Ethan Sabo, a gay conservative who hails from my home state, posted a video after being blasted yet again by gay liberals. He let ‘em have it. Click here and watch.
Once you’ve watched what he had to say, here’s my response – standing in solidarity.
While she was still campaigning to be the new mayor of Troy, Michigan, then-candidate Janice Daniels responded to the new freedom to marry in New York. The very day after gay marriage rights were made legal in New York, Daniels put a post on her Facebook page that went completely unnoticed at the time: “I think I am going to throw away my I Love New York carrying bag now that queers can get married there.”
Now, I’ve discussed my wavering stance on gay marriage. I’ve discussed what I think about civil unions. I’ve also discussed the handful of ignorant comments made by some conservative leaders about the gay left as opposed to the laundry list of wildly inappropriate comments from the gay left about conservatives – particularly gay conservatives. I took my picture and my email off the blog within the first year due to hate mail and two separate incidents involving gay leftists trying to start physical fights with me. In all of the discussion, I have always been perfectly blunt about those who use gay slurs for the sole purpose of bullying a person and then refusing to apologize for it (Perez Hilton).
By the time Daniels’ remark was discovered, she had won the election and was officially the mayor of the City of Troy. It was Katie, one of my best friends in the wide world (and a resident of Detroit), who brought it to my attention. The comment drew intense negative attention to the new politician. The Detroit Free Press discussed calls for the mayor to resign. ABC weighed in. Towleroad left no question as to their stance on the issue. There was even a movement reported to boycott shopping in Troy. All of this, however, was after Daniels had apologized for the language she used. There has been no forgiveness. Yes, what she said was completely wrong and I have no trouble saying it – but she also said it, which was why I didn’t post about it when I first heard it had happened. I was disgusted that despite her apology, she was still being called a bully by protesters.
Today, I saw something that lifted my spirits and put a smile on my face. Amy Weber, a filmmaker and one of Katie’s close-knit circle of friends up in Michigan, stood up with her wife, Tina, and their two biological daughters Logan and Aiden to speak directly to mayor Daniels. Amy’s short remarks actually made me choke up. She wasn’t angry, she wasn’t spiteful, there was no name-calling, no accusations flung – she stood before a Tea Party mayor whose politics she may not completely agree with and called for unity in a way that precious few GLBT people do.
It is things like this that give me hope that our community might not be as covertly intolerant as I have experienced. It is a ray of light in a place where there have been few. I hope every single one of the GLBT people at that meeting understood what she was doing and follow that shining example. It should be the example for all GLBT people, regardless of political affiliation, to follow.
I can’t tell you how many dyed-in-the-wool liberals I’ve dealt with professionally who have Obama bumper stickers/mugs/posters/lawn signs/t-shirts and turn out to be the most bigoted people I’ve ever met. They don’t want to talk to someone who speaks with an accent. They want someone based in the United States, and if they get someone in the US who has an accent, they’ll ask, “are you sure you’re in the United States?”
I wish my friends would say, “no, honey, I’m having a bad dream. Especially the way things are going under the current despot.”
Alas, whether they be dispatchers, customer service representatives or fellow medics, they simply do their best to do their job. Liberals can, at times, be more racist and more spiteful than any conservative I’ve ever met. That includes some of the jerks celebrating the decision made by the American Conservative Union to ban GOProud from the 2012 CPAC gathering. While reading a few of the articles that have been written about it, I found myself once again getting angry with both sides. The liberals, however, took the ball and ran with it on some of the comments they left on the Washington Blade and the Miami Herald.
Diana Cardenas, wife of ACU head Al Cardenas (the man who made the ultimate decision and leaked it to WorldNetDaily and the Daily Caller before having the cojones to tell GOProud leaders Jimmy LaSalvia and Christopher Barron to their faces), made a comment on Facebook about her feelings about TX gov. Rick Perry announcing his opposition to a federal marriage amendment. She made her beliefs clear, calling homosexuality a “behavior” and saying that she wanted a conservative candidate who was willing to take a stand for the traditional view of marriage. I disagree with her, but nothing she said could be classified has hateful. Miami Herald commenters, on the other hand, were…and they were blatantly liberal.
“latina pig wearing fur. oink oink” -piggy piggy
“Bigotry wrapped in dead animals, how creepy.” -FLDemNinja
“Someone put a muzzle on that furry creature.” -Anon
The comments on the Washington Blade were just as ill-informed.
“Wow, self-hating gay men are surprised that “conservative bigots” don’t want them sponsoring their convention. Maybe you should take a good look in the mirror boys. They may invite you to the table, but they’ll spit in your food.” -Sam
“It is pathetic that go proud wants to be involved. Don’t they get it? They hate you. It’s that simple.” -Steve
“lie down with dogs…” -Nick
How about the Advocate? Oh, there’s never a shortage of colorful comments there.
“Oh GoShame, never change. Stay just the way you are. With your head in the sand and your ass in the air.” -Hugh
“Has anyone ever determined definitively that these crazy GoProud people are really gay? I’m very suspicious of them.” -Pete
“LOL…the GOProud…the gay conservative group…but conservatives don’t want them…nor do the gays!” -Rodriguez
“I’d like to boot GOProud too. Right in their….aw nuts.” -Bx
“GOProud needs reparative therapy….and not regarding their sexual orientation…..maybe when Rick Perry and the others show them the boat they have ready for them to an unknown island …will they finally wake up….GOProud needs to click their heels together and say “Neville Chamberlain” 3 times….” -Johann of OC
“Wow… They all held their noses and went down on Ann Coulter and still got the boot! Sounds like high school when the jocks would make the nerdy kid do all kinds of stuff to “let him in the club” while they all laughed at what an idiot he was for seriously thinking they’d ever let him in. Hysterical.” -Michael Jarboe
“GOPROUD is a disgrace to gays everywhere. They are upset that their “partners” in hating gays didn’t invite them to a hate party? They really ought to just get some good loving and like Skittles says “Taste the Rainbow”.” -Joshua
“Wow, These GoProud dirt bags still don’t want to admit that the CPAC people want them and us dead. They need to realize that the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing (suck up to the repubs) over and over and over again, all the while getting the same answer (from the repubs), and expecting the result to change.” -Jessica
“If anyone STILL needed to know why ‘Gay Republican’ is an oxymoron; THIS IS IT!!” -CountryBoy
And yet, somehow, conservatives are the ones who need a lesson in manners.
It never ceases to amaze me just how hateful liberals can be while pointing out what they believe to be wrong with conservatives. If, however, you point out their outright intolerance, they explain it like this: “I don’t need to tolerate someone who is intolerant.”
That should say all that needs to be said about their twisted logic.
To Jimmy LaSalvia and Chris Barron, you still have our undying support. I’m sorry that things have taken such a drastic turn, but keep fighting the good fight. You’re doing a good job. We all knew this part wouldn’t be easy but our road is definitely more admirable and we should have no problem saying it.
With cute shows like Glee on the airwaves to make gay seem chic, it has become surprising to most adults just how cruel kids are still being to each other. The problem with this is that bullying isn’t cute. The victim usually doesn’t have a small army of friends nearby (especially not ones on the football team) to come to their defense. I can’t stand that show because it never works that way in real life. I was VERY different, and I didn’t have anybody there to come to my defense. Girls particularly didn’t want to be around me, not with rumors flying about that I was a lesbian. I learned to watch my mouth because I knew it would get worse if I didn’t. Besides…a gay guy usually has a girlfriend or two with shoulders he can cry on. Who sticks up for the lesbians? It sure as hell ain’t the boys. I had it pretty rough as a kid. I was soundly beaten the one time I told a girl in the 6th grade that she was beautiful. I didn’t stop acting like a boy bent on being a rock star, but I kept my thoughts and feelings to myself because I knew it wasn’t normal.
On February 12, 2008, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney pulled a .22 pistol out of his bag in the middle of an English class and shot classmate Lawrence “Larry” King twice in the back of the head as the class worked on a WWII assignment. In the weeks leading up to the shooting, a lot happened. There was also a lot of history prior that is simply being ignored, and regardless of what King’s adoptive father Greg says, gay groups have made a crusade out of his murder. So have anti-gun groups.
Larry King started accessorizing like a girl when he was just ten years old. By the time he was 15 – the day of his death – he’d come to school wearing stilettos, knee-high pink boots, brightly-colored clothing, hair gelled into different styles, and enough makeup to put Elizabeth Taylor to shame. By the time he arrived at E.O Green Middle School, he was chasing other boys, openly expressing affection for them, and staring at boys in the locker room. He was tormented, but he didn’t make it easy. Here’s where I piss off every gay liberal on the planet.
Larry didn’t know how to control himself. Teachers didn’t know how to guide him. As a result, his classmates, for the most part, didn’t know quite what to do with him. His behavior was out of control, and no amount of bullying excused his reactions.
