Hypocrisy revealed

So, over in New York the legislator is considering allowing gay marriage. There is still one lone Democrat, Ruben Diaz, Sr., who's against it. The Village Voice got to have a chat with Senator Diaz (at least until he hung up on them), and revealed a surprising hypocrisy. Apparently, Diaz thinks that divorce is wrong, morally wrong, because his religion says so (though he himself has been married twice). But he wouldn't say that divorce should be illegal. How odd. He thinks gay marriage should not be legal because it's morally wrong, but divorce, which is also morally wrong, is ok to have as a legal option.

So do you believe it is alright to be divorced?

No. Divorce is wrong. Gay marriage is wrong.

You think you are wrong, then?

When I got divorced, I was wrong, yes. Why are you asking me this?

But you believe that gay marriage is wrong and divorce is wrong, but that you should be allowed to get divorced and remarried, and gay people shouldn't be able to marry at all.

When I got divorced, it was wrong, but marriage is between a man and a woman.

So is being divorced OK with your religion?

No, it is not OK. Gay marriage is still wrong. This is what I believe.

At that point the interview goes into questions why Diaz once had his current wife and ex-wife working together at the same place, on the same payroll, and Diaz accuses the interviewer of just digging for dirt, and hangs up pretty quickly.

Now, I do have one criticism of the questions. I wish the interviewer had flat out asked "Do you believe divorce should be illegal?" Because while it appears that Diaz would say no, the answer to that question would have avoided any ambiguity. If Diaz answered "Yes," then the only hypocrisy is in the fact that he's been divorced. Since we've all occasionally done things that go against our ethics, Diaz could then go the route of showing regret for that action. Or, he could claim that he didn't believe it was wrong at the time, but does now. Hypocrisy disappears with that reasoning. Diaz would still be wrong, but not hypocritical.

On the other hand, if he answered "No, divorce should not be illegal," the interviewer could have pressed him on the discrepancy between that stance, and his stance that gay marriage should be illegal. I think the interviewer may have gotten too caught up in trying to highlight the hypocrisy with other issues. Maybe.

h/t to the Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta