Now, which of them is the secret identity of the other…

Are there obstacles to overcome in life? Sure. The first is to take responsibility for your own actions and path in life.

The chances one has in life of gaining happiness are always in the hands of circumstance. People who don’t realize this should take a step the fuck back and look at all the great things they’ve been given. Free education. Literacy. A home, and an allowance. Constitutionally protected speech. Living in a free country. God fucking damn, being alive and healthy even. Jesus Christ, learn to appreciate what you have.

In general I agree that the Right has way too many anti-gay, racist and misogynist members and politicians. I even alluded to that in my first post. I also said that I thought they were getting pushed out and marginalized, although I’m not that optimistic today because I’ve been listening to some disgraceful coverage of a gay student that got murdered (I’m in a bad mood at the moment). But, there is a big difference between saying that and implying that everybody on the right is a racist/gay-bashing/woman-hating neanderthal unless they prove otherwise. You yourself took a pretty balanced approach when you were describing Conservatives (nothing I can disagree with there, we do have way too much anti-gay BS on the right), and even a forgiving view of the people that vote against gay rights (possibly even more forgiving that I would be). You also made it pretty clear that not everybody on the Right feels the same way. That’s a good way to approach the world and I applaud you. IMO there isn’t nearly enough of that from the Right or the Left.

Finally, I wanted to say that I think you’re wrong about the Right taking a strong stance for equality, but I wish you weren’t. Individual politicians can take that view, some have and I think it’s helped. Others get blasted by a biased media, called liars and it’s pretty much assumed that those politicians are just trying to get votes (the media’s reaction to Bush’s attempt to pass immigration reform comes to mind). The more Republicans that are involved the greater the opportunity for the media to make up motivations for them, and it doesn’t matter if they really felt that way or not. Quite simply, I think part of the reason the Right is stuck on the wrong side of so many issues is because they’re kept there by what people are already convinced the entire Republican Party stands for. It’s expecting way too much to ask a politician to take a stand outside the expected when they know they will get hammered by the opposition and they might get hammered by their own side (even if we didn’t have too many racists, nobody likes a panderer and the media is telling us that somebody is pandering for votes… therefore we no longer like that politician QED). A few brave souls will take that chance, but it can’t be many.

I personally believe that most people who vote against pro-gay rights issues don’t really hate gays. They are just scared of the changing times or things they don’t understand. There are the very few who do truly hate gays. The haters lie to the others and get them to believe that gay marriage will lead to people marrying goats and children watching porn in elementary school. Then people get scared and vote out of fear, not hate.

I do agree that democratic politicians need to do more and stop pussyfooting around. Too many of them are comfortable on the fence, because they know LGBTs are more likely to vote on the left, because voting on the right is almost always a worst choice. Even though I am on the left, I don’t think a gay person should vote democratic just because the democratic party is slightly more supportive. That person should vote for who they believe in, and hopefully, whoever they vote for believes in equality.

Also, if the right stood up for equality, no one would ignore that. Many people, like me, would be ecstatic and welcoming. Actually, I think that would be most people’s reaction. It would be a great thing. A few republican politicians have supported gay rights and they were celebrated by the citizens on the left and the right. So, YES, the conservatives “should stage a march, sign a petition and support politicians that denounce those things and maybe make them sign a pledge.” Because, thousands of people’s lives depend on it, millions would be happy to see it happen, and obviously, its the right thing to do.