Thursday, November 05, 2009

INTOLERANCE

I've had lots of things I've been going to write about but somehow never got around to it. The latest fabric art piece I'm working on has consumed me. I just love it.

I've been thinking about writing about Urbanhennery's Dark Days Challenge, which I signed up for, and the new way I fixed chard the other night. I'll still get around to those but first I have to comment on the vote in Maine to not allow gay marriage.

I am dumbfounded by the world's intolerance to anyone who is not like the family in the first grade reading book, "Dick and Jane." For those of you too young to remember them, the family was written version of Ozzie and Harriet or Leave it to Beaver. The cat was named Puff; the dog Spot. Dick and Jane were the children whose adventures helped us learned to read.

Intolerance shows up in church, voting booths, schools and just about everywhere else. I don't understand what is wrong with letting people live their lives in whatever way they want. As long as it doesn't hurt anyone, who cares who they sleep with or have sex with.

My son Mark was raised without any specific religion. I simply told him to treat people well. The short version of the Golden Rule. It worked; when he thought his boy scout leader was a bigot for statements made about the Vietnamese, Mark called him on it and asked for an apology to the troop. He never got it so quit the troop. I was so proud of him for that. He never got to be an Eagle Scout, but he did stand up to an intolerant person. Big life lesson there.

I have many gay and lesbian friends. Many of them have been in committed relationships much longer than any of my straight friends. That includes me; I married and divorced my first husband twice. That, perhaps, was carrying "tolerance" a bit too far.

Many of my gay and lesbian friends have children. I don't really care how they got them, but I do know that they are wonderful parents struggling with the same issues that heterosexual parents struggle with.

One lesbian couple I know were asked to leave the Catholic church they attended when the pastor found out that one of the couple was pregnant. Now that takes intolerance to a whole new level. The Catholic church is very good at legislating morality. I should know because I used to be a Catholic.

The fact that California passed Prop 8 to outlaw gay marriage somehow has emboldened the rest of the intolerant people in this country. It's sad that homosexuals who love each other cannot enjoy the rights that we heterosexuals enjoy.

If you are offended by what I've written, then I ask you to think about why you are offended. Perhaps you are intolerant. Please tell me what you think even if you are anonymous. Dialogue is always good.

I oven roasted the chard. Tear the leaves from the stems, lay on a cookie sheet, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, bake at 450 degrees for five minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle balsamic vinegar on the chard. It's delicious.

6 comments:

Renee J said...

Prop 8 made me embarrassed to say I was from California! The bigotry and intolerance in this country is pitiful. I hope that one day soon everyone realizes that freedom isn't a word reserved for those that fall into the categories of white, rich, straight and male (an over generalization yes, but significant patterns show these to be the privileged in our "free society").

dykewife said...

i'm very glad that the supreme court of canada ruled that the marriage legislation violated the rights of gay people. now, some j.p.s are trying to get the legislation changed allowing them to refuse to do marriages of gay couples - in saskatchewan - and the province is allowing them to challenge that. they'll lose of course because they're one of the arms of the government, not of a religious insitution. religious insitutions can refuse to marry gay couples. however, i know of at least one church, a united church, that refuses to not be inclusive.

Oklahoma Girl said...

Well said!! I so totally agree. Intolerance just...well I get very heated up over it. Like the judge who refused to marry the interracial couple. Violate the law why don't you. He has since resigned...Thank goodness!!

Moving back to smalltown OK has made me face intolerance daily. Speaking up does not make me popular. But, right is right & I will continue to speak out. I, too, have gay & lesbian friends. Many of whom are parents. A couple of them are single parents. One works two jobs. My dad was gay. I speak freely about that as you know. I am not ashamed to have had a gay parent. I just wish he could have been open about who he was & that he could have been happy.

Thanks for this post.

blessed be...

kaerdmann@sbcglobla.net said...

Total agreement! In Texas we have so many "Christians" who seem to have forgotten the real words - do unto other as you would have them do unto you - love one another not judge one another!

Rondi said...

Kudos.

Anonymous said...

I agree here in Michigan. Beware of the far right. They want to control the rest of us.
Straight or gay everyone should have the same rights.