I generally avoid political talk unless it’s light banter.
Today I’ve been reading up on a lot of my facebook and lj friends and I’ve found that I’m actually deeply hurt and saddened by what has gone on.
First, Chic-Fil-A has every right to say what they want just as I have every right to not purchase their product. Which at this point I have no intention of.
If you’ve known me very long at all you know that I have a tendency to adamantly support people’s freedom to exercise their religion. I’ll back you 100% up to the point that you start to butt up against someone else’s freedom to exercise their beliefs. In those cases I always suggest you both smile, look the other way and go about your business. This will work for 99% of all religious conflicts you’re likely to encounter in America as long as everyone allows everyone else their own private beliefs.
While I like that they have that freedom and that both pro and anti-gay advocates all have the freedom to express their views, I am hurt by several people and what they’ve had to say to me directly. They’ve told me that *I* was persecuting them and their beliefs because I want to marry Chris. My marriage would be between him and me and no one else. The worst it will ever do to any of you I know would be that you get an invitation to an event that I’ve long wanted have and to have my government recognize it. If anything by lobbying your congress to prevent me from doing something that has no real affect on you, it should be me who feels persecuted. Sadly, being open and out about loving a man for so many years, this week, this action and appearance of outright vitriol from some people I considered colleagues and friends. For the first time I actually feel like I know true hatred. I’ve felt that hopeless pang that people want to hate me for something that doesn’t involve them. It’s hard for me to understand.
As a lot of you may or may not know, I have a very fluid belief system when it comes to religion. I’ve read the bible, parts of the Qu’ran, parts of the Torah, the gnostic scriptures, the writings of the Dalai Lama, even some books on paganism and I’ve found truths that I like in all of them and things I didn’t. I feel this has helped me find a path in my life that allows for relative happiness and the ability to support others in their quest for finding their path or lack of path in the case of some people who choose no faith.
I know I’m not a particularly nice person sometimes. I know I’m not the best person or even right as much as I’d like. But I try to be good and I try to respect your beliefs as I’d wish you’d support me in mine. You know that I’m not particularly flamboyant, but I have no shame in loving Chris. You know that I try to help you where I can in both your personal and professional careers.
So I want to know from those of you who know me and have openly said such things to me this week. Setting aside the bible thumping because there are people who do that, settings aside whether you feel chic-fil-a got a beat down on their rights. Just looking at the interactions you and I have had, what have *I* ever directly done to you that makes you want to actively seek out and rip one of my life’s goals away from me?