Hugh Hefner Claims Marriage Conservatives Want to 'Dehumanize' Sexuality
Playboy Founder Also Blasts 'Discriminatory' Laws 'Disguised as Religious Freedom'
Hugh Hefner, the famous founder of Playboy Enterprises, has come out with an article in the September issue of Playboy magazine suggesting that those opposed to same-sex marriage likely want to strip away all of America's sexual freedoms.
"The fight for gay marriage is, in reality, a fight for all of our rights. Without it, we will turn back the sexual revolution and return to an earlier, puritanical time," Hefner says in the article, according to Politico. "Today, in every instance of sexual rights falling under attack, you'll find legislation forced into place by people who practice discrimination disguised as religious freedom. Their goal is to dehumanize everyone's sexuality and reduce us to using sex for the sole purpose of perpetuating our species. To that end, they will criminalize your entire sex life."
The 86-year old entrepreneur warns against conservatives driving the "assault" on the rights of gays and lesbians, and provides as evidence attempts to defend the traditional definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Hefner also blasts state laws that allow people to refuse some services because of religious beliefs.
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"A new Kansas law allows a pharmacist to refuse to sell someone contraception on the grounds that such a sale could violate the pharmacist's religious beliefs. Similar laws already exist in Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and South Dakota," Hefner writes.
The owner of Playboy insists in his article that America is a religious nation as well as a secular one.
"For decades, the American people have found a way to balance religious beliefs with secular freedoms. We have enjoyed freedom of religion and freedom from religion. These need not be incompatible. No one should have to subjugate their religious freedom, and no one should have their personal freedoms infringed. This is America, and we must protect the rights of all Americans," writes Hefner.
Some of American's biggest Christian leaders, however, like pastor Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Texas, have come out both in support of traditional marriage and a sexual "reawakening" in the church.
Young and his wife, Lisa, released a book earlier this year titled Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse, in which they discuss the importance of sexual intimacy between spouses.
"Tragically, culture has kicked the bed out of church and God out of the bed," Young has said, who has been married for almost 30 years. "It's time to bring God back in the bed and put the bed back in the church."
