Reply #41: I'm going to answer your question as honestly as I can

[Firespirit]

Full disclosure: I am an Obama supporter, and I live in a deep blue state and probably would leave the Presidential race blank if Hillary was the nominee. This was a decision I made before she even entered the race. It is based on some things that she and her associates did to John Kerry in 2004 and 2006, and it is indeed personal, so I'm not persuadable on it.

I have a serious objection with some Obama supporters who tell LGBT people to shut up and go away, that they cost Democrats elections. I think he will be the nominee and it's thus extremely arrogant and inappropriate for his supporters to denigrate an entire group of people when they should be reaching out.

You do count, you do have a right to be angry about the remarks of anyone who expresses intolerance. However, there have been several DU posters self-identifying as gay who are crossing the line. It's over the line to say that Obama is part of a homophobic racial group. It's over the line to say that he's a fundie, or a Republican, or that LGBT people will see their civil rights regress under an Obama administration. There's no evidence for it, and saying it just puts Obama supporters on the defensive. It's a two-way street.

I'm fully on board with marriage rights. I think that my specific case kind of reveals the sheer stupidity of the anti-marriage argument, in fact. I'm non-sexual but am still interested in a life partnership, and it could be with a person of either sex. I live in MA, so it wouldn't matter whether I decided to marry a man or a woman, but if I moved to almost any other state, it would be an issue. I can tell this to the anti-marriage people, that I would have no interest in sexual relations, so if their problem with equal marriage is the Puritan translation of their holy book that was rewritten to prohibit specific sex acts, then on what basis do they deny me the right to marry another woman? They are at a loss, and generally shift the subject to making personal attacks on me for "refusing God's gift of sex." Therefore, what it comes down to with this type of individual is not a specific hate of gay people, but a profound fear and hate of anyone who is different.

The good thing is that they are on the decline. The younger generation has grown up in a culture where it's OK to be gay, and they support equal marriage. They are the largest generation in history, and when they get full political power -- something they are reaching for with their propulsion of Obama to frontrunner status -- then they will overturn the amendments that the intolerant generations enacted. I remember when the coming-out episode of Ellen's sitcom was a nationwide controversy. It seems laughable now. Even in a decade under neocon rule, the social acceptance and normality of gays has improved dramatically. Equal rights will come and they will come soon. We're heading in the right direction and I cannot see any way to regress on it, short of annihilating the majority of Generation Y.

This last bit is the sort of thing that many gay DUers object to most strongly. And again, some Obama supporters here have been unacceptably callous and dismissive in what they say. However, there is a grain of truth to their argument, at least I think so. The election won't be a zero-sum game. No one should ever think it's necessary to ask gay people to sacrifice their quest for legal equality. However, when it comes to the issues that are discussed on the campaign stump, marriage just does not rate above everything else. Many people fear we are heading into another Depression, or another war. Many fear that we are becoming a fascist dictatorship. There are legitimate reasons to feel this way. The issues where current events are heading in the wrong direction are simply going to get more stump time, because they are heading in the wrong direction. Equality for LGBT people needs to happen, but it is progressing. You deal with the things that are completely falling apart and then you improve the ones that aren't.

Thanks for reading.