A Harvard Conservative Speaks - Law prof Mary Ann Glendon writes in support of the FMA, in today's WSJ. (Free registration required.)

What struck me most about this piece is how incredibly hollow the usual anti-gay rhetoric of "special rights" sounds in the context of the marriage debate. Even the most hidebound bigot would be hard pressed to claim, with a straight face, that extending the right to marry to gay couples means "granting special treatment to one group of citizens." How credulous does she think her audience is?

Frankly, the "special preference" Glendon describes is really just the group of preferences already granted to every straight married couple. Does that mean the good professor actually thinks marital rights should be extended, for example, to "all the people in our society who are caring for elderly or disabled relatives whom they cannot claim as family members for tax or insurance purposes"? (Not a bad idea, but no, she doesn't make the logical connection.) WSJ readers are a smart bunch so I doubt many will be convinced by such sloppy reasoning.