Angry Beaver.

It's only after I've been pushed to my limit that I write in this thing. It looks like today is the day.


Politics and religion and civil rights, oh my! This is not the dinner table and I'm not feeling apologetic, so let's do this.


We are close to two weeks in on this Chick-Fil-A scandal and I feel like all I see around me are people telling the public to "just shut up about it already." Without using those exact words (sometimes)... but holy shit! Where are we at as a community/minority if we are telling our own people to be quiet about something that has had a gargantuan impact on our country in both small and large ways? We're doing exactly what the bigots, homophobes and religious radicals want us to! Just accept it and move on. I read this Facebook status from a respectable lesbian acquaintance of mine not too long ago and nearly wet myself:


"I am neither ashamed nor embarrassed to admit I am proudly in love with an amazing woman, but is it crazy for me to say that I think this madness surrounding Chick-Fil-A is too much?! He's a rich conservative business owner who closes his multi billion dollar enterprise every Sunday and he openly expresses his distaste for gay marriage. Shocker. There's a strategic way to get equal rights, no need to go overboard with the hatred and the protesting because everyone is always going to have an issue with the choices you make, so let's not make it easier for people to hate us."


...


::sound of tires screeching::


Let's hold the fucking phone for a second. "Rich conservative business owner"... no problem. "who closes his multibillion dollar enterprise every Sunday" - cool! Expression of religious freedom at it's finest. To each his/her own. "...and he openly expresses his distaste for gay marriage. Shocker." Now this is where my temperature starts rising. I respect a difference of opinion in this matter, darlin', but at least get your GD facts straight before you put your thoughts out there for the world to see. You've got 57 likes by people who know as little as you do about the subject and probably applaud the 1 or 2 gays who are "cool" with the situation at hand to feed their bigoted ego. "Finally! A gay who GETS IT." I guess I sort of expected more out of you. 


Naw, girl. Naw. 


FIRST of all, this man is not simply expressing his distaste for gay marriage. He has slandered the gay community, contributed millions of dollars (spent by homos and heteros alike) to anti-gay organizations (some that involve help groups that attempt to "pray the gay away"). He has been quoted, saying that homosexuality is, "some twisted up kind of stuff" and that it "invites God's judgement on this nation." What more do you need from this man to make you see that it is people like him that are preventing the gay community from obtaining the rights we deserve. The same rights as every other American person. 


And his trusty supporters stand behind him, defending him to the death saying, "but... freedom of speech! Freedom of religion!" What about MY fucking freedom? Where's MY freedom, you ignorant fuck! My head might explode.


I can't wrap my head around it. The comments made... the "defense"... but most importantly, the amount of support that has been shown in favor of this outrage and the amount of people unwilling to stand up in defense of their own rights! The support being shown by God-fearing bigots, by casual religious parties, by straights and gays alike who just don't know any better. What has happened to the American people? This is so disappointing coming from someone who thought she saw a light at the end of the tunnel only to find out that bigotry is not simply few and far between... it's ugly and it's everywhere and it's based on a strong foundation of ignorance. 


It is my opinion that Jesus would be ashamed of his followers. And the religious people that actually understand and believe in the concept of love are praying for the redemption of their own people. What the fuck is happening, America? You are pushing religion further and further away from it's core values and steam rolling it over the people you're attempting to save. Wake up call, man! That's not the right way to do it! When will you understand? You're turning Christianity into an exclusive club of people that the "rest" of society is starting to enjoy hating. Myself included... and I know a lot of very outstanding REAL Christian people. Christian people who find solace in the concept of loving one another equally and without fail. At least I think these are real Christians. I'd hope so. And I'd hope that they're standing up for me and the rights I one day hope to have in this country just like I'm standing up for them in this blog. One can hope. 


Until then? Dan Cathy, you devastate the gay community. You hurt us. We weep... and we weep for you and your millions of supporters eating their greasy chicken sandwiches if only to prove a point:  God hates gays and we will not be accepted in this country or by your God or looked upon properly as an American with equal rights. We are frowned upon. We are deemed unequal. And society has just taken 3 giant steps backwards. 


I will not write on your chicken joint's wall. I will not argue with your loyal customers. I will not complain about a "Chick-Fil-A day" being created out of thin air in support of national bigotry which, in turn created a 30 million dollar work day for your valiant leader, Dan Cathy. I will not Facebook message my gay acquaintances and explain to them that bold statements without thorough research should be considered a risk. At the end of the day, I'm just another lesbian bitching about the unfairness of it all... and maybe that doesn't change much, but I sure as shit feel a little better knowing I've spoken up about it.