Why I Don’t Respect Christians’ and Republicans’ Opinions On Homosexuality

Got into a bit of a debate with my sister-in-law last night, who was lamenting the lack of equal face time for folks who are against gay marriage/adoption by Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos.

This got a bit more heated than it would have because her husband (my brother) sent me a smug note saying ‘She really kicked your ass, man’, when my sister in law didn’t even bother to answer my questions or address the content of my response.

So, it escalated into this:

How am I to respect your opinion when you won’t answer my questions? Where in the Bible does Jesus Christ himself condemn gay people? (I’ll save you the time. Jesus Christ never discussed homosexuality, which should be a clue for Christians about whether or not it’s immoral.) Why are you angry that someone might think it’s uncool to discriminate against gay people? (Especially when said discrimination is based upon false premises.)

If it’s because of the verse in Leviticus, then I can only assume you have an equally strong aversion to shellfish and mixed fabrics, because they too are condemned. But, no one, for some odd reason, seems to think there should be laws against eating shrimp or wearing polyblends. Usury is condemned as well, but since you’re married to a man who works in the financial industry, I think it’s safe to assume that you don’t think there should be laws against usury either. But, for some reason Christians are perfectly cool with pulling that verse out of the Bible to condemn gay people, and ignoring the rest, and there’s quite a bit of scholarly contention about whether their exploitation of that verse is correct in the first place.

As for my point on the term ‘natural’, it means ‘existent in nature’. Homosexuality exists in tens of thousands of species, as well as human beings. To call it ‘unnatural’ as all of the Republican candidates do, is not simply an erroneous opinion, it’s a willful ignorance or denial of scientific fact, which I certainly will not respect and will condemn with the strongest possible convictions. Willful ignorance is intolerable especially in men who’d presume to lead the United States.

I don’t want my opinion heard. I want this to be the non-issue that it should be. I want gay people to have equal rights to straight people, if not culturally then legally. In many states, it’s still legal to fire people for being gay. In many states, it’s still a legal defense for murder to claim that a gay person came onto you. (A kid in California was even shot in front of his classmates for this ‘offense’, and the jury refused to convict.) Texas has refused to repeal its criminal statute against gay sex even though the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional almost a decade ago. Universities can have funding pulled for adopting non-discrimination polices that protect gay people. Children who are kicked out of their homes for being gay have no legitimate legal recourse. And, for some strange reason, people seem to think it’s better for a child to languish in the foster care instead of finding a stable home with a loving and monogamous gay couple.

I know you don’t support these things, but you’re defending people who do, which I don’t rightly understand. I feel strongly about this because I’ve had to physically protect gay people from being bullied, and no opinion is worth the validation of violence against people.

Truly I wish I didn’t have to respond to those kinds of opinions. Republicans should be focusing on fulfilling their promises right now, not trying to roll back the clock on equal rights for gay people. There are still tens of millions of people in this country who are out of a job, and I think we can both agree that the people running for president should be more concerned about Americans starving than policing consenting adults’ sex lives and and proving their jesus freakiness by approving hatred against gay people.

And, I’d like to see either of you have to physically interfere with someone trying to assault a gay person and tell me you still think it’s ‘just a matter of opinion’.

17 ♥ 01.08.12

California teen admits killing gay student, to serve 25 years.

foreverliberal:

(CNN) — Months after a jury couldn’t decide his fate, a Southern California teen has agreed to plead guilty for gunning down a gay classmate three years ago in their junior high classroom.

In September, a judge declared a mistrial in the case of Brandon McInerney, now 17, after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked following a nine-week trial on whether he should be found guilty of manslaughter or murder. The next month, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced that McInerney would be retried on first-degree murder charges as an adult. McInerney also was tried as an adult in the first trial.

The district attorney’s office said Monday that, since then, it had “carefully reviewed the jury’s determination” and talked with some jurors. It also engaged in talks with the victim’s family, McInerney and his attorneys after which the relevant parties “agreed upon a disposition that balances the unique facts of the case with the need to protect the public.”

Specifically, McInerney pleaded guilty to killing Lawrence King “under the penal code sections for both murder and voluntary manslaughter,” as well as to using a firearm in that crime. He will serve 11 years for manslaughter and 10 years for the use of a firearm, according to the district attorney’s office. His formal sentencing is set for December 19.

“He will serve the entire 21 years without time off for good behavior and will not receive time off his sentence for the three years and nine months he has spent in juvenile hall before sentencing,” the prosecutor’s office said, concluding that he’d then serve nearly 25 years total.

Had he been convicted on all the new charges , McInerney would have faced a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in prison.

His defense attorney, Scott Wippert, told CNN affiliate KABC he thought the sentence was “appropriate … given all of the circumstances and all the evidence that came out at trial.”

“Obviously, we’ve always been of the opinion that he should have been tried as a juvenile,” Wippert said. “But that aside, given that he’s in adult court, I think that this sentence reflects the sentiments of the jury.”

McInerney was 14 when he brought a handgun belonging to relatives to E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, prosecutors said.

He shot the 15-year-old King twice at point-blank range in the back of the head, while both were typing papers in a computer lab for their English class along with two dozen students and their teacher, authorities said.

Friends said King, an eighth grader who lived in a group home called Casa Pacifica, was proud of being openly gay. He liked wearing jewelry and makeup to school and he often wore high-heeled boots with the school uniform. He asked his teachers to call him Leticia instead of Larry. Some students bullied him, pupils said.

Other students said McInerney was also subject to some harassment because King had a crush on him and made it publicly known.

The Ventura County district attorney’s office on Monday acknowledged criticism about its decision to try McInerney as an adult. The office stood by its decision, saying the options “available in the juvenile system were inadequate.”

“This (plea agreement) is based upon the unique facts and circumstances of this case, and we believe it is a just result that balances the age and maturity level of the defendant with public safety and the gravity of the crime,” the office said.

The victim’s father, Greg King, described the plea agreement as “bittersweet,” saying he didn’t think the sentence equated to the crime but understood the thinking behind the deal.

“I think they should have taken another shot at it, but I understand why they didn’t,” he told CNN affiliate KCAL. “But we’ve been going this for … years and at least there’s some closure coming up.”

Only 25 years, for murdering a classmate in cold blood? Wow, this murderer is lucky he didn’t kill a straight white kid, and it’s unlucky for us that this person will get out of prison while he’s still young, perhaps even to murder again.

31 ♥ 11.22.11

Baker refuses to bake a wedding cake for lesbian couple - CNN

____

“It’s not about discrimination.”

“It’s about my walk with God.”

“It’s not about them, so much as it is about me.”

“It’s my right as a business owner.”

Funny, I don’t recall Jesus giving people a fucking moral examination before handing out those storied loaves of bread and free fish, which leads me to believe that this baker doesn’t really understand Christ’s teachings like she thinks she does.

We’ve heard all of this bullshit before. Conscientious objections to baking a loving, monogamous couple a fucking cake? (Which they would have paid several thousands of dollars for, at that?) This is one of the reasons why I absolutely despise religion in this country.

Paying lip service to an imaginary friend on Sundays does not give you the right to demean good people that you don’t even fucking know. In fact, the basic conceptual nature of Christ’s teaching was to be unconditionally loving to all, cunt.

Also, this baker seems to have a very ignorant understanding of history, as the United States has long championed the notion that businesses do not have the right to discriminate against minority populations in this country, and queer people are a minority.

Here’s the contact info for Ms. Victoria, if you want to let her know how you feel about her hateful treatment of gay people: http://weddingcakesdesmoines.com/Contact_Us.html

27 ♥ 11.16.11

gaywrites:

Run for your life!

We laugh at this, but that’s actually the way Republican morons see it. Britney Spears and Kim Kardashian aren’t the threats, but queer people who are in loving monogamous relationships.

307 ♥ 11.11.11

writtenmemory4:

Great point.

That bitch.

14394 ♥ 10.31.11

bryndonovan:

blogvader:

goodreasonnews:

Teacher posts on Facebook calling for more homosexual teenagers to kill themselves.

Despicable.

