Love Without Labels

Perhaps you've seen it. It has gone viral. It is a PSA, of all things, an ad by the Ad Council promoting ... well ... love. It is the Love Has No Labels campaign. The video shows x-ray-style skeletons on a screen dancing, kissing, holding hands, embracing--lots of pleasant interaction--followed by the "reveal" where the skeletons step out from behind and you get to see who they are. As they stand in front of the audience, a message displays, appropriate to the actors of the moment, extolling "Love has no ...". It could be "no race" or "no disability" or "no gender" or "no age" or "no religion" or whatever else. (I've never sat through the whole thing.)

I'm a little baffled by the campaign concept. Is there someone somewhere that disagrees? Is there a person or a group that believes that it is inappropriate to love? Does someone believe that love is limited by age, gender, disability, or whatever else you wish to list? Isn't it a given that anyone might love anyone at any time?

I don't actually believe that such a person or group exists. So what is the point? I suspect the point is ... missed. That is, we--they and I--are defining "love" in a different way. It's supposed to be "shocking", for instance, when two "skeletons" who were kissing come out from behind the screen to show that they were two women. Because two women, to some people, aren't supposed to love each other. Really? I'm pretty sure my sister loves my other sister, my mother loves my sisters, my wife loves her sisters, and on and on and on. They may embrace. They may kiss. They certainly love. What's the question?

The question is not, as it turns out, love. The question is sex. Sexual relations. And they know this. They obscure it, however, when three "skeletons" dance around--two adult-sized and one child-sized--and we're "surprised" when a child and two men come out from behind the screen. But no one is suggesting adult sexual relations with children. (Well, almost no one.) So we know it's not about sex. But if that's true, who protests love (non-sexual) between anyone?

Look, I'm heterosexual. Fine. But I love men. I know quite a few men I love. That shouldn't be shocking to anyone because there is nothing included in that love which includes sexual relations and, therefore, nothing in the least morally objectionable to anyone. I would, in fact, be concerned about people that don't love both genders, all ages, people with disabilities, people from various religions, or whatever other factors you wish to imagine. It is, after all, a command of Christ. We must do it.

I can only conclude, then, that either I'm missing the point of the ad campaign or the campaign is missing the point of what love is. And when the latter happens, all sorts of confusion follows. Like "I should be allowed to marry whomever I love." Think that through to its logical conclusion.

Postscript
In case you aren't really trying to think that through to its logical conclusion, consider. "I should be allowed to marry whomever I love" cannot be limited. When the standard is "whomever I love", then arbitrary "only one" or "only adults" or "only humans" become untenable. "Oh, you're such a scaremonger," I can hear already. Maybe. Except that it is already hitting the streets and your petty "only between two adults" or "only between humans" or even "only between adults" isn't going to hold water. To claim that it is doesn't take into account either the logic or the trends. And a slippery slope argument is not a fallacy when it is actually happening.