Meanwhile, leave me alone, you are an idiot, don’t want or need you to like me!

Move to Canada or another country if you don’t like LGBT people (Canada don’t want YOU. oops, number of countries for ppl. like you are getting smaller, hey I know, what about IRAN, there’s “no gay people” there)!

Cause you know what, I AIN’T Going NO WHERE, so come on, show us that good hateful (you want Jesus’ love) heart of yours, people’s true colors always shine through! AMEN LORD BABY JESUS!

I love the way they act like GOD belongs to them and that Gay people don’t pray! God is always giving me what I pray and ask for and when I get Marriage Equality, SHE will show you (Lb and others) who’s prayers she has been listening to!

This is so funny and so, so right.

Your delusional. Respectfully that is.

Voters cannot change constitutional law, (freedom of speech, to assemble).

Massachusetts is challenging Doma in the Supreme Court for this very reason.

If enough civil equalities are denied to a certain group, then all others will be forced to obey those very same laws, something even the far right doesn’t want to loose.

It’s our constitution that protects us, we haven’t used it to our full advantage, and it’s high time we did.

Bring suits over and over again, against any and all, states the country, who deny anyone their equal civil rights, and lets not forget civil disobedience.

Sam, I don’t feel the need for anyone in any community to give me acceptance for any personal reasons. I know who and what I am and I am proud of it regardless of what anyone else may think.

I would also like to say that I have always had great respect for anyone with even half your experience.

I also agree that passing laws granting us equality is the first step in combating the bigotry we face.

One of the main reasons why I think we should try to open up dialogue with the straight community to give them a better chance to accept and understand us is to help pass these laws.

From what I understand (which may not be completely accurate and please correct me if I am wrong) to make a very very simplified summary, there are 3 groups of people who create/pass/change laws.

1. Judges. From what I remember in college (which admittedly is a bit grayed out here and there) one of the reasons behind our judicial system being made up of people who are not elected and do not need to care about being re-elected, is to protect minorities from mob rule. Thus judges are able to go against what the public wants (for example: marriage between a man and a woman only) and then change the law (allowing gay marriage) since the public can’t really do anything directly to stop the judges. If the system worked the way it was supposed to work, then everything would be a hell of a lot better off than it is now. Like for example Prop 8 would have never existed… This leads to group #2:

2. The Mob. Unfortunately, as evidenced with Prop 8, when a judge changes a law that the majority of the public supported before it was changed, the public (apparently) can then go and change it back if the majority (read Mob) support it. Thus the original intent of the judiciary’s responsibility to protect the civil rights of the minorities from the majority is completely thrown out the window.

3. Politicians. This last group contains elected officials like members of congress and the president who can make/influence the laws we are governed by. The problem with this third group for us is that they only retain their power if they make sure their public likes them. This greatly influences them to instead of having the words “spread equality and justice” at the top of their list of things to do, they are much more inclined to have “keep the majority of my voters happy” at the top of their list. If a politician goes against the public, then the mob can kick them out at the next election.

So while our country was supposed to be by the people for the people with some exceptions (Read: Mob Rules unless said mob wants to do nasty things like infringe upon the civil rights of minorities) we now just have mob rules for the most part (Hello Prop 8).

And unfortunately we are a minority. And a rather small one at that. So since it at least appears that our country is run mostly by the majority, then in order to get those laws we both want passed, we might want to reach out to the majority. Because if we don’t then it might play out like this:

We try really really hard to convince Judges of the logical reasoning behind allowing us to marry -> Judges change the law -> Mob gets angry and then changes them back on their own (Prop

We try really really hard to convince Politicians of the logical reasoning behind allowing us to marry -> Politicians change the laws -> Mob gets angry and ejects old politicians and puts in new ones -> New politicians change the laws back

In a better world we wouldn’t need to convince the straight community to accept us to pass laws providing us with equal rights. But I don’t think we live in that world.

Wow that was long. Sorry again for its length!

I’m not sure it makes sense to conclude “the other side takes the low road in these campaigns, so maybe we should, too”.

I think the message from the research (as well as history and common sense) will be that we should be who we are, and be honest and direct about what we want.

Yes, we want to stifle fears (I can imagine a version of the Rainbow commercial with our actors cut in between “debunking” some of the statements…

“My sister will have to marry a female dalmation …” says the original ad.

Cut in to our actor “Hogwash, your sister may LOOK like a Dalmation, but allowing Jane to marry Joan no more makes you have to do anything than allowing Jane to marry Dick. Why would it? Don’t give in to fear.”

But we should not be afraid to show our faces since someone might be “offended”. That’s what lost Prop 8.

From my experience, I’m 63, was a go go boy at Stonewall, marched in the first Gay Parade, helped the movement get rid of Anita Bryant, was a victim of a hate crime, I received 110 stitches to the back of my head, been through the court system, and they let him go, later he shot a cop in the back, two of my close friends were murdered for being gay, never a conviction, and that’s not the half of it.

Have you ever heard of a poll that black people took, that says 50% of whites think we should end segregation.

Where is your dignity, having the need of someones approval, or trying to be acceptable to someone with prejudice, is not the way.

I want my equal rights, to go along with my equal taxes. I don’t want or need anyone’s approval.

Try telling the Aryan Nation to have a chit chat with blacks gays or Jews.

Try telling the religious right you need their support and understanding.

The way you fight ignorance, hatred, bigotry, and inequality, is with laws, laws that must be passed, laws that can’t take anyone’s rights away, that’s where our efforts and money should be going.

After we get our equality, have all the chit chat, tea parties you want. Until then the passing of laws is the only way.

We need advertisements that show how much the gay marriage ban hurts the children of gay families, while simultaneously showing that the majority of gay parents are not pedophiles, that not all their children turn out gay (and that the parents don’t CARE what their child’s sexuality is) and basically diminish all those subconcious fears that the conservative right has put in people’s heads about us.

If written correctly, a commercial can do this in just a few words.

Why would I choose to be so discriminated against? This is not a choice, it is a life I have been given to defend, minorities whether they are ethnical, or sexual. Everybody has the right to live their lives. Just like the “heterosexual community”.