On behalf of straight liberals, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry we haven't done more to show our solidarity with you.

I'm sorry we haven't occupied DC.

I'm sorry we haven't refused to work for discriminatory companies and refused to buy their products.

I'm sorry we haven't been louder.

I'm sorry, mostly, that we live in a country filled with ignorant wackos.

:cry:

it's good to know that people like you are willing to stand up for us and with us.

:hug:

I mean for fuck's sake, what is wrong with these idiots? They live in perpetual fear and disgust.

M0ore and more, the ignorant wackos are seen by most of America as just that — ignorant wackos. I don't think any gay person need fear this constitutional amendment. If we actually get a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, I swear I will eat my dirty boxer shorts.

The fact that such an amendment has zero chance of passing is a testimony to how few ignorant wackos there are, not how many. It's just that ignorant wackos tend to be very loud and very demanding, and the squeaky wheel gets the grease — no matter how asinine that metaphoric wheel may be.

I do my best, but that probably isn't enough.

:hug:

:hug:

That makes it all the less painful. :)

I am from a high-school educated, lower-middle-class, Southern-by-culture, Baptist, confederate-flag-tattoo-having, East Texas background. And I can think. And see.

So I make no excuses for the others. They are beyond ignorant. They are either stupid or evil. Or both.

from year to year. It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear: you've got to be carefully taught ... You've got to be taught before it's too late -- before you are six or seven or eight -- to hate all the people your relatives hate. You've got to be carefully taught!"

Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein, South Pacific

of homosexuals. I want to be on the front lines of the civil war against "christians." They want to fuck with my constitution; they'll have to kill me. (and that won't be an easy task.)

To my fellow law abiding, tax paying Americans who happen to be gay, you enjoy your life and thanks for letting me enjoy mine.

There's always more that can be done ... that must be done ...

And don't any of you get the idea that it can't happen to you. I was nearly killed in late 1984 by a violent gay-basher who started screaming that I was a "f*gg*t" and then jumped on me -- for no reason whatsoever other than his own hatred and paranoia. Yes, it can happen to you, and we're all in this together, whether we like it or not.

It's not that hate is bad. It's not that hate is bad for you. It's that hate is a form of social, cultural, and planetary self-destruction that stops at nothing once it gets started.

The wackos in the GOP are playing with fire on these issues. They're trading lives for votes -- a lot of lives, and a very few votes. Republican Conservatives or not, this is one of the issues that has to become truly non-partisan and universal.

--p!

Today's speech condoning bigotry and hatred infuriated me. I have lost several dear friends to Aids over the years.
I watched them get sick, and die, and try along the way to be brave about it, and try to hide how bad it was from their friends, because of their concern for US. I have seen loving, devoted partners suffering rejection from their own families, and face the pain of choosing to lead life as they were born to lead it, or staying in the closet, miserable by having to pretend.

We should all be in this fight. This is a question of equal rights. The coward who is the pretend president is willing to enshrine this unequal treatment by denying gay citizens the rights the rest of us have. It will not stop at this, if the wing-nut population is able to get the Constitution changed, although I think that's unlikely. What it does do, though, is to give permission to consider some second class citizens, and make hatred one of the most cherished Republican values.

I try. I really do. But, some people are mindless idiots.

the GLBT way isn't for me, but I certainly have no right to tell anyone that they can't live how they want to....

straight.

I'm straight.

I'm sorry.

But make no mistake, I am **right there** with every one of my brothers and sisters, no matter the size, color, smell, or taste.

...because in a free country, we the majority (in this case meaning straight people) should never have allowed this to happen.

You're, after all, our sisters, brothers, parents, kids, friends and so on, but most of all, you're our fellow Americans.

This once-great nation began with the Declaration of Independence.

It's second paragraph begins,

" We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness....

Now let's get busy and throw these bums out of office.

But you know, we in the gay "community" are guilty of being complacent too.

