Americans have a RIGHT to be bigoted.. They have a RIGHT to not like gay people or not like christians or not like pastafarians..

And they have a RIGHT to have THEIR beliefs and THEIR morals w/o being demonized by those who CALL for "tolerance", yet who are ONLY tolerant about beliefs that are identical to their own...

If one wants tolerance, then one must BE tolerant..

It's a simple concept...

Michale

But do you support the rights of those who wish to laugh at and ridicule the Pastafarians??

THAT is the question that is at hand...

Michale

eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

:D

Michale

Sorry to disappoint, but I am already a known supporter of the rights of the Pastafarians.

May His noodly appendage touch you, my friend.

Heh.

-CW

So, you have no problem with adding "Spaghetti People" to the protected class list?? Because I am SURE I can find some scientific paper SOMEWHERE that "proves" that people who like spaghetti are "born that way"... :^/

Or: "perhaps you owe me an apology" maybe?

#3 was in reference to dsws' comment..

As I always say, you are the exception that emphasizes the rule. You are the standard to follow.

It's just that no one ever does.. :D

Michale

No, it's not silly. Race isn't the only protected class in this country (using the term in its legal sense).

There's religion, country of origin, sex... there are many such classes written into non-discrimination laws. Gays are just going to be added to an already-existing list, only one of which items is "race."

dsws [2] -

I'm more optimistic, but at heart I agree -- it'll become mostly-ignored and sometimes-dog-whistled in the GOP. But as it becomes as normal as interracial marriage, it will become more and more a subject that just isn't talked about anymore and relegated to the fringe.

Michale [3] -

Au contraire, mon frere. [too lazy to look up the proper accents...]

Right here, in front of your very eyes, is not only acknowledgement of Republicans doing the right thing on the issue, but in fact spotlighting them for doing so. If that isn't "credit" given where it's due, I don't know what is!

In other words: Thhhbbbpppppt! [sound of Bronx cheer]

Or: "perhaps you owe me an apology" maybe?

Actually, to toss you a bone (so to speak), I do agree with you on the "homophobe" term. I protested it when it first arose, back in the 1980s, and I got rafts of grief from my incredibly-lefty university colleagues. But it is a snappy term, and nothing else came along to challenge it. Technically, it would have to be something like "anti-gay" but that never caught on. There are anti-gay politicians, to be sure. But I have to agree, to call someone "homophobic" is to attempt to read their mind. Which is not really fair.

-CW

I am also constrained to point out that there is absolutely NO (Zero.. Zilch... Nada.... None) evidence to support the claim that people are "afraid" of gay people.

So, the term itself, homophobe, is just a whole lot of Left Wing bullshit...

Michale

"We tolerate ALL other people's beliefs.. As long as we agree with the beliefs.."

That's not tolerance..

That ideological slavery...

Michale

It IS possible to have a moral objection to the gay lifestyle without being homophobic...

Just so'se ya know.... :D

Michale

Michale

Not in this lifetime of the Party. Of course, the mid-twentieth-century Republican Party died and was reincarnated as the ante-bellum Democratic party: major parties in a single-seat plurality system can have an unlimited number of lifetimes.

Instead, I predict they'll find a way to dog-whistle the issue. There will be a gradually decreasing percentage of the electorate that will never really accept defeat, and Republican politicians will find ways of expressing solidarity with those voters. Mostly they'll ignore gay marriage. When the subject comes up, they may for example insist on the right of a church to refuse to perform weddings for anyone they feel like, rather than address the question of legal marriage at all. They'll also continue with the "special rights" line they've been using all along.

I can't imagine that it will ever be effective as a wedge issue. Anyone who has an objection to being in the same Party with some virulent homophobes isn't a Republican to begin with.

Will Republicans actually get CREDIT for "evolving" on gay marriage?? :D

Wanna lay any bets on THAT!?? :D

Me, personally. I find the whole debate ludicrous..

I mean, honestly. Don'tcha think it's ridiculous to classify an entire "race" of people solely and completely based on who they find sexually attractive??

Put another way...

How rational would be be to classify a "race" of people called "spaghetti people" based solely and completely on whether a person likes spaghetti or not..

Ridiculous, iddn't it??

Michale