If You Can't Say Something Nice...

An open letter to anti-gay Christians:

Dear Christian,

I'm not looking to change your mind or your opinion about homosexuality. To put it bluntly, I don't give two shits what you think. If you want to think being gay is a sin and punishable by eternal damnation, fine. That's no skin off my nose. I think you're wrong, but the opinion that you're wrong doesn't change my day to day life one bit. And I'm not looking to change your thought process by way of legislation.

Now, I ask you do the same for gay people.

You believe they're sinning and that they are sinful. Fine. Believe that. No one cares. But where you are doing damage is when you start looking to take these beliefs and force them down everyone else's throat via legislation. When you vote against gay marriage, when you support "Religious Freedom" laws like what are being proposed here in Missouri, you are taking your opinion and trying to force everyone else to live by that opinion.

Again, gay people are gross, they're going to hell, blah, blah, blah. I've heard it all before, so have all the gays, no one is unaware about what you think. I'm not going to try to change your opinion. But consider these questions:

Does gay people getting married change your life one bit? No. It doesn't affect your marriage or your home life. It doesn't affect your own ability to get married. It doesn't affect you anymore than divorcees getting remarried, which your bible is just as adamant is wrong. It doesn't affect you anymore than the five minute marriages that happen all the time in Vegas. In fact, a five minute marriage happened just now. Are you feeling woozy? Dizzy? Do you have an uncontrollable urge to go home and divorce your wife or your husband? No? Exactly. I'm not saying that you need to vote FOR gay marriage. Just stop voting against it. Would it kill you to simply leave that ballot box unchecked? To say, "I can't say anything nice about this, so I'm just going to keep my mouth shut." Here's the truth of the issue: Gay marriage is going to be a reality. Very soon, in all 50 states. The polls are inescapable. Minds are changing faster on this issue than they did over any other civil rights issue in history. By dragging out the fight, you're only painfully elongating being run over by a train.

Will your church have to marry gay couples? No. The Catholic church doesn't have to marry heterosexual couples that they don't think should get married (like divorcees, non-Catholics, etc.) but the Catholics aren't trying to push through legislation stating that NO ONE who has been divorced can ever get married. Or that non Catholics can't be married. Do you see the distinction? Have you religious belief. Go nuts. But that should be separate from taking that belief and cramming it down the throats of the general public.

Basically, this issue means nothing to you. It doesn't affect your day to day life at all. But it means everything to gay people. I get you don't like them. You think they're going to hell. But isn't eternal torture in an afterlife punishment enough for you? Why are you trying to make their lives here on earth hell? I believe the bible verse to quote here would be "Vengence is mine, saith the Lord."

You don't have to approve. You don't even have to stop having an opinion. Just stop trying to legislate your opinion like it's a fact. Here are some facts for you: In places where gay marriage is allowed, it has not had any disastrous consequences for those societies. And if you compare the countries that allow gay marriage with the countries that HAVE created the kind of anti-gay societies that you dream about, you'll notice a disturbing difference. All of the countries that allow gay marriage are distinctly first world. Almost all the countries that have enacted homophobic laws are either hell-hole third world countries (I'm looking at you, Uganda) or crazy theocratic states where even you, dear Christian, might lose your head because you are a Christian and not a Muslim.

A society that allows its citizens to be free and be who they are benefits everyone. You're allowed to be homophobic and I'm allowed to think you're an asshole and hope that at least one of your children is born gay and changes your mind. But neither of us should try and create a law that will force the other one to change.




Sincerely,

A Proud Straight Ally



P.S. A further side note to the Christians who say, "Oh, only God can judge. I don't hate gay people. I totally have gay friends." But simultaneously hold the belief that gays shouldn't get married and vote against it all the time in the privacy of the election booth...Fuck you. You are just as bad as the rabidly homophobic Christians. In fact you're worse. Because you'll hold hands with a gay person and then with that same hand go into the election booth and seek to deny them their most sought after right: to marry the person they love. At least the openly anti-gay Christians are honest about their homophobia. Grow a spine and choose a side.