Newsweek did a surprising article on the incident in which they actually flirted with an unbiased opinion. They quoted his father as saying, “I think the gay-rights people want it to be a gay-rights issue, because it makes a poster child out of my son.” He doesn’t like the idea that Larry turned into a cause celebré overnight because of what happened.
I learned early on to not cross the boundaries with people. Every kid has to go to some extreme at some point; mine ended up being religion. I got into my religion in a huge way and wore it in neon lettering on my sleeve. Other kids go goth, emo, country, rap, metal, nerd…or gay. When I was a kid, nobody could get away with openly admitting to being gay. Things have come a long way, but they have a long way to go yet and we are openly lying to ourselves if we think kids are really capable of comprehending the issues involved.
If a 15-year-old boy sexually harassed a girl the way Larry is purported to have harassed Brian McInerney, he’d be disciplined harshly. The instant it came to light that the boy was asking her out, whispering “I love you” in the hall and claiming to have scratched her arm during sex, there would have been major meetings with the parents and the two would be separated immediately. If the boy then broke the new rules and asked that girl to be his valentine, he’d have been immediately suspended.
Why is it impossible to conceive of doing this when a boy acting out as a homosexual makes overtures to another boy?
Most of the teachers and executive staff apparently didn’t help. Some did try to formally complain about the lack of discipline concerning Larry, but they were told nothing could be done because of California state law that banned gender discrimination – including gender identity discrimination. Larry was allowed to continue wearing outrageous clothing, makeup and hair gelled to a bouffant because nobody wanted to stop the distracting behavior. Never mind that every kid in school talked about him constantly. The lesbian assistant principal reportedly encouraged him and stifled dissent among teachers who tired of his antics. Another teacher brought him a gift in the form of a green formal dress that Larry immediately ran to try on.
We’re talking about a group of junior highers. They don’t understand sexuality yet. They certainly don’t understand homosexuality, and because it isn’t the norm (get used to it, folks, it isn’t and never will be) it results in the sometimes-violent ostracizing of kids who display same-sex behaviors.
What Brandon McInerney did was reprehensible. He deserves to go to prison for the rest of his life for his actions. We cannot, however, make Larry a poster child when his behavior cannot be excused, either. He did blow kisses at straight boys. He told Brandon he loved him. Two days before his murder, he trotted onto the basketball court to ask Brandon to be his valentine in front of the whole school. None of that was okay. If we delude ourselves into believing that it was just harmless fun, that neither Larry nor Brandon should have been hurt, then we do a disservice both to gay and straight kids alike. Gay rights groups need to learn to stay within the same boundaries that everyone else operates in.
For once, we need to put the candles out and start really holding ourselves up to the same standard that we expect everyone else to live by.
I’ve been absent off and on for the past few months…I’ve actually been pretty sick. I finally had to have surgery to remove a badly infected gallbladder a couple of weeks ago. It could hardly have had worse timing; my roommate was in the process of moving back to Michigan and I was getting ready to move into my new loft in North Phoenix when everything finally came to a head. I am recuperating, although I can’t go to the gym, can’t practice kung fu, and can’t lift anything weighing more than ten pounds. That makes it awfully hard to move.
While I was in the first stage of recovery, I obviously had a lot of time on my hands, so I found a website called Xtranormal and decided to have some fun. The first “movie” I made with the site is a remake of a conversation that I had in real life with a person who had been a friend but quit speaking to me after he found out that I was politically conservative. I kept the language a lot cleaner than the actual conversation was (God knows both websites would’ve complained that it was too profane just to have an excuse to block it), but it’s essentially the same words otherwise. Enjoy!
There is a prominent Arizona State Senate Democrat whose Facebook page I am on. The only reason is because we agree on repealing DADT (that and I do love a good challenge to my own beliefs once in a while – sticking to your own kind all the time gets boring quickly). Once in a while, I get into “debates” (if you can call them that) with her hard-left followers. This weekend she posted a link to an op-ed written by the Republican majority leader where he attacked her fiscal suggestions. Click here to read the entire exchange.
I will not post the link because I refuse to acknowledge anything on that website after their posting of two stories that should never have been publicized. The issue with this post wasn’t what she wrote – it was what came up in conversation later (language warning):
Ray Bradford: Thank you, Mark, for an impressive post. And what an impressive set of lies and misdeeds by Brewer. And conservatives voted for this lying whore?
