Posted on 08/15/2012 10:28:47 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Thinking Out Loud
There were so many things I could have written about today: openly lesbian Tammy Smith's promotion to the rank of brigadier general and the fact that the military is still intact after DADT, or Thomas Beatie's (once dubbed the "pregnant man") divorce court struggles due to Arizona's confusion about his gender, or perhaps the fact that NBC's Olympic coverage actually included mention of out gay Olympians. Instead, I'm still stuck on Chick-fil-A.
Oh, that's so last month. Let's move on already!
I argued with myself about this. On one hand, it was hardly a lunch counter sit-in. It had no gravitas - it was about fried chicken for God's sake! It involved the Palins and people tweeting pictures of waffle fries to the world. Chick-fil-A support rallies have come and gone and Rahm Emanuel has already forgotten his pledge to keep Chicago Chick free.
On the other hand, did we win or lose this one? No one told me. I get the distinct feeling we lost. Last I heard, the far right has claimed the right to jump up and down about protecting free speech and have redefined "bullying" to refer to how the LGBT community is frighteningly intolerant of traditional values.
Yeah, I think we lost. While Chick-fil-A probably lost the LGBT part of their market, they're not licking their wounds about it. No one learned any lessons on either side and the divide between us with regard to LGBT people remains as wide as it ever was.
I implore everyone not to let this moment go completely to waste. There are some big lessons we can learn from our Chick-fil-A outrage:
First, never let anyone tell you that supporting bigotry means supporting free speech. There is a difference. Imagine if Chick-fil-A's Dan Cathy went on record about an alien abduction experience or, say, a very special love for plush animals, you can bet that no one would line up at his store to support his free speech rights then.
What the pro-Chick people were saying, bottom line, was that they agreed with Cathy. This had nothing to do with Cathy's free speech rights, but their own free speech rights. They are absolutely entitled to eat as much chicken as they like to show they don't like same-sex marriage (seriously, go right ahead if you think it will stop the gays...), but don't let them pull us into a red-herring argument about the Bill of Rights. When we look like we're silencing people, we play right into an increasingly popular trope about the liberal elite imposing their agenda on average Americans.
This was our big - albeit understandable - mistake, focusing solely on Dan Cathy's words and not on his actions. We looked like we just wanted him to shut up, when in fact he was speaking for a lot of ordinary Americans. The argument stalled out right there.
We'd have been better off if we took Chick-fil-A on for all the atrocious things it's done through its charitable foundation, WinShape. I discussed this in a previous column, but in short, WinShape has put millions toward "ex-gay" therapy, stopping same-sex marriage and fighting against LGBT equality. It has us in its crosshairs. Cathy's words are so insignificant in light of what Cathy's checkbook reveals that they hardly merit more than an audible sigh.
Still, in this ADD-friendly, 140-character news cycle, glib comments ricochet and amplify almost instantly, while an IRS 990 form showing charitable income and expenses doesn't trigger the same shocking umbrage. But it should.
This brings me to the second big lesson we can learn: the only way to show the world that our lives are not appropriate fodder for debate are to tell our individual stories. Forget throwing accusations about whose words are more offensive to whom - that's only helpful for talking head arguments on cable TV. Get over being offended; be honest instead. Talk about the lives that have been damaged by praying the gay away, or families that have been torn apart by discrimination, or the kids who have tried to kill themselves rather than accept their beautiful LGBT selves. Tell your story. That is free speech at its most powerful.
Well said.
Agreed.
It took me a moment too....The question is “Why 2%”? why only 2%
Interesting leftist gaming. As if a religious-based opinion about family values is equivalent to the ridiculous examples of alien abduction etc.
Ignoring the large, vocal, oppressive and manipulative hate group that attacks any opinion out of their talking points and agenda.
This is leftist manipulation at its best. Propaganda so people will have their dissenting opinions silenced.
Frankly, I care not one whit about what LGBTs do or how they live...but I do care when people with differing opinions are bullied into silence.
So much for the ‘red herring’ I guess.
We know how vicious, angry and intolerant you are, Abby. You won't really be able to hide it. Deviant sex is the center of your world. That level of imbalance is crippling.
