This Ain't Montgomery and YOU Ain't Rosa Parks!

Published on June 4, 2005 By Gideon MacLeish In Politics

While I'm firmly against the idea of banning gay marriage, I am sick and tired of those who make the current puch to gay marriages out to be some sort of civil rights crusade. Put simply, it isn't.

While there are some who disagree with me, I have yet to see compelling evidence that homosexuality is a part of a person's genetic makeup. If it were, would there be a large number of people who left the homosexual lifestyle? Think about it. Sure, you can insist that they're living contrary to their nature, but that's a weak argument at best.

Pushing homosexual rights as a civil rights issue is the Achilles Heel of the gay rights movement. Most people simply do not believe it to be a civil rights issue, and many, myself included, see the analogy as a slap in the face of great men such as Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and the many, many others, who fought, and often died, to ensure equality for minorities. I have yet to see a "straights only" lunch counter, or homosexuals being sent to the back of the bus. You aren't kicked out of public swimming pools, no governor is standing at the schoolhouse door to bar your entrance (before you play the "Ryan White" card, let me remind you that, while the school's actions were appalling, Ryan White was not gay), and there are no "Jim Crow" laws to bar you from voting. No poll taxes, and no "separate but equal" education (marriage and education are VASTLY different issues, by the way).

You see, I view homosexuality as a lifestyle CHOICE. And I support, and will continue to support, your right to make that CHOICE. I also believe that your CHOICE should extend to your right to make a public commitment to the partner of your CHOICE without shame or rebuke. As I have said before, I really don't see marriage as the proper domain of the government.

If you wish to change minds and rally people to your cause, you MUST respect the ideals and values upon which their beliefs are based. And that includes the perception they have about your lifestyle. If you focused on your rights to make a choice instead of your hardheaded insistence that we accept your crusade as a new civil rights movement, you would find a few more people in your corner.

Comments (Page 5)

Zoomba

on Jun 10, 2005

Shhhhh! I am agreeing with you again! Just dont let it out.

Curse me and my rational, thought-out points again huh?

zinkadoodle

on Jun 10, 2005

No....the Supreme court defined marriage as Constitutional. The Constitution does not say it directly, but it is included in Amendment Nine and to some extent in Amendment Ten.

Thank you, DH, for clearing that up. I've not had time to find it in the Constitution, and I know that marriage wasn't explicit in the Constitution. I did know, however, that equal rights and protections are.

So, LW, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

While not necessarily an issue of civil rights, it is an issue of equal application of the law not clouded by individual religious values. Christians are outraged at the attempt to pass laws and rules to limit the public display of their faith, or even in some cases to just practice their basic faith. They say how dare you deny me this because you disagree with my values? Yet they turn around and try to do the exact same thing here.

Zoomba, you have a gift of articulation. Well done. This is a great point, which Christians seem to overlook, for lack of a better term.

LW, I don't really care if you're religious or not. That was not the point. But, no question, you are supporting the Christian push to get their viewpoints and causes forwarded into political agendas. This is but one case. And again, I ask.... What affect will having gays recognized as civil unions do you find so objectionable, and what skin is it off your back if they do receive such equal protection under the law? I suspect absolutely nothing, other than you're just an overly judgmental person with too much time on your hands to blog away all goddamm day about things that do not affect you in any way whatsoever. And, while you're stuffing your pipe, shove this thought up the other end. You'll get quite the high.

Sheesh, some people.............

drmiler

on Jun 10, 2005

LW, I don't really care if you're religious or not. That was not the point. But, no question, you are supporting the Christian push to get their viewpoints and causes forwarded into political agendas. This is but one case. And again, I ask.... What affect will having gays recognized as civil unions do you find so objectionable, and what skin is it off your back if they do receive such equal protection under the law? I suspect absolutely nothing, other than you're just an overly judgmental person with too much time on your hands to blog away all goddamm day about things that do not affect you in any way whatsoever. And, while you're stuffing your pipe, shove this thought up the other end. You'll get quite the high.

Sheesh, some people.............

This was ENTIRELY uncalled for! If you can't remain civil then just go away!

Zoomba

on Jun 10, 2005

I suspect absolutely nothing, other than you're just an overly judgmental person with too much time on your hands to blog away all goddamm day about things that do not affect you in any way whatsoever. And, while you're stuffing your pipe, shove this thought up the other end. You'll get quite the high.

You just had to go and completely ruin the point you were trying to make by spouting this inflamatory crap? There was merit to what you were trying to say but you destroyed all credibility you might have had right there.

The gift of articulation/debating is one part knowing how to say what you mean, and one part knowing when to just keep your mouth shut.

drmiler

on Jun 10, 2005

#73 by Zoomba
Friday, June 10, 2005

I suspect absolutely nothing, other than you're just an overly judgmental person with too much time on your hands to blog away all goddamm day about things that do not affect you in any way whatsoever. And, while you're stuffing your pipe, shove this thought up the other end. You'll get quite the high.

You just had to go and completely ruin the point you were trying to make by spouting this inflamatory crap? There was merit to what you were trying to say but you destroyed all credibility you might have had right there.

The gift of articulation/debating is one part knowing how to say what you mean, and one part knowing when to just keep your mouth shut.

Aw hell Zoom, let him alone. He destroys his credibility every time he opens his mouth!

zinkadoodle

on Jun 10, 2005

The gift of articulation/debating is one part knowing how to say what you mean, and one part knowing when to just keep your mouth shut

Point well taken. I apologize, sincerely.

zinkadoodle

on Jun 10, 2005

drmiler, the post was not directed at you, so STFU.

drmiler

on Jun 10, 2005

#76 by zinkadoodle
Friday, June 10, 2005

drmiler, the post was not directed at you, so STFU.

Back at ya fool!

Ionolast

on Jun 10, 2005

*stomps foot* IT IS TOO! SO THERE!

ericseba

on Jun 10, 2005

I posted my feelings about this on another blog. A talk show host here in Atlanta, Neal Boortz, who is a libertarian, said this in response to a gay man who felt he should have "equal" rights as straight people; you have every right in marriage that I do, you can marry any woman you want to, what you are demanding is a "special" right.

This sort of sums up my position. If we have to reword laws or rewrite or amend constitutions so that it says that a man can marry man or a woman can marry a woman, then you are awarding "special", not "equal" rights.

I am in the camp that believes homosexuality is a genetic trait, I work near the Ansley area of Atlanta which is a bastion of homosexuals. They are very nice people and pretty much want the same things in life as anyone. My Uncle is gay and I have another "uncle" that has been his partner for nearly my entire 36 years. They went to a civil union friendly state to get married because it meant something to them, but not for the benefits. They have given each other near marital rights by use of power of attorneys and well thought out wills that any straight single guy could do to make sure that his estate was handled properly.

But rewriting laws to accomodate this genetic trait is not right. Besides, the next thing you know, two resourceful, straight bachelors will play off being gay just to get the benefits of a civil union.

zinkadoodle

on Jun 10, 2005

I have yet to be convinced that marriage is a right, period. So until I am, I stand on my original point, gays have no right to marry. No-one does.

I don't understand. Are you saying that you don't believe in the institution of marriage at all?

Also, I find it pretty disengenuous to equate gay rights and their equal protection under the law with that of disassembling the separation of church and state. Totally ridiculous, like comparing apples and oranges. A totally specious argument if ever I heard one.

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