More Ignorance and Rhetoric from the Right

I ran across a post on the Napa Valley Register entitled “Separate and Not Equal”.  There are some typical, yet great points brought up about how a ban on gay marriage goes against the moral fabric of this nation.  The first three points the author mentions are;

1)  In a country founded on the separation of church and state, objections fueled by religious beliefs were allowed to alter the state constitution. Marriage is a civil right, transcending religious differences and definitions; it is not church property.

2) The California Supreme Court, created to impartially legislate ethical issues,  granted me the right to marry, then permitted this right to be taken away by a popular vote.

3)  Churches that sanction polygamy and harbor pedophiles are passing judgment on gay marriage.

It is not so much a religious issue as it is a moral issue. Fortunately, most traditional religions around the world still regard morality (sodomy is not moral) as an important facet to living a godly life. Again, it’s not necessarily a religious issue.

In a 4-3 vote a few humans on the state supreme court that fortunately millions of us were able to correct in yet another vote by a majority in ensuring a tradition that has been around for hundreds of thousands of years remained intact.

The only churches that might “sanction polygamy and harbor pedophiles” are the same churches allowing gays to marry.

You can move to a state that permits gay marriage. There are a few states that have lost their moral compass. You whine about demanding we, the majority, accept immoral behavior but it’s not fair that we, the majority prefer a to keep your sexual preferences and the bedroom out of our lives.

Children of same sex parents have nobody but their parents to blame for how they may be treated. The hate, intolerance and ignorance is coming from you and the NO crowd who don’t understand that this world lives to a higher standard, and that morality forms the base for how we should live. I know that’s a foreign concept to you.

Then there are those who claim not to be against it, but simply are obviously too busy to worry about other peoples rights;

Didn’t gay marriage get voted down, then made legal by the state overturning the vote, then voted down again for a second time.I could really care less but am tired of hearing about it.The voters have spoken…Twice!

When Barack Obama was elected, Whoopi Goldberg said “I have always felt like an American, but I finally feel like I can set my suitcase down.”  Unfortunately, because of so many Americans who let thier ignorance, bigotry and hate rule their safe and for granted lives, I’m still waiting to set my suitcase down.

Vatican Divorces Italian Parliment Over Gays

After the Vatican refused to sign the proposal approved by the United Nations declaring the decriminalization homosexuality, the Holy See has now announced that the Italian laws are:

Too numerous and unstable to work with

As of yesterday, laws passed by the Italian Parliament will be considered on an individual basis before adopting them as the Vatican’s.  The Vatican’s residents are obviously pissed off that the Italian government views homosexuals as human.

Although the Vatican is an independent state, residents of the Vatican are recognized as Italian citizens.

Driving Equality Found a Bright Spot in Warren

According to a post on the Examiner, a Massachusetts man has come up with a way to use Rick Warren to help raise awareness for the LGBT community. Here’s an excerpt.

Driving Equality is the project of Chris Mason of Massachusetts, which according to Chris is “a 100-day, 16,000-mile road-trip through all of the lower 48 states to examine LGBT equality and discrimination throughout the nation.” His intention is to create a documentary when his road trip is finished.

He has come up with a creative way to fund his project, which he calls the Rick-a-thon. He is accepting non-tax-deductible donations based on the amount of time Rick Warren speaks during the inauguration.

You can read the entire post by clicking here.

United States of Amensia & Cruelty of Religion

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I was recently in Washington D.C. at the LGBT Blogger Initiative.  On my last day in our nation’s capital, I decided to take advantage of a few hours of free time to visit some of the more popular sites such as the Capital building, the Washington Monument, and the White House.  I became very moved as I stood in front of The White House Gates peering through as I knew history was in the making.  Workers were busy constructing a platform on which President Obama would soon be standing as part of his inauguration ceremony.  A sense of pride came over me as I began to process the election was real and not just a dream.  “This country has made a great deal of progress” was the exact thought that went through my mind.

