Today was a very rough and emotional day. It all started with Twitter. (For those of you not yet on Twitter, really, you should be. It's so much more interesting and fun than blogging.) At some point in the morning I got a 'tweet' about the No on Prop 8/anti-Mormon rally today in L.A. At first the way this tweet was written was specifically anti-Mormon. It wasn't about civil liberties, or the CA state constitution, or even about love and marriage. It was flat out a threat against Mormons.
Not once have I made a public comment, whether on my blog or on Twitter, about Prop 8. In fact, I have very conflicting feelings about it, and have steered far away from any conversations on the subject. The bottom line is that I don't live in California, and therefore, don't feel that I should exert any influence over another state's vote. I know many people disagree in different ways over that position. I don't really care.
So you can only imagine how shocked I was when I personally started receiving threats today all because my Twitter account has me identified as Mormon. I was told to go to hell in more ways than I can count.
Here's what I don't understand. How is this not the most hypocritical move of the last decade? The gays are showing outrage and anger because they disagree with someone else's opinion? And threatening violence against them? Does anyone else see the complete hypocrisy in this?
California voted 52% in favor of Prop 8. And apparently some people just can't take that. Only in Los Angeles can a majority be so fully ignored, while the feelings of the minority can so fully dwarf public opinion.
Today I felt a wide range of emotions from hatred to denial to fear to complete sadness. Mostly there was a feeling of utter sadness that our country has come so far, and yet, again a religion was being persecuted and threatened for simply having a different way of thinking. It confuses and hurts me that it is somehow okay to have "liberal" and "open minded" opinions that defy traditions and the majority, but to choose to preserve your own values, and be religious qualifies you to receive public hatred.
If the Mormons today had marched through downtown LA (and who are we kidding, there's a lot more Mormons than there are gays, we just blend in better) and protested a gay lifestyle today, the ramifications would have been endless. There would have been riots. We would have been called bigots and worse. We would not be given spots on every prime time channel. The bloggers would not be supporting us.
One of the "threats" I received today said, "You have 2 wives, I just want 1 husband." First, not only is this horribly ill-informed and wrong, but stupid. I couldn't help but reply, "You and me both, sweetheart." Needless to say, he didn't write me back.
I still have no opinion on Prop 8, other than, the people have spoken, now deal with it. The people also voted for Obama, and I have to deal with it. We're even. Now move on.
And for crying out loud, if you want to be taken seriously, and want people to believe that its about love, and civil liberties, stop threatening violence against people who have a different opinion from you.
Not once have I made a public comment, whether on my blog or on Twitter, about Prop 8. In fact, I have very conflicting feelings about it, and have steered far away from any conversations on the subject. The bottom line is that I don't live in California, and therefore, don't feel that I should exert any influence over another state's vote. I know many people disagree in different ways over that position. I don't really care.
So you can only imagine how shocked I was when I personally started receiving threats today all because my Twitter account has me identified as Mormon. I was told to go to hell in more ways than I can count.
Here's what I don't understand. How is this not the most hypocritical move of the last decade? The gays are showing outrage and anger because they disagree with someone else's opinion? And threatening violence against them? Does anyone else see the complete hypocrisy in this?
California voted 52% in favor of Prop 8. And apparently some people just can't take that. Only in Los Angeles can a majority be so fully ignored, while the feelings of the minority can so fully dwarf public opinion.
Today I felt a wide range of emotions from hatred to denial to fear to complete sadness. Mostly there was a feeling of utter sadness that our country has come so far, and yet, again a religion was being persecuted and threatened for simply having a different way of thinking. It confuses and hurts me that it is somehow okay to have "liberal" and "open minded" opinions that defy traditions and the majority, but to choose to preserve your own values, and be religious qualifies you to receive public hatred.
If the Mormons today had marched through downtown LA (and who are we kidding, there's a lot more Mormons than there are gays, we just blend in better) and protested a gay lifestyle today, the ramifications would have been endless. There would have been riots. We would have been called bigots and worse. We would not be given spots on every prime time channel. The bloggers would not be supporting us.
One of the "threats" I received today said, "You have 2 wives, I just want 1 husband." First, not only is this horribly ill-informed and wrong, but stupid. I couldn't help but reply, "You and me both, sweetheart." Needless to say, he didn't write me back.
I still have no opinion on Prop 8, other than, the people have spoken, now deal with it. The people also voted for Obama, and I have to deal with it. We're even. Now move on.
And for crying out loud, if you want to be taken seriously, and want people to believe that its about love, and civil liberties, stop threatening violence against people who have a different opinion from you.
I'm sorry for the hate spewed at you.
ReplyDeleteI am very disturbed that so many ignorant people still think that Mormons have multiple spouses. Don't they read? They obviously don't stretch themselves outside of their comfortable social circles to get to know what other people are about!!!
Ugh. You and I don't necessarily agree on gay marriage - and I'll admit I'm still conflicted about it -
You are right... spewing venom is hardly the way to gain sympathy!
I so agree. With all of it. The conflicting feelings on Prop 8, the feeling that one shouldn't exert influence on another state's vote and especially stopping the hate. I was listening to something on the radio this morning and the host said, "the tipping point of Prop 8 came not from people of ANY particular religion but from the African American and Hispanic voters, who are largely NOT Mormon in CA."
ReplyDeleteI'm really sorry this happened to you. I strongly oppose targeting individuals just because of their religious affiliation. Everyone has their own reasons, opinions and motivations, and just knowing that they're Mormon tells you hardly anything about them.
ReplyDeleteTwo things: First, your figures are wrong regarding Mormons and gays--there are twice or three times more gays in the United States than Mormons. About 4% of Americans openly identify as LGBT while only 1.7% identify as Mormon.
Second, the point isn't that "the majority voted, deal with it" but "the majority voted to strip rights from a minority." As a member of that minority, I am certainly not going to lie down and just "deal with it." Your being targeted was wrong, but so was Proposition 8 wrong and bigoted.
Good luck and take care.
I could not say it better myself. I share almost identical feelings. I have yet, been unable to write/blog about my own feelings and position, regarding this hate based campaign against Mormons.
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Kathryn
Jer, with all due repsect, the rights the homosexual community is demanding for in legal terms aren't really necessary. Isn't it more about demanding societal recognition than actually getting married? Rights of survivorship can be established can be established through wills and trusts, and quite frankly, under incoming president Obama's tax plan, married couples will be penalized for their income more than singles.
ReplyDeleteIf you are gay, I truly hold no ill will toward you, but your rights have not been stripped from you. There never have been any rights for a person based on sexual orientation. The voters decided to define marriage in a particular way. Instead of being upset that you don't get to "be married" in traditional terms, why not be thankful you live in land of freedom where your life choices can be practiced with the person you love, and those who would persecute for those choices can be tried and imprisoned. In many other countries, your sexual identity would be a death sentence. For every one Matthew Shepherd in the US, how many are there in Iran?