Vive La Difference!

The amazing Helen Rittelmeyer enthusiastically embraces the radical notion that men and women are different:

How do I know that gender differences matter? Gay men told me so. The very fact that people think of hetero- and homosexuality as inflexible sexual preferences tells us that gender isn't just any characteristic, but a fundamental one. . . .
A culture that cannot acknowledge gender differences has hobbled itself: it can't speak the truth and, if we know one thing about truth, it's that it always comes out one way or another. If we can’t talk about gender, we can’t develop helpful ways to deal with it; if we can’t deal with it, we guarantee that, when gender differences do surface, it will be in unhealthy ways. If gay marriage consigns us to that slow, unpleasant declension -- and it does -- it's something to think twice about.
Advocates of gay marriage may think they're showing due conservative respect to the institution of marriage, but, however much deference we give the institution of marriage, the fact of gender deserves infinitely more.

Miss Rittelmeyer is one of the few intellectuals who sees this issue with clear common sense. More often, the confrontation between common sense and intellectualism reminds me of a memorable scene from "No Time for Sergeants":

Like Private Stockdale, I'm from Georgia.

UPDATE: Donald Douglas at American Power gets in on the debate, as does liberal Freddie at L'Hote. There's even a thread at Memeorandum.