Mel Maguire: Ray, call her a liar all you want. Hell, I’ll even agree with you. You are, however, a complete dickhead for calling any woman a whore.
RB: Really, Mel? In my estimation, any person who trades his or her ethics, standards, and/or ideals for money and power may be called a whore. It is not of any concern to me if you agree, Mel. But I appreciate your willingness to proffer your opinion.
MM: My opinion is that it’s misogynistic. The one thing that irks me about both sides in the political debate is the name-calling and finger-pointing without substantial argument.
RB: Mel, I find it disturbing that a person cannot call a woman a whore without being labeled a misogynist. If I were a woman would I be so labeled? I would apply this label equally to a man. And as for substantial argument, I thought Mark’s post above gave all the argument required on this subject. Did I miss something? Do you have something to actually add? Or are you just pissing on men who use words you don’t like tonight? And by the way, is it ok to call me a dickhead? Is that hateful, too?
Then, another guy inserted himself into the conversation…here’s where the stupidity really kicked into high gear:
Paul Rubi: Jan Brewer is beyon a whore! Liberals do mind when a woman is called a whore–when it’s underserving. In this case, not only has Jan Brewer opened herself up to the likes of Russell Pearce, she has turned around and allow the whole state to be raped. There’s another word I’d like to call her, but I won’t! But I won’t! Although she is despicable, a hypocrite, a liar and has cheated the people of Arizona, I won’t say what she really is and that is beyond whore. To be kind: let’s just she is despicable and worst kind of American; she is a traitor to everything decent that is American and so are the people who follow her political beliefs.
MM: Ray, you sound exactly like every other liberal I’ve met. I can’t speak English properly. I’m a troll. I can’t debate. I have no substance. I’m not a nice person. I’m rude and obnoxious. You, like all the others, don’t know who I am. All you know is that you don’t like my opinions or my arguments, so you’re going to label me exactly the same way some extreme right-wingers do without actually knowing the first thing about me. If anyone is bitter here, it’s YOU. (Note here that I was talking to Ray, not Paul…)
PR: You sound like every pig-headed, self-righteous conservative I´ve ever met, and I DO speak and write proper English AND speak Spanish. Your typical of the narrow-minded, low-minded conservatives who are the ruination of America. You should be ASHAMED to call yourself conservative! Liberals are what gave form and freedom to the United States of America…otherwise we would all be British subjects!
MM: Paul, I don’t think you quite understood my point. I named things that people on this very board have told ME.
You are passing judgment on a handful of comments made on one subject. I refuse to be ashamed of my political beliefs. You are typical of every liberal I’ve ever talked to – I have never, not once in my life, talked to a liberal who was civil and debated without name-calling and other insults. I have never received an ounce of respect from any liberal. Ever. Not only have I been told that I can’t speak English, I’m a troll, I can’t debate, I’m not nice, and I’m rude, I’ve been called a deviant for being a lesbian conservative – which is the exact same thing that gay liberals get pissed at conservative Christians for labeling them.
Liberalism has a limit, Paul. It wasn’t liberalism that freed us from the British Crown; it was the belief in freedom. That’s not a liberal concept these days, particularly with those who believe the government should be expanded to have more power over telling us that we are required to buy health insurance and that making more money means you have to give three times as much as everyone else. Those are not the liberal concepts that founded this nation.
What is ruining this country are those who believe that the government should have control over every aspect of our lives. Allowing free-flowing illegal immigration will also aid in our downfall. Not having the balls to stand up to terrorists is killing us. Call me low-minded all you want (whatever the hell that means), but I base my beliefs on logic – not emotion.
PR: No, Sir. You are completely wrong. THE ONLY reason I wrote what I did was to show you what you sound like. You have the freedom and the right to believe whatever you wish, because we–still–live in a democracy. However, let me make it very clear, I, and others, vehemently oppose your politics, as is OUR RIGHT. And you name call us by stomping your feet (in writing) like some two-year old brat because we don’t view or experience the world as you do. As for limits to Liberalism–what an overtly STUPID and THOUGHTLESS remark! It’s hysterical! THERE ARE LIMITS TO CONSERVATISM! Your brand of politics has almost brought this country to its economic knees and Conservatives refuse to accept responsibility for the despicable economic and political mess this country is in by electing George W. Bush, not once but twice! Whether or not you are a troll is not my concern. Even your rudeness is not my concern. However, you politics are my concern because your voting can affect me and thousands of other Americans–and your politics and that of the Republican Party are self-serving, elitist, spiteful and exclusive. As for you being a Lesbian–NO BIG DEAL! As I am a gay, Hispanic male, I’ve got a corner on living with bigotry and racism. So, don’t even go there with me because you would lose. And as for your remark about Liberalism not freeing us from the British Crown, you better go back and read about the Age of Enlightenment. Yes, Liberals LOVE Freedom! Why do you think we are so adamant about ensuring that ALL Americans have equal access to the opportunities and benefits of being American. You are only showing your ignorance–like MOST Americans you are misinformed and you live in ignorance and fear. YOU, as Lesbanian, have benefitted from the Civil Rights Era marches and protests. You wouldn’t have been able to even declare that you are a Lesbian 30 or 40 years ago had it not been for John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez. I know because I was there and I saw the world change before my eyes. You wouldn’t have dared to openly call yourself a Lesbian before the Stone Wall Riots in New York. So, you should get down on your knees and the the Good Lord above that LIBERALS have given you the freedoms you enjoy today. And by the way, the terrorist threat is not from Al-Quaeda. The threat is internal, and comes from the Republican Party Convservatives that are the terrorists dismantling our Constitution and Civil Liberties. Rupert Murdoch is censor and does not allow Freedom of the Press. Boehner, the expected Speaker of the House, can’t wait to start repealing laws that protect you as a Lesbian or any minority. He is a “White” Anglo Saxon Good Old Boy to the core and they will stop and nothing to retain and gain power at your expense. Get a grip. The hand-writing is on the wall. And your own political beliefs will doom you and this country. As being called a fool, perhaps you need to stop point your fingers and crying like a baby because people call you names. Political debates are about the, often, passionate debate about critical human issues. You fail to understand that YOU reap what you sow. GROW UP!
MM: No, MA’AM. I specifically said I was a lesbian more than once, don’t call me SIR. I am not transgendered and I like being a woman. You must be kidding me with your tripe about not being able to declare myself a lesbian 30 years ago…I’m 32 and I wasn’t able to declare my orientation until I was 24. Even then, it still wasn’t popular. Don’t you dare insinuate that I don’t know what it’s like to experience hatred and bigotry. The culture I grew up in, a very strict religious one, had me so convinced that being gay was a spiritually damnable offense that I tried to kill myself and believed I had justification from scripture to do so. I put the gun to my head and pulled the trigger – but my weapon did not fire. A year later, after I’d moved on with my life and come out of the closet, a guy I went to church with threatened to kill me when he thought he caught me staring at his girlfriend. Don’t you fucking dare tell me I don’t know what it’s like.
Stupid and thoughtless remark? Again, you missed the point. Yes, there needs to be a limit to liberalism – just as there needs to be a limit to the conservative moments we reach. Going too far to the left would be just as dangerous as going too far to the right, and if you had two brain cells left to rub together, you would have understood that what I said was we cannot afford to go too far to the left.
You post this unhinged rant void of any real substance and you tell me that I’m the one who needs to get a grip and grow up? Go to hell. Not once in this entire conversation had I called anyone a single name. I remained civil throughout. You are the embodiment of my argument that liberals are completely incapable of having a civil discussion without name-calling and emotional outbursts.
PR: SIR was a figure of speech. Get over yourself. You’re becoming boring. Until you can have an objective conversation and use the intellect gave you…we are done! No wonder people call you names! You’re completely insane!
MM: Objective? Paul, you haven’t made a single objective comment in this entire thread. Every word you have typed has been hyper-emotional and insulting. When was the last time you were civil with a person who disagreed with you? That is all I’ve done – disagree on something someone else said. Where in any of this have I agreed with Jan Brewer? Have I not said multiple times that I AGREE THAT SHE IS A LIAR? You’re not debating anything. You simply hate me because I admit to being a conservative.
Gay liberals like you are the reason I tell people that coming out of the closet to my family and friends was far easier than it was to come out as conservative to my fellow gays and lesbians. You don’t know what you’re arguing about at this point…you’re hysterical because you know I’m not a bleeding-heart liberal like you, and you simply cannot wrap your brain around that concept.
Get back to me when you cool off.
PR: Listen: you’re insulting and incapable of having a conversation. I made my points and they have completely gone over your head. Your conversations are seemingly those of an insecure, wounded-animal that attacks everyone who doesn’t share your world view. I pit you. We are done with this conversation until you mature emontionally and intellectually.
Yes, it is true – I did more than just attempt suicide. The only reason I’m not dead today, the reason I’m writing this missive now, is because God saw fit to let me live and the round chambered in my handgun did not fire eight years ago. I have never, until today, disclosed that fact to anyone but my therapist and it is not easy to do so, but I figure that maybe if a few more gay liberals understand that I really didn’t have an easy time of it they might give a damn about the fact that I do not reach my views lightly, nor do I allow my emotion to dictate my politics. My emotions have failed me many times in my life, including the day I tried to shoot myself.
This is just one more illustration of the amazing lack of intelligence and respect among gay liberals who seem to think that they are right and everyone else is completely wrong. It’s perfectly okay to engage in name-calling, insults and childish fits as long as you’re liberal and fighting the good fight. Who cares if you don’t have a single coherent, substantial argument? You’re right and everybody else is wrong. Hold your head up high and make sure to tell the world that your dick is bigger than everyone else’s.
I receive at least an email a month (sometimes more) from somebody asking how I can be gay and Republican at the same time. Other times, I receive an email from a gay or lesbian individual who is shocked that others, like them, actually exist. Usually the person copies the other moderators on this site (so they know what I am talking about). You would have to research back to this blog’s early days or scroll through other seemingly-unrelated posts that delved into the subject in order to rehash all the reasons. Suffice it to say – this is a question that I will always be asked and a discussion that will never end to everyone’s satisfaction.
But the tide is turning, my friends. When I read this news piece from Politico, I was pleasantly shocked. “Shocked” doesn’t really begin to describe it. I almost feel the onset of vindication.
More self-identified gay voters chose the GOP in the midterm elections than in previously recorded totals, according to a CNN exit poll.
Thirty-one percent of self-identified gay voters cast their ballots for Republicans on Tuesday, 4 percentage points more than in 2008, according to a similar CNN exit poll.
Put that into perspective. Nearly one-third of gay voters went GOP this time around. That’s 31% of “self-identified” gay voters. Imagine how many closeted gay voters probably filled in a bubble or clicked a button for the GOP. CNN.com tried to downplay the sample size, but the numbers clearly show growth.
“The gay left would have you believe that gay conservatives don’t exist,” said GOProud Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia. “Now we see that almost a third of self-identified gay voters cast ballots for Republican candidates for Congress in this year’s midterm.”
“This should be a wake-up call for the out-of-touch so-called leadership of Gay Inc. in Washington, D.C., which has become little more than a subsidiary of the Democrat Party,” he said in a statement.
Yes. We exist in numbers that the gay left wouldn’t believe (or at least – admit to). I always say that the gay community is more diverse than people realize. The other possibility at play here is that gay Americans are beginning to realize that the US public is more accepting than ever before. The rights of gay and lesbian Americans are guaranteed in this nation to an extent never before known in our nation’s history.
I won’t begrudge gay civil rights groups their due in this historic progression. Gay rights groups affected change over the past few decades just as labor unions did for workers in the earlier part of this century. But their partners in the Democrat party began to take them forgranted as a dependable voting constituency. Democrat policy has become nothing more than lip-service in recent years. Change at the social level accounts for so much more these days.
Given that, we all know that the 2010 elections were primarily abount one issue – the economy. Gay Americans like all other Americans were asked to decide who would do the best job of turning things around. They were asked to consider whether the policies of Obama, Pelosi and Reid were making things better or making them worse. Like a majority of Americans, a significant portion of gay and lesbian voters likely decided that the GOP had a better probability of turning things around.
I’m not a professional pollster, and I don’t have all the data at my fingertips. So some of my analysis is a matter of reading into gay and lesbian intentions based on the mood of the general populace. But after all – we are all part of the general populace. And more of our community appears to be realizing that the concerns of American voters as a whole directly coincide with their own. It’s not “us versus them ” anymore. We’re all in this together.
The military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (DADT) is taking a serious beating this week. First, federal court judge Virginia Phillips determined that DADT was Unconstitutional. Then she issued a moratorium on enforcement of the policy. Then the Obama administration challenged the ruling in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – and the justices issued a stay of the moratorium, so I guess now DADT is enforceable again. I’ve been reading around some of the comments and there are two common running themes among those who believe that DADT should remain in effect.
First are those who have served and don’t have a religious undertone. After one commenter remarked that DADT should be stricken down, one former soldier replied, “this coming from someone who has never served nor understands the culture or code of the UCMJ.”
To those who fit that profile, I would say this: culture isn’t always right. I wonder what the culture was during WWII, when our country was still segregated and black soldiers were segregated from white soldiers as they were in civilian life. An awful lot of white folks actually believed that they were still superior to black folks – that was, at the time, the culture. What is the culture you’re talking about? Is it one that bans fraternization in the UCMJ, yet ignores it when it does happen? Is it one that forbids sexual assault in the UCMJ, yet gives little more than a slap on the wrist when a soldier is caught doing exactly that? Is it a culture that dislikes open homosexuals because you’re afraid we’re all nymphomaniacs who want to screw everything that walks?
If the latter is the case, then you’re wrong, and your opinion and attitude are based on pure ignorance. Most lesbians – myself included – aren’t interested in straight women. I have cute little crushes on a couple of celebrities, but last I checked Kate Beckinsale isn’t a US soldier and doesn’t plan to become one. Even still, if she walked into the room I wouldn’t be staring at her boobs and dreaming of motorboating. Why? She’s straight. There’s something about women who have slept with men that is more unappealing to me than the idea of shagging a relative. The fact that you straight men are always imagining women stripping down and sitting on your faces does not mean that lesbians do. I can’t speak for gay men, but those I know feel the exact same way. We are no more sexual than straight people are and we’re not out to have sex with everyone on two legs. Do us all a favor and dispell that from your culture.
The second running theme is entirely religious. One commenter wrote, “it is a taught perversion, not a born one. This is why the aggressive homosexual community is pursuing the school systems to try to indoctrinate the next generation of children. For the short term, it will work for a while, however, most know the difference of right from wrong, and it will backfire. You can see this happening now. As most people grow older, they will find the Lord and repent their sins and try to lead a sinless lifestyle. When they do, they will find peace in their lives. We have to pray for those in the homosexual community to find the Lord and repent their sinful lifestyle, and walk with Jesus. Only this way, will they truly inherit Heaven and find peace. If you love your fellow man, you will do the same.”
Okay…I am conservative politically. I am a lesbian. I am also a believing Christian. I do not find my faith at odds with my sexual orientation. If it were a choice, as you say it is, I would absolutely choose to be straight. Do you have any idea how much easier my life would be? If it were a choice, I wouldn’t have had crushes on other girls in class when I was in second grade! Do you really think it was a choice back then? I didn’t know what it was. All I knew was that if I told the girls I liked that I thought they were pretty, I’d be severely beaten (and, in fact, I was on several occasions). As an adult, I don’t sleep around. I won’t sleep with someone on the first or even the second date. I have a relative, though, who is as straight as straight can be, and she has done sick and twisted things in bed that I never wanted to know – she’s also lost count of the number of men she’s slept with. Tell me, whose “lifestyle” is really sinful?
Next up? Your Christian-ese. It is lost on most people. Non-believers, such as my roommate, don’t understand “finding the Lord”, “repentance”, and “inheriting Heaven”. You are speaking a different language to them, one that turns them completely off to our faith. The best way to help people understand Christianity is to live your life so that others want whatever is giving you peace. My gay and lesbian friends are far more interested in my faith BECAUSE I don’t say those things.
Your accusation that all gay people are infiltrating the schools to indoctrinate and recruit kids? Bullshit. Pardon my Japanese, but it’s pure bullshit. I will agree that there are gays and lesbians who are entirely inappropriate in teaching positions. The kindergarten teacher who made her class sign GLSEN pledge cards irritated me beyond belief. The high school teacher who took her class to her lesbian wedding without parental consent also irritated me. Recruitment, though? Please! If you are that paranoid about it, then take your kids out of public school. Nobody is trying to recruit any kids to choose the homosexual lifestyle. All we want is for kids who are attracted to the same sex to feel safe enough that they’re not going to have to survive what I did.
Finally, I will quote the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Read all of that one more time. Do you understand it? That means that if your entire hang-up about homosexuals like me is based entirely on your religious belief, then according to the Constitution – that document I would give my last breath to defend – you cannot pass nor enforce laws written from that perspective. You are entitled to your belief, but I am also entitled to mine. Neither you nor I are allowed to enact any law that forces other people to live according to our faith. I have always, always, ALWAYS been against hate speech laws because it would infringe on your rights to believe that my lifestyle is wrong. I have ALWAYS insisted that gay marriage should NEVER include a requirement that all churches submit to marrying gay couples. I expect you to pay the same level of respect.
I don’t want to make a political statement by serving; I just want to serve. Why is that so difficult? I will tell those of you who fit those two categories the exact same thing I tell my liberal gay friends: grow up. It’s not all about you and what you want. Challenge yourselves and you might just learn something.
I’ve read about a lot of idiotic things lately. I thought watching people carrying signs that said “stop the Christian Taliban” in San Diego during an anti-Prop 8 protest topped it. I’ve seen something that really one-ups it. The City of Indianapolis is investigating a family-owned business after allegations were made that the owner had discriminated against a customer. How?
They refused an order for rainbow cupcakes for a National Coming-Out Day party.
First of all, I think National Coming-Out Day is not what it was intended to be initially. Once celebrated as a call to be honest and open if it was safe, it is now just another “look at me, I’m different!” campaign designed to pressure those who are living quietly to be more open and celebrate those like Perez Hilton (jackass!) who seem to think it is their mandate to out anybody who has chosen to live the aforementioned quiet life.
This incident began when Shan Parker, a student at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, went to local bakery Just Cookies to place an order for rainbow cupcakes for a campus NCOD party. He was first told that the bakery does not make cupcakes – hence the name “Just Cookies” – and that the bakery didn’t have the materials needed to make such an order. Later, however, co-owner David Stockton clarified another reason. He said, “I explained we’re a family-run business, we have two young, impressionable daughters and we thought maybe it was best not to do that.”
Uh-oh. Now the fight is on. Even Fox59 is headlining the story, “Homophobic Bakery: Local bakery refuses to make rainbow cupcakes for gay customer.” What’s more, the Indianapolis City Council is vowing to investigate the incident – and Republican mayor Gregory Ballard is getting in on the act, too. His spokesman, Robert Vane, said, “The city’s position is, it’s the city’s market, it’s a public place…whatever this gentleman’s personal views are, it cannot interfere with the providing of a service or allowing someone to buy their goods.”
Okay. I’d have a few questions. First of all, they say this bakery is located at the city market. Does the City of Indianapolis own the property? If not, what say does the City government have in any of this? If so, did the City’s representatives require the Stocktons to sign an agreement that they would not discriminate? Does their business license require an agreement to a nondiscrimination clause? If the City doesn’t own the property outright and doesn’t control the leasing options, they don’t have any right to intrude. Whoever owns the property and the leasing options has the final say, and if they didn’t include such requirements in licensing for the business or operation on the property (which I’m guessing they were not given such a requirement), then they don’t get a say, either.
We live in a free country. We have certain rights, yet among those rights are certain things we’re not allowed to do. I’m allowed to practice my religious faith as long as the belief I adhere to does not require harming or killing people and/or animals, using dangerous narcotics or keeping fifteen spouses, half of them being underage. I’m allowed to write as a member of the press as long as I’m not printing calls to violence or certain personally identifying information about other people. I am allowed to get a group of friends together for a gathering or celebration – as long as it is peaceful, meaning no riots, no stealing, no assault, no stopping traffic and no killing. I am allowed to petition the government as long as it’s honest and I’m not signing other people’s names to said petition. I am allowed to speak my mind freely, as long as I’m not issuing threats or inciting others to violence.
If a person believes that their race is superior, they are allowed to express that belief. Not many people will like them (unless they’re in the New Black Panther Party or La Raza, of course, which are acceptable because whitey did them wrong), but anyone is allowed to express racist ideas as long as they’re not violent. I don’t like Fred Phelps or his ilk, but they have a right to express their views. I may not like the fact that the Stocktons refused to serve a gay customer, but regardless of the reason for the refusal, to refuse is their right.
In the same vein, if this had happened to me, it would be my right to tell everyone I knew about what they had done and take my business elsewhere. If I had been the customer they denied service to I would have gotten a word-of-mouth grassfire going so that people knew not to go there. I would never expect the government to step in and tell a private business that they are required to serve me.
Look at it this way: we don’t like it when Christians come to protest and hand out gospel literature outside of gay pride festivals. We ask that police remove them to avoid disrupting the atmosphere and avoid possible violence. If we force businesses like this one to serve us, they will have every right to force us to simply accept their presence, no matter how rude, degrading or insulting their remarks might be.
If it turns out that the business license and/or the property owner required the Stocktons to sign a nondiscrimination agreement then they will be bound by it. If they weren’t, as I suspect, then the issue needs to be dropped. Period. Forcing other people to accept us is a double-edged sword. If we keep up like this, that blade will eventually swing our way.
steveflesher
Philip
Mel Maguire
Mark Ciavola
