Article comments: a window into the anti-gay soul

I often read the comments section for any article pertaining to gay rights or marriage equality. It's a brutal place. It's filled with many half-baked ideas on what exactly "tolerance" means and it often provides a deeper insight into the people that have - in their eyes - a well-meaning prejudice against gay couples and their families.

What's most alarming is the misunderstanding of the legal jeopardy gay people find themselves in. What I gather from most anti-gay posts is a reversal of who they feel is being discriminated against. Apparently, if a gay person wants to protest the LDS church for largley funding the recent amendments in Arizona and California, they are somehow bigots and filled with hate. Apparently, these amendments that singled out and continue to exclude gay couples from being able to be married should have been met by the gay community with quick acceptance of the majority's infinite wisdom, and that we sh0uld also feel lucky their tolerance of us includes actually speaking with us at our places of work and a deeper gratitude for not being fired or arrested.

It's like swallowing your own foot. If the LGBT community calls out religious institutions for funding and encouraging discrimination at the secular level, protests these places of worship and stops giving their hard-earned money to the oppositions' businesses, they are being discriminatory and intolerant. So, basically our intolerance of their intolerance makes us intolerant and filled with hate. Meh.

Here's a comment on a recent article aboutthe protest at the Mormon Temple in Mesa, Arizona:

Its about time the "gay community" GETS IT, The "Behavior" is what was Voted Down. Most people don't accept this Immorial Behavior. By packaging the behavior as normal and puting it on diplay, only reminds people how repulsive there behavior is. And if they continue to use the TOLERANCE card then they are going to be very unhappy. As the gays get Judges to sanction their actions, the majority will continue to loose faith in our System of Government. What will protect our rights then? AK47? So be careful for what you ask for! Question: Chicken or the Egg. Did hate crimes start to increase, before or after the gays started insisting that their behavior was normal and acceptible? Maybe its the behavior that should be recognized for what it is. Instead of TOLERANCE how about Traditional Rational behavior. May GOD continue to bless our country.

Basically, this post is saying if gay people are beaten or shot, it's because they dare hold hands in public or use the government to help secure their equal rights. It's the get-back-in-the-closet-or-else comment that I've seen far too often.

I honestly don't understand what these religious groups expect gay people to do. Do they honestly feel we should give our money to their businesses despite what they later do with it? Are we to sit quietly by while they take away our ability to protect our families or adopt children? Are we supposed to accept that they know God or Nature better than us and to accept their ideas as unshakeable? The answer is no, of course. This is our country and our government, too. We may be a small minority, but we're loud as hell and you know what, we have every right to be angry and hold people accountable for their deplorable actions. You don't get to hide in your pew or behind your garden gate. If you stick your nose into the public arena, prepare for a debate ... and since it's heavily personal for gay people, expect your beliefs and how they effect the LGBT community to be called into question each and every time.