Support For Same-Sex Marriage Is Like Catching Cooties

Jim Burroway

June 4th, 2009

A recent Gallup poll found that when people personally know someone who is gay or lesbian, they are much more likely to support same-sex marriage than those who don’t. For us, that means one thing: come out, come out wherever you are.

But for our opponents, it means something very different. For Gary Cass at the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, it means urging his followers to avoid LGBT people at all costs. He says former vice president Dick Cheney’s support for same-sex unions “is likely … a result of the fact that he is the father of an open, practicing lesbian.” Cass continues:

Who you allow into your life, and especially that of your children, really matters. The Apostle Paul said it this way, “Don\’t be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals (1 Cor.15:33, NASB).

…You are who you associate with.

While we must associate with the lost because we care about their eternal souls, we cannot approve of their sin. In fact, to do so is the most unloving thing you can do. Even our families associations can become an idol if they are