One of the mainstays of the prose style of wing-nut Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten--besides the dashed off parenthetic comment--is the use of scare quotes to indicate her scornful disapproval. Thus in today's column:
The issue, they say, is a no-brainer--a simple matter of "equality," and the logical next step in the struggle against "discrimination." The point is so obvious that anyone who questions their project must be a "bigot," and so drummed out of hearing in polite society.
She means that laws banning same-sex marriage are not discriminatory, that they in no way offend against the principle of equal protection, and that it would be wrong, very wrong, to call her a bigot. Why is she right about this? It has to do with something called "sexual complementarity," a phrase I put in quotes to indicate (1) that it is hers, not mine, and (2) it's meaning is indistinct.
My best guess is that "sexual complementarity" is just a polysyllabic stand-in for "can't make babies." Of course, there are a lot of heterosexual couples who can't make babies, or who have no intention of making any and would be quite distressed to discover that--woops! Since Kersten doesn't appear to be upset by them, and doesn't support laws preventing them from obtaining the benefits of marriage, it appears to me that her position is, you know, "discriminatory," or even just discriminatory, and that she has a good start at qualifying as "a person who is obstinately and intolerantly devoted to her own opinions and prejudices."
