What we're up against, and why it's worse than you probably think
Wed Aug-02-06 04:48 PM
Original message
So, today I was in the sauna at the gym, and I struck-up a conversation with the guy next to me.
We started with the weather, "Hey, it's really hot outside. It's a relief to get into a nice, cool sauna."
Then we started talking about our family trip to Myrtle Beach, SC, how much fun we had, etc.
I guess once he realized I was married with a wife and daughter, he decided to open-up a bit about the sick, scary world he lives in.
I'll change a few details of our conversation, because the guy told me enough information that I could identify him if I wanted to. But I'm not out to invade his privacy-- just to illustrate what people like him are like.
He was telling me that he has a 16 year-old daughter who's an accomplished actress and has had her own screenplay performed. But he wanted to make sure she had another career, besides acting, to fall back on.
I said that Emerson College is really good for that sort of thing.
He then went into this thing about, "Well, you know that 50% of the women at Emerson are lesbians."
According to him, at Emerson College, if you aren't a lesbian, you can't be part of "The In Crowd." He told me he wouldn't want his daughter exposed to that sort of thing, especially since at Emerson, you're "coerced into lesbianism."
Instead, he was thinking maybe Wheelock College, Or New York University would be better for his (presumably) innocent, heterosexual daughter.
Stay with me here, this gets worse.
The guy has also has a son, who went to a design school. "He's a big, manly body-builder too, just so you know," the old guy says. "It cost me over $2,000 to get him out of that school. He says to me, 'Dad, I've only been here three days, but if one more guy propositions me, I don't know what I'm going to do.'"
So, afraid of getting homosexual advances, Dad took his son out of Graphic Design College after only three days, and forfeited his $2,000 deposit.
That's when I decided to say, "Well, it's obvious where he gets his bigotry from. It's been nice talking to you." And then I left, without looking back.Folks, what we're up against is worse than many of you may think.
We're talking about people whose bigotry and homophobia run so deep, they not only want to hurt others, but they're willing to hurt themselves and their own families.
These people are willing to shut-down suicide hotlines that help both gay and straight children, just because suicide counselors tell people they don't have to hate themselves for being gay.
These people are willing to hobble the lives and careers of their own children in order to convince themselves that they're somehow keeping their kids from being "coerced into lesbianism."
We ask ourselves, "How can those people vote against their own best-interests just to keep gay people from getting married?"
This is why.
This guy is willing to lose $2,000 because his body-builder son is skeeved-out by being around too many gay men at a graphic design college. This guy is willing to make career and life-altering decisions based upon his need to hate people different from him.
I see now why they call it Homophobia-- an irrational fear of homosexuals.
These are the people who would fire their best salesman if they thought he was gay.
These people are willing to act against their own self-interest out of an irrational fear-- thus behaving irrationally.
Not only do they want to hurt you, but they're willing to hurt themselves.
They're willing to pay $4.00 a gallon for gasoline if gays can't get married.
They're willing to watch all their jobs get shipped over-seas if gays can't get married.
They're willing to pay money into the Medicare donut hole if gays can't get married.
They're willing to stand on their rooftops amid the flood waters of a drowning city, resolutely determined that gays can't get married.
They will waste $2,000 and sabotage the academic futures and the careers of their own children out of their irrational hatred and fear of gay people.
It's a lazy sort of Armchair Martyrdom that they're engaging in, and the sad thing is that they're destroying the country, along with their own sad, nasty small-minded little lives.PS: Hey, Sauna Guy: I just checked, and guess what? Wheelock College has a "Queer Co-op." The lesbians await your daughter! Muhahah!
http://tinyurl.com/gfbmdAlso cross-posted in the GLBT Forum:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=221&topic_id=39175&mesg_id=39175More:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2753860