Comments on: Pastor Opposes Cleveland’s Domestic Partnership Registry With No Benefits http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2009/01/11/7936 News, analysis and fact-checking of anti-gay rhetoric Sun, 19 May 2013 14:07:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Ephilei http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2009/01/11/7936/comment-page-1#comment-30671 Ephilei Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:39:46 +0000 http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/?p=7936#comment-30671 What's at stake is a symbol. Symbols can be important indeed. Marriage, after all, is primarily a symbol, far long before any government gave couples special rights. For a same-sex couple to say in public, "we love and are committed to each other" is to affirm there existence and, I strongly believe, something which exists is always more valuable and righteous than something which does not exist. I have a shirt that identifies me as trans. It doesn't give me special rights, but by affirming my existence it affirms my intrinsic value. This is exactly the meaning of the mantra, "We're here! We're queer!." It's the importance of as many queer people as possible being out of the closet. The biggest accomplishment of the gay rights movement was in the 1860s when one gay man stood up and said, "I exist." Does that help? What’s at stake is a symbol. Symbols can be important indeed. Marriage, after all, is primarily a symbol, far long before any government gave couples special rights. For a same-sex couple to say in public, “we love and are committed to each other” is to affirm there existence and, I strongly believe, something which exists is always more valuable and righteous than something which does not exist.

I have a shirt that identifies me as trans. It doesn’t give me special rights, but by affirming my existence it affirms my intrinsic value. This is exactly the meaning of the mantra, “We’re here! We’re queer!.” It’s the importance of as many queer people as possible being out of the closet. The biggest accomplishment of the gay rights movement was in the 1860s when one gay man stood up and said, “I exist.”

Does that help?

]]> By: Timothy Kincaid http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2009/01/11/7936/comment-page-1#comment-30379 Timothy Kincaid Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:01:52 +0000 http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/?p=7936#comment-30379 When they oppose the teeny tinly little not-much-more-than-useless registration <b>solely</b> because <i>gay people</i> want it, then you know you're looking at bigotry. When they oppose the teeny tinly little not-much-more-than-useless registration solely because gay people want it, then you know you’re looking at bigotry.

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