And therein is the crux of the matter. My comfort ought never be weighed when it comes to what an individual may or may not do, so long as I am not directly harmed by the behavior. For, tyranny breathes its terrible life whenever a person or group is accorded the right to decide what behaviors another may and may not engage, what rights they may and may not enjoy. Such power is veritably a virulent assault on the human dignity of that targeted person or group, and on us all.
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Proposition 8, on the California ballot this November, seeks to deny to gays/homosexuals, and lesbians the right to wed another of their sexual orientation. The ballot initiative was placed there by folks who would have the rest of us believe it was for religious beliefs. Do they really believe the rest of us are that incredibly stupid? No! they did it out of nothing more elevating than their reptilian fear and the hatred that fear spawned. (See above re cherry-picking the things that are abominations to God.)
Moreover, the energy of these venom-brained serpents built when San Diego’s mayor, Jerry Sanders, recanted his promise to veto the city council motion supporting same-sex marriage. In a news conference, the mayor acknowledged his own daughter was gay, and that he could not in good conscience betray her right to her pursuit of happiness via marriage to whomever she chose. The Prop-8 supporters thereupon claimed the mayor had betrayed them. Ministers and conservatives from around the country denounced the mayor and threw cash into the campaign to make the proposition part of the state constitution.
I wonder. What about Paul’s original clients in Damascus, or the slave traders, after John Newton penned Amazing Grace, were they betrayed, or are these examples of men who found their conscience, and their salvation?
Certainly, those who endorse a prohibition against same-sex marriage are entitled to their opinions. Just remember, however, that segregation based on race; declaring who can ride on the bus and where, and which drinking fountains certain folk can use, and which restrooms, and which lunch counters, and which schools a child might attend, and which kinds of persons an individual could marry — all based on some standard of genetic appropriateness — are also opinions that all are entitled to. They who espouse those rancid notions have their right to do so, but the rest of us have an even greater moral obligation to excoriate them, to denounce them openly and assertively, for whatever invidious presuppositions may be the germinal seeds of those opinions.
Their claims of reliance on biblical edict will have validity only once they also virulently argue on behalf of a parent's right to burn his child alive, because God said so, or for daughters to get their father drunk, in order to have sex with him, or for an impure daughter to be stoned to death . . . Any holdings otherwise betray the stark truth: It’s all just blind fear and hatred.
_— Ed Tubbs
Thousand Oaks, CA
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PS — Of course I welcome responses, those that disagree as well as those that agree. But I’ve got to insist that only those retaining the courage of their convictions to include their real name and the city where they reside, exactly as they would for any letter to the editor, will be read or responded to. Now is the time for all of us to live up to the words and sentiments in our National Anthem.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
