Chick-fil-A

[callmebob]

And that's horrible. Even more so because there are gay people out there who are too afraid to accept their sexuality because society says we're "less than". Thus they go on to lead a miserable life.

Just because you are not with the ideal person, doesn't mean ones life will be miserable. It can still turn out to be a decent life. And in situations where a gay person is in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, it could still be a happy life. There are plenty of heterosexual couples who may not be physically attracted to one another (or atleast one of the partners is not).
I'm not saying that is what should happen, just that its the reality for some.

 

[TeacherGroupie]

My parents were married after meeting in college, a few years after the end of World War II. Dad was going to be a Captain of Industry and Mom was going to teach school for a little while and then raise a family. They had three kids, of whom I am the youngest.

A funny thing happened: it turns out that my dad was constitutionally more nurturing than my mother. If you needed a boo-boo kissed or a lap to sit in, you went to Dad, and if you were sick at four in the morning, the one who was suddenly there almost as soon as you started throwing up, who held your head and brought you ginger ale and sat with you afterward, was Dad.

I sometimes think they would both have been happier if Mom could have become the Captain of Industry - or, better, a lawyer: she would have been formidable - and if Dad could have followed his gifts for nurture and for explanation into a public-school classroom rather than trying to make himself something he simply wasn't. But in the late '40s and '50s, that just wasn't the way the world worked.

On a few occasions over the decades, I've encountered people who thought less of my dad for being nurturing. A great many more people, however, have admitted to frank envy, and I'm pretty sure one or two of my clerical friends have invoked my description of my dad to illustrate a sermon on God the Father.

I think there's room for a fair bit of variation in what constitutes a family.

 

[mollydoll]

I expect you wouldn't because you have no respect for people's religious beliefs unless their religion happens to agree with your homosexuality.

I have a great deal of respect for your religious beliefs. I support your right to practice them. The key here is *your* right. Gay rights do not infringe on your rights or beliefs at all. You may maintain your own traditional family, go to your church, feel morally superior to your gay neighbors, observe as you see fit, whatever.

Freedom of religion comes with a flip side called freedom from religion. Your freedom of religion does not mean that everyone else in our secular nation ought to live as you see fit.

 

[bison]

I have a great deal of respect for your religious beliefs. I support your right to practice them. The key here is *your* right. Gay rights do not infringe on your rights or beliefs at all. You may maintain your own traditional family, go to your church, feel morally superior to your gay neighbors, observe as you see fit, whatever.

Freedom of religion comes with a flip side called freedom from religion. Your freedom of religion does not mean that everyone else in our secular nation ought to live as you see fit.

 

[Mathemagician]

Yes, I believe both things contribute to weaken family values. You can be offended. I won't change my opinion because of it though just as I don't expect you to change yours.

You do have a choice to have children (either by surrogate or adopt) just as I had a choice to have children. By your choice of having children your children will not have a mother. That was the choice I was talking about. Because you are both males, it is an absolute choice to have childern. There is no room for accidents or birth control failure.

I expected that you believe a father can replace a mother figure. I wouldn't think you would do something you believed to be harmful. I just don't agree with your opinion. Which is fine. I don't have to, just as you don't have to agree with mine.

Thanks for your opinion. I do appreciate your response.

This argument holds up about as well as a submarine with screen doors.

 

[MikeTeachesMath]

"And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." - 1 Samuel 18:1 (sounds a lot like love to me!)

"Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul." - 1 Samuel 18:3 (sounds a lot like marriage to me!)

"And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded." - 1 Samuel 20:41 (sounds a lot like sex to me!)

 

[Ted]

"And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." - 1 Samuel 18:1 (sounds a lot like love to me!)

There may be people who believe it's wrong for one man to LOVE another man. I'm not one of them. I love my best friend. I also love my Dad. I love my older brother. I would wager that most [TRUE] Christians don't have a problem with men having (and even expressing) fraternal/paternal love towards each other. Jesus LOVED His disciples and He LOVES us followers (males included).

"Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul." - 1 Samuel 18:3 (sounds a lot like marriage to me!)

I guess that depends on what you call marriage. I've told my best friend I'll always be there for him and that has been reciprocated. My Dad has told me the same... I'm not sure I'd say I'm "married" to either one of them. In Biblical times, countries made covenants with other countries. So, if you mean "marriage" as a joining of two entities in a bond...then yes. If you mean "marriage" as it's customarily used in present time, I might have to disagree (respectfully).

"And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded." - 1 Samuel 20:41 (sounds a lot like sex to me!)

In some families (I can only speak for Italian families), men may kiss each other... especially during time of great sorrow. I saw many occurrences of this at funerals, for example. I didn't think my uncle and his male cousin were having sex. But if we want to go back to the Bible, let's look at the parable of the prodigal son, as told in Luke 15: “But while he [the prodigal son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." (Emphasis mine) Here the word "kissed" is used and I'm quite certain it doesn't mean what you implied in your example.

 

[BettyRubble]

Well, said mollydoll.

This argument holds up about as well as a submarine with screen doors.

And LOL at this. I'm going to have to use this saying.

 

[greendream]

I am a person who is very much pro-gay marriage. Marriage with a capital M--no equivocating about it.

I also believe this Chick Fil-A firestorm is one of the worst possible ways to advance the cause of gay marriage.

You want to make patrons of a very popular fast food restaurant (whose clientele is mainly southern, and therefore mainly conservative) choose between gay marriage and fried chicken? Fine, but I could have told you before it started that it was going to do nothing but produce record profits for Chick Fil-A and dig a trench between people who might have otherwise gotten along and found common ground.

You change people's minds through personal narratives, not by calling them bigots based on where their chicken sandwich comes from.