REPUBLICAN PARTY

I am a Republican, and the Republican party most matches where I stand on most issues, but as far as gay rights go, they do not match. I like a lot of my friends who are also gay republicans, feel like our party is out of touch with a huge part of their constituency, and a large group of people that for lack of anything better have sided with the liberal party simply because the Democrats tend to support more of the gay rights issues, and they don't feel that is is right to support a party that at every turn Deny's us, what every other American citizen receives without even asking for.


We're out there in the fields where men are men and being "Gay" is not the norm,; but were still here. Some are in the closet, others are out to a few close friends, still others don't lie about who they are when asked, but don't volunteer information either. We're neither activists, nor do we march in gay pride parades. Your more likely to find us on the back of a horse in the high desert of Oregon, driving a 4 wheel drive truck in the back country of Nevada, or shooting a gun, while hunting deer, coyote, or any predator or varmit attacking our livelihood. We're also Christians.

GAY MARRIAGE

Gays in this country, and most countries are treated as second class citizens, and by Gays I mean the LGBT community, we are for the most part not allowed to get married, have no rights as far as being allowed to make medical decisions for our partners, community property rights and so forth. We are probably the only minority where our government openly allows discrimination, and they have done this by becoming involved in marriage by issuing licenses. If ever i saw where there should be a division of church and state it should be here. If a church doesn’t want to marry someone because of their religious beliefs, then so be it, that is that institutions choice, the same argument that has been made against requiring religious institutions to provide birth control and contraception to employees. This should be the same courtesy extended to pharmacists who disagree with dispensing the morning after pill.

 How many people made the decision to be Heterosexual? Maybe the state and federal government need to get out of the marriage business, and let people marry who they want to, and leave it up to the churches or individuals who are performing marriages as to whether or not they choose to perform the ceremony. I think a good way to do this, the person officiating at the ceremony would simply issue a marriage certificate, then the person would take it to the city where they live and pay a small fee to have it registered.

 There are a lot of different ways to live any more, MMF, FFM, FF, MM, MF, etc. all of which are fine if the people involved are all consenting adults, the government should stay out of it. I’m sure someone now will say what about a man/woman marrying their dog, cat, horse, car, etc., where does it stop? This seems pretty simple and straight forward, simply state that all participants have to be Human beings. Not because were making rules for people to live by, but because being married also has tax implications. if you want to marry someone other than a human, you can, you simply cant register it with the government.

ON BEING GAY

I am a gay/bi male, and spent 30 years in the closet, being married, children, and having the perfect "family" life. Only perfection was a lie, and one single "mistake" away was total chaos. I cheated on my wife and family for over 10 years, keeping it in the closet, several times just seconds or minutes from being caught. Did I like living a lie? No. But Society and Christianity taught me that being gay was wrong, that I’d go to hell, that it was unnatural, an abomination to God. Did it feel like any of those things? No. I felt normal. Did I make a choice to be gay? No. Did you make a choice to be Straight? I imagine not. Was I in the closet because that felt normal or natural? No, I was in the closet because of society, and had someone found out my secret I would have been humiliated, possibly to the point of suicide.


When I was still married and cheating on my family, I lived a continuous lie, any time I was somewhere other than where I was expected to be, I had an alibi. Imagine how that can affect your well being and mind. When I finally came out it was with the encouragement of a friend, who was gay and had been out for most of his adult life, I saw how easy it was for him, not having to remember what the lies were he had told, hours, days, months, or years ago, and how his family and friends were accepting, loving, and didn’t treat him any differently than they would have treated anyone else “treat others as you would like to be treated”


One of the 10 commandments is Thou Shalt Not Lie. My entire life was a lie, if your going to count which sin is greater, and I dont believe that being gay is a sin since God made me that way, then i would think that the 10 commandments would be the 10 biggest sins, being gay is not on that list. Yes you could say it falls under adultry, but if gays were allowed to get married then it would no longer be adultry. I would imagine there isn't a Christian alive today or ever that hasn't lied at sometime in their life, and technically as far as the bible goes looking on someone with lust is also adultry, so I would be willing to say that most christians are living at the same level of sin as gays

RUTGERS SPY CAM

On the issue of the Rutgers web cam spy topic, I feel like this is a problem caused by our Christian society. kids will be kids....yes the parties involved were a little older, but they’re still kids doing stupid things. Yes had Dharun Ravi been peeking in a window it would have been just as much of an invasion of privacy as watching on a web cam, and he was wrong to invite others to watch but it was a stupid prank that in the end, devastated 2 families, and sparked a nationwide controversy. Not so much over the actual act of filming 2 consenting adults in an intimate moment, which I think everyone agrees was wrong, but the fact that they were 2 men caught doing something that "Society" and Christianity says is wrong, and Tyler Clementi being pushed emotionally to the point of suicide because of the embarrassment caused; either by friends, family, or peers finding out his "Secret". I don't know whether or not he was open about his sexuality, or kept it hidden, but I do know what ever the burden was, it was heavy enough to cause him to feel that suicide was the only solution. Our society and Christianity makes being “Gay” a big deal, and until that attitude is gone, these types of incidents will continue to happen, devastating even more lives and families.