Gay Rights

[athenaltena]

"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?" - Ernest Gaines

We would like to know who really believes in gay rights on LiveJournal. There is no bribe of a miracle or anything like that. If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights." If you don't believe in gay rights, then just ignore this.

(Reposted from a gratifying number of you.)

Edit: Not entirely sure I like the language of this after mulling for a bit, it seems very "You're with us or you're against us!" which has always struck me as a very anti productive attitude. I would say "support" as oppose to "believe" as I think people can have differing beliefs and still be supportive of this issue, since fundementally I feel it's an issue about human rights before belief. I'll keep it up, however, but I definately don't like the tone.

Comments

[ar-wahan.livejournal.com]

Hehehe! The phrase in parentheses was my own addition ... but you aren't the only one to have included it in the repost!

[janus-2.livejournal.com]

Who said as a culture that guns do not bother us? Actually, that there are laws on owning guns, requirements to even purchase guns, and training required to own a gun so how much we consider guns to be dangerous. We do require things like a blood test, license, age, etc. for all marriages too. The morality of gay rights is a question that can not be compared to guns because guns are objects and not persons. Guns do not have rights, people do; however, those rights are subject to the Constitution. The Constitution protects minorities. However, the Constitution provides that a majority decision is law even if it descriminates against a minority. However, the Constitution also says the miniority can not be persecuted for their beliefs. It also does not allow for the minority to supplant the majority's decision unless there a clear case of intentional harm being done which means that there are laws not only making being gay illegal put also are enforced in such a way that they violate basic rights. Which means that by coming out and posting your life style choice in public you are exposing a part of your life to public scrunity and therefore lose the right to certain parts of your privacy on the topic. In other words, you lose the right to sue for slander/libel based on the grounds that your rights were violated unless you have evidence that the information that the person had was private and could not have been gotten through public access. The real problem is "Common Law" which has defined mariage as between a man and a women which has been based on British Law and the Bible (Puritans). Therefore, gay rights are very limited concerning mariage. This topic also affects older men and underage boys, Older women and underage girls, Older men and underage girls, Older women and underage boys, adoption, abortion, divorce, child custody, insurance, politics, and military.

[athenaltena.livejournal.com]

Gay rights go beyond marriage, I agree with you there. Gay rights means being able to live without being discriminated for insurance, health care, job oppurtunities, etc. Basically what the Civil Rights movement was seeking (though I realize making that comparison is unpopular, but there are definite parallels between the legislation passed and the justification for supressing said rights). Marriage is the most forefront of the many fold issue, but there are many others. I'm afraid that I could be fired from my job if I'm found out about, hence why I did not list the school's GSA on my job application as a club I had been in.

And just to nitpick, "life style choice" is language I disagree with, since it implies choice on the part of the person, which it isn't. I also feel the term "gay lifestyle" denotes a sense of homogenity within the community, which is not the case. I live no differently than other people within the context of everday life other than who I am attracted to. NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5594617) had an interesting commentary on the term lifestyle that I think shed some interesting light on what the word really means (or doesn't mean).

[athenaltena.livejournal.com]

By the way, I realize the guns comparison may not have been the best, but I interpretted the quote as meaning that the culture's concept of "morality" may be skewed. I believe the context of the quote had to do with the fuss over Brokeback Mountain but the indifference of the public relating to the almost omnipresent images of violence in the media. *shrug* That's just how I interpretted it. That and it might have do with what can really cause harm to the society, violence and the perpetuation of violence or two people honestly caring about and loving one another.

[janus-2.livejournal.com]

I believe in that we are responsible for our choices good and bad. We have the choice to accept negative motivations and act on them, like anger, hatred, bigtory, and murder, or we can control ourself and do the "right" thing. Morality is actually defined by the community for its benefit. What benefits the community is "Good" and what hurts it is "Bad". That is why Jesus taught that we are to treat others as we want to be treated. I may disagree with you on this but I respect your right to feel and say what you have. I believe in the Constitution for good and for bad. (Note: Nothing in this world is perfect.) Violence is something that the media has pumped up to much to sell newspapers and etc. They also do not like us being in Iraq but they cover all the deaths but not the progrss of rebuilding the entire country. Why are we there? It would destroy this country fiscally, militarily, and morally if we tried to fight terrorism here. I have some knowledge on the subject as I was in the military at the time of 9/11.