better than yesterday’s. We have evolved.   

Sadly, the Obegefell decision has served to do one thing: pit citizen against citizen and family member against family member. As neighbor tussles with neighbor over colliding rights, and the belly of society is eviscerated by militants with a cause, we will have to face the reality that we are in a Cold Civil War for the vanishing soul of America.

Those fighting on the side of freedom of conscience, will be indentured servants to a morality they do not embrace. They will be pilloried in the public square and forced to wear a rainbow-colored H; they will lose jobs, be fined or incarcerated, re-educated, and have their businesses closed if they don’t conform to the new ways. This isn’t fearmongering. With the exception of wearing a rainbow-colored H, it’s already happened.

In the minds of the evolved, this is a fitting punishment for haters and bigots. But really, it’s just an excuse for those who claim to have been oppressed, to wear the uniform and carry the stick of the oppressor.

As your neighbors celebrate with rainbow-colored flags and the White House decks itself out in ROYGBIV, and Facebook friends rainbowize their profile pictures, remember: there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, no matter how hard we search, no matter how much we convince ourselves that it exists.    

We all have gay friends and family members or, at the very least, know people who are gay. We interact with them respectfully and lovingly and generally don’t care what they do as long as it doesn’t affect our lives.  But what the fanatics have accomplished, has affected our lives -- it has drastically altered our work and school environments and has redefined the structure of our families and society. Less than 2% of the population -- now with the imprimatur of the Supreme Court -- dictates to the people of this country what they can say and believe, how they can conduct their business, and what they are allowed to practice and preach.  

And while the general population has become more tolerant so gay people can openly participate in society, freely live in our neighborhoods, work in our businesses and attend our houses of worship without discrimination, Obergefell’s legacy is that supporters for gay marriage have grown so intolerant that their post-Obergefell fervor verges on vengeance.

Even the staunchest supporter of same-sex marriage has to be troubled by this.

There will be blowback behind this Rainbow Curtain. States will fight back. People will pay the fines and go to jail rather than yield to the heavy hand of the Ruling Party. Civil disobedience will be the tool of refuseniks -- who favor popular sovereignty over the freedom-crushing rainbow fist of tyranny.  It will be a Cold War in that it is ideological and long; and a Civil War in that it pits brother against brother. 

And the people who brought this on? Five justices who have life tenure guaranteed by the very Constitution they refuse to abide by and, their activist brethren, who are protected against discrimination by the very Constitution they use to wield their own brand of discrimination. Like ants attacking a caterpillar, they descend in hysterical hordes on anyone who dissents -- deriding them, demanding their jobs, depriving them of income, disparaging their voice, demonstrating at their homes. And while many agree with the five justices and their activist minions, countless others have been bullied into accepting their rainbow ideology out of fear.

How is this any different from Nazi Germany or Communist Russia where regular Germans and Russians -- who really wanted no part of their respective regimes -- were forced to accept the swastika and hammer and sickle in order to keep their jobs and homes?  Like a repeat nightmare, freedom of speech, press and conscience must always yield to the official political narrative, or else….

I don’t have a problem with gay people but I do have a problem being told what I must believe and that to believe otherwise amounts to hate that must be criminalized.  If, through popular vote, the law permitted gay marriage but didn’t criminalize those who were against it, I would have no problem with this. But that’s not what we have. Instead, we see pastors threatened with jail in Idaho and Vermont and bakers in Oregon run out of business and gagged.

Like Scalia, Roberts, Thomas and Alito, I dissent. I dissent from Obergefell. I dissent from its predecessor, Windsor. I dissent from marriage being decided by five justices. I dissent from “social transformation without representation.” I dissent from the “Judicial Putsch.” I dissent from bullying, incarceration and fines. I dissent from boycotts, injustice and fear-mongering. I dissent from forced acceptance of a moral code at variance with mine.  I dissent from punishment for deeply-held moral and religious beliefs.

If this means that I will have to wear the rainbow-colored H, then so be it. My people endured the yellow star for their beliefs. They were victims of pogroms. They were forced to convert or die by the Inquisition. They withstood persecution, death, the jizya, dhimmitude, camps, gulags, and the Diaspora -- all because they believe in one G-d, the Ten Commandments, and the Torah. 

Being persecuted for believing in the Ten Commandments is no different than being persecuted because you believe that marriage between one man and one woman is sanctified by G-d. I don’t believe anyone should be persecuted for being gay or engaging in gay sexual activity -- that is ultimately between them and their G-d.  But don’t come between me and my G-d by persecuting me for my beliefs.

Make no mistake: This is another Inquisition. Searches of one’s past comments, articles, and donations on the internet and your right to life, liberty, and property evaporate. Joe “Torquemada” Biden hails this as the most important issue on the planet. Dissent will not be tolerated. Minds will be changed. If “they” decide you are a heathen or a Luddite, you will be stripped of everything.

I want my gay friends to be able to enjoy their relationships, but not at the expense of others.  And if it means I have to be put in the public stocks for it, then go ahead and make my day:  tattoo that rainbow-colored H on my forearm.