The teacher’s name is Jim Whitney.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x717134604/Joplin-teacher-s-alleged-remarks-prompt-complaints-to-district

You can email him expressing your thoughts.

jwhitney@joplin.k12.mo.us

coachwhitney@aol.com

If you would like to phone Dr. Kerry Sachetta, the principal of Joplin High School, to ask for Whitney’s dismissal here is the number. Remember, civil requests often work best. 417-625-5230 ext. 3002

Or if you’d like to recommend this to the President of the Board of Education, Ashley Micklethwaite, you can email her here.

ashleyrviii@hotmail.com

Please reblog.

I’d encourage everyone who cares about teens, bullying, and homophobia to email the district and call for Mr. Whitney’s firing in light of his lack of shame and destructive views.

41 ♥ 10.26.11

Sperm cells created from female embryo

just-to-see-you-smileee:

When I read about this about 10 years ago, it was just in the HYPOTHESIS STAGE. OH MY GOD.

Sperm cells have been created from a female human embryo in a remarkable breakthrough that suggests it may be possible for lesbian couples to have their own biological children.

British scientists who had already coaxed male bone marrow cells to develop into primitive sperm cells have now repeated the feat with female embryonic stem cells.

The University of Newcastle team that has achieved the feat is now applying for permission to turn the bone marrow of a woman into sperm which, if successful, would make the method more practical than with embryonic cells.

It raises the possibility of lesbian couples one day having children who share both their genes as sperm created from the bone marrow of one woman could be used to fertilise an egg from her partner.

Science: making the world better, one experiment at a time.

5202 ♥ 10.23.11

Another One Bites The Dust…

…folks, if you’re genuinely thinking of harming yourself… please fucking tell someone. (And my ask box is always open for folks in pain.) Posting suicide notes on your Tumblr may make for great news and great theater, but you only get one life, and revenge against (or relief from) your tormentors isn’t worth missing it.

And religious people, you should be fucking ashamed for propagating hateful ideas that cause kids to off themselves.

6 ♥ 10.17.11

US Military Ready for DADT Repeal - KC Star

First of all, let me congratulate queer servicemen that finally have the right to serve openly in our military.

It’s satisfying to see some good news amidst all of the political uncertainty in this country, and it’s about fucking time that queer soldiers be afforded the dignity and respect they deserve for their service to a country that does everything it can to marginalize, demonize, and relegate them to second-class citizenry.

It’s also satisfying to see the lies of old, lazy Christian legislators exposed for the falsehoods that they are, but that was to be expected. Those of us who don’t ignore the other 9/10 of the globe know, Israel has allowed gays to serve since 1993. Canada has allowed them since 1992. Great Britain has allowed gays to serve since 2000, including transgendered people.

The empirical evidence demonstrates that not only did Republicans lie about DADT, but they likely did so willfully, given the fact that so many of our allies have allowed gays to serve with no ill effects.

Per KansasCity.com:

After years of debate and months of final preparations, the military can no longer prevent gays from serving openly in its ranks.

Repeal of a 1993 law that allowed gays to serve only so long as they kept their sexual orientation private took effect Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. EDT.

Some in Congress still oppose the change, but top Pentagon leaders have certified that it will not undermine the military’s ability to recruit or to fight wars.

Mike Harmon Wants To Let Religious KY Students “Condemn” LGBT Kids - Queerty

Seriously? And mere weeks after another religious scumbag gets off after murdering a gay classmate and tries to use the fucking gay panic defense?

This douchebag is going to ADVOCATE bullying, harassment, and violence in the name of Christianity? I suppose I should expect nothing less in a state that just forked over 200 million dollars in free taxpayer cash for a Creationist museum.

Seriously, Kentucky. Go fuck yourself.

Per Queerty:

A Kentucky House committee “overwhelmingly approved” HB 370, a measure that prohibits any bullying based on sexual orientation, race or religion. But religious Republican lawmaker Mike Harmon would like to add an amendment that would “allow students to condemn other student’s sexual preferences as long as that expression of a religious belief does not include physical harm.” He is also pushing an amendment that would it make it legal to carry a concealed weapon on school grounds.

10 ♥ 09.15.11