“They are ashamed of themselves because they realize fully that they are anthema to nature’s plan for survival of species.”
I believe it goes beyond biology. Their shame is prompted by the Holy Spirit never abandoning them. They FEEL what they are evry second of every day.
...or, say, a very special love for plush animals...
As opposed to a very special love for another man's buttocks? Or a very special love for scissoring?
...or, say, a very special love for plush animals...
As opposed to a very special love for another man's buttocks? Or a very special love for scissoring?
Graphic stolen!
Oh, no! Chick-fil-A might have lost a whole 1% of the possible market?
Why any mainstream company kowtows to this annoying minority, I'll never understand.
Liberal “logic”: Nabisco uses its company brand Oreo to promote “gay pride” and support for gay marriage with “rainbow Oreos”, and anyone who objects or threatens boycott is some sort of knuckle-dragging neanderthal who has no respect for free speech. Cathy expresses a personal opinion, in response to a question, and despite the fact that Chick-Fil-A has no policy or practice of denying service or employment to gays, Chick-Fil-A is evil and must be boycotted, driven out of town/campus/whatever.
Freaking hypocrites. The call themselves the “tolerant” ones but they brook no dissent — it’s not about free speech and exchange of ideas with them, whomever is on the “wrong” side of the issue is automatically in the wrong about everything, and shouting them down is preferable to having to defend a belief.
At first, it was "get the government out of our bedrooms". The next phase was "coming out" and demanding acceptance. Now they're pushing even further and demand to be celebrated.
What this guy does with his privates is SO BORING; but that’s ALL they want to dwell on 24/7. Oh, and what Dan Cathy, or this writer, or anybody else, does with their CHECKBOOKS is nobody’s business. I think the LGBT beef with Cathy is they simply covet his money. SELF-DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR on steroids.
They fired the first shot and then whine about the ass kicking they got.
or Thomas Beatie’s (once dubbed the “pregnant man”) divorce court struggles due to Arizona’s confusion about his gender,
The confusion is on Beaties’s part not Arizona’s
(On the other hand, did we win or lose this one? Last I heard, the far right has claimed the right to jump up and down about protecting free speech and have redefined “bullying” to refer to how the LGBT community is frighteningly intolerant of traditional values.)
You lost.
The far right? If you think those millions of people that stepped up for free speech and morality are all far right, then you have really lost.......
“They fired the first shot and then whine about the ass kicking they got.”
Nicely summed up.
How do you play it better, exactly except to save them?
“or the kids who have tried to kill themselves rather than accept their beautiful LGBT selves.”
Sorry, but the very premise here is that every gay person who’s ever killed themselves did so simply because society bullied or picked on them.. when in fact, Homosexuality, by and large is, a mental disorder, and people with mental disorders have, shockingly a higher propensity to commit suicide than the general population.
Now, have homosexuals killed themselves over bullying.. I have no doubt they have... after all, there is no doubt that the girl who hung herself in her bedroom because a neighborhood adult woman was bullying her online did so in part because she was being bullied (of course she also if I am not mistaken had mental issues as well). However that homosexual college student who committed suicide because his room-mate outed him .. I don’t really know if I’d chaulk that one up to pure bullying.
I personally don’t think you can “pray away anything” am I am not familiar with the programs this guys attacking, though I suspect its a bit more than that, and he is engaging in the same dumbing down of things he doesn’t like as he accusses his foes of doing.
Here’s the reality, Homosexuals are far more likely to be educated, earn more money in their lives, etc etc etc.. on average, so to claim they are a repressed class is a dubious claim. Are they openly accepted by all folks as “normal” no.. they aren’t, but to claim they are as a whole group discriminated against en masse is beyond silly. Even in this stupid Chick-Fil-A thing, not one homosexual person EVER has claimed Chick-Fil-A denied them service or anything else based on their sexual orientation, so this was a stupid fight picked by mentally deranged individuals who cannot tolerate that folks actually have a differing opinion than themselves.
Left is tolerant of everything, except opinions that don’t jive with their own.
The Gay Pride people so desperately want the CFA affair to have been about gay marriage. It was not. It was about government denying CFA the right to do business because of what someone said.
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