So many people are still afraid to come out, so they think we're only 2% of the population, so many of us have REASON not to come out all basically because we're afraid of losing the people we love. So it is something we're all a part of and something we could mend together.

But again, I appreciate your sentiment and am thankful for "straight" people like you.

Peace and love.

I often wish more people would come out so that we would have more help working on these issues but if I was gay I would also have second or maybe third thoughts about it for just the reasons you state. Add to that the violence and there are really a lot of reasons not to come out and not to work on these issues.

Every now and then I allow myself to chuckle over the fact that there really are many of you and these idiots just do not know that. I have a picture in my mind....someday.

Your support still means a lot. *hugs*

We need to be thankful for the supporters who we *DO* have, because you're going to ultimately help us change the world.

Survival mechanism. With heteros, I've only observed that as long as I hide my "fairy instincts", I'm treated as a real person. I rather like that.

But I've increasingly found that I'm not liked in the gay community as a person.

These days, I know which state of mind is preferable: Being considered a person, even if it means having to hide. Doesn't bother me. I've no "relationship" to "protect".

You have nothing to apologize for.

I have to apologize. For being me.

Everytime you hide who you really are you're only saying that you are ashamed of who you are. Do not be ashamed. Be proud.

If you're friends are only friends with you because you're "straight acting" they're not your friends at all.

"Compulsory heterosexuality is not about a compulsory way to fuck. It is about pairing men and women in a system that puts men OVER women. The eeeiiiwww response to homosexual acts programmed into superficial heterosexuality is just part of the more general policing of this system. But it is a well-programmed response, and it has political force.

<snip>

The demands of gay couples for this simple legal recognition of their unions is directly related to the struggle against patriarchy… which is predicated on compulsory heterosexuality. ..."

http://stangoff.com/?p=298

There is no excuse for the hatred toward gays in this culture.

In many other cultures gays have been (and are) honored, holding a position of respect.

I must say that I never really thought about gays until a gay couple in a small town in Switzerland saved myself and a friend from being raped by macho local hetero creeps. The four of us traveled for awhile from Youth Hostel to Youth Hostel -- watching each other's backs. The gay couple were aghast that we had to watch out for the "straight" guys -- and we learned that they were being groped by other gays in certain bars. We learned that there are different kinds of sexual harassment.

So today when a macho male starts going on a rant about gays -- I just tell them about the gays guys who rescued me from "straight" males in Switzerland. That shuts them up . . .

how my fellow DUers in this forum were doing tonight after they were
heartlessly used as political blood money today. I have been furious all
day, near tears, and left wondering how it has come to this in the U.S. The
only encouraging thing to me is that the passing of the amendment is not likely
to succeed in the Congress. Why? Because the representatives and senators know
that this amendment is WRONG.

Now, more than ever, the Democratic Party has GOT to be highly vocal about
this latest outrage. I find it so ironic that that federal government has stringent
rules in place to prevent discrimination- yet, this administration is willing to
hurt and destroy gay families at will.

The support from DU is awesome! But I still find it very hard to feel like I am truly an American; isn't this the land of the free?

And anyway, crying will only smear the mascara. You wouldn't want to look like an insane racoon or Tammy Faye, do you? It's not too late to join us, though. :toast:

I had to pull off into a parking lot because I was crying and couldn't see to drive.

I felt utterly at a loss. I thought about the days when blacks and whites could not marry. I thought we were more enlightened now. But no, my country is crap based on hate and bigotry. It is 1952. I thought we were moving towards better things, not traveling backwards. But we have allowed bigotry and hate and ignorance to stomp our intelligence and rob our joy and love.

I'm an old straight lady blessed with the love and joy of having gays and lesbians in my family and circle. Having my loved ones regarded or treated as less than any others makes me deeply angry. Bigotry makes me angry.

Today, for a minute, I cried for the hatred and ignorance in our country. Now I am angry again, and I will not rest. Not ever.

Just do what you can now and don't feel sorry for what you didn't do in the past. :hug:

Never be sorry for the idiots you have no control over. It will only drive you crazy. :crazy: