Dan Savage And Brian Brown Debate The Bible And Same-Sex Marriage

By Believe Out Loud

Earlier this year, Dan Savage, editorial director of Seattle alt weekly The Stranger, spoke at a National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle. As reported in The Atlantic, “in the course of his talk about bullying, Savage pointed out anti-gay activists sometimes cite the Bible to justify their beliefs and behavior. He then went on to point out that the Bible sanctions any number of activities we don’t allow today, including slavery and the stoning of women who are not virgins when married … strictures he referred to as “bullshit.” In protest, some (presumably) Christian members of the audience walked out. As he wrapped up the inflammatory section of his remarks, Savage apologized for offending anyone, but undercut that apology somewhat by adding, “It’s funny, as someone who’s on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible, how pansy-assed some people react when you push back.”

There were many reactions to Dan’s speech at this convention, one of which was from Brian Brown, the President of the National Organization for Marriage.  He responded with a blog publicly challenging Dan Savage and his views stating, “Let me lay down a public challenge to Dan Savage right here and now: You want to savage the Bible? Christian morality? Traditional marriage? Pope Benedict? I’m here, you name the time and the place and let’s see what a big man you are in a debate with someone who can talk back. It’s easy to make high-school girls cry by picking on them. Let’s pick on someone our own size!” 

Savage accepted Brown’s challenge and below is a video of their dinner table debate.  

Image Via YouTube DinnerTableDebate