Short and Sweet – Same sex marriage equality passes!
by Dog Gone on May 9, 2013What wonderful news, what an interesting debate.
The STrib had an article when it passed that caught my attention, specifically this section:
Opponents argued the bill would alter a centuries-old conception of marriage and leave those people opposed for religious reasons tarred as bigots.
“We’re not. We’re not,” said Rep. Kelby Woodard, R-Belle Plaine. “These are people with deeply held beliefs, including myself.”
Here is my problem with that statement – you are not defined as a bigot by having deeply held beliefs. You are defined as a bigot if you hold derogatory and generalized beliefs, deep or otherwise, that are factually inaccurate about a large group of people.
Believe that gays are pedophiles? Bigot.
Believe that marriage equality robs heterosexuals of their marriages? Bigot.
Believe that gays are over-sexed or sex obsessed? Bigot.
Believe, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that same-sex couples or individuals are not good parents, simply because of who they love? Bigot.
Believe that your family is better than families which are different from yours? Bigot.
Believe that same-sex oriented individuals are either feminine men or masculine women who will rape you in the shower if you are serving in the military, and that they lack the courage and other qualities of character to defend their country? Bigot.
Believe that it is justified, and even required of you, that you discriminate against people for cherry-picked religious reasons, without any other reason, including blaming them for storms and earthquakes and other disasters, because you know God better than anyone else does? Bigot.
I’m sorry some people are deeply convinced in their bigotry; that only makes it worse, makes them less open-minded, and worse bigots.