However, after leaving The White House, I ventured over towards the Lincoln Memorial.  After walking up the steps, I stood in awe, as if it was the first time I had seen it.  A gentleman next to me kindly tapped my shoulder and quietly asked if I would take his picture, it was then I realized why I had been standing silent in awe for quite sometime.  Here before me was a statute of a man who truly stood for liberty and justice for ALL!  What happened to this great man for standing up for equality…he was shot and killed.  It started to occur to me that most great men who dared to challenge injustice towards humans had suffered the same fate, MLK, JFK included.  I then walked past the Vietnam War Memorial, where I found myself overcome with tears. So many had died for no just cause, yet our nation had not learned from our past, instead we eagerly had repeated it.

My sadness grew as I continued on, but now it came from the thought of how so many hate, yet so few truly accept other’s differences in a county where our foundation was built on religious freedoms. This is suppose to be the land of the free.  What happened along the way?  Have we all forgotten that NONE of us actually stake a higher claim in America than anyone else?  Have we forgotten that we are ALL suppose to be equal? Americans are all from somewhere else.  That is what America is…a true to the sense melting pot.  This country is made up of rejects from many other countries who have built one of the greatest nations of all times.  Yet, with this in mind, there are still so many who are unwilling to accept or share this country with people who are different from themselves.  How ironic!

Over the decades, we have had to have inclusion forced upon us.  Yes this can be visited by remembering the facts that we enslaved people in this country.  We can also think about how those very people, once freed, were hated…and why?  Because they were different.  Because they didn’t come from America!  Again, none of us came from America, so again, irony.

But let’s not forget some other powerful contributors to inclusion.  There is a sect of people in this country who are fighting vehemently against the rights of equality for LGBT people…and why?  Fear.  Some of these people will tell you they don’t believe the majority should have to accommodate “special interest” groups. One thing they don’t consider is that we (the LGBT community) are NOT a special interest group, we are Americans.

There is also a great deal of irony in the above thought as well. For decades, there were no rules or laws that provided equality for another “special interest group”, America’s physically challenged. So many people fought against the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) because here again, the majority was being forced to accommodate the minority. What most people don’t stop to think about however, is how the most physically able benefit from the very things people fought against. When was the last time you crossed a street pulling a travel bag behind you? Isn’t it great that the curbs are required to have ramps designed for wheelchairs? Or when was the last time you were in a eatery or bar, and wanted to know what was being said on the TV mounted up in the corner of the noisy establishment? Thanks to those who can’t hear, we now have close captioning, which affords a benefit to the entire viewership!

I could go on for days with how we benefit by accommodations that were directly aimed at helping minorities. But hey, it’s much easier to forget. We don’t remember our past, where we came from and how things used to be. We don’t use these lessons to help make the future better for all. Americans live in a state of amnesia.

This brings me to religion in this country. We seem to have forgotten how religion is what killed women who were thought to be witches. We forget how religion was used to keep women from being equal to men. We forget how religion was used to maintain oppression and segregation against people of color. We forget how religion has been used to control by fear. How do I know we forget what religion has done…because it is still happening. Religion is being used to prevent the LGBT community from being equal American citizens. Again, we so easily forget. I’m not saying that religion is completely bad, but I am saying that, as history shows, religion has been deadly and dangerous many times over. This is why this country was founded on the belief in separation of church and state. Unfortunately, many Americans have amnesia when it comes to that as well.

Let America Be America again! Let’s not forget the atrocities of our past. Let’s not forget those who died because of religion. Let’s not forget how helping minorities has benefited the majority. Let’s not forget we all share the earth. Let’s not forget that rights should be equal for all, not just the majority. We get so caught up in believing we are right, that we forget we are not the world.

Non-Christians Contribute to USA Communities

Every once in a while I’ll run across something, though relatively simple, and perhaps not completely original in thought, it still manages to drive me a little more to be a better person. I’ve been talking about inclusion a great deal lately, because inclusion is how I believe the LGBT community will gain equality.

So, in light of what I’ve just said, I wanted to share with you a statement I read on a USA Today blog.  It is an excerpt from a short post entitled “Non-Christians Contribute to Communities Across USA” that I feels sums it up nicely.  When you look at the grand scheme, we are ALL the human race!

“The sooner we can acknowledge all of us as Americans not hyphenated religious or ethnic Americans the sooner we will take a giant step toward becoming one nation, regardless of how we relate to the creator of us all.” - Ira Lacher - Des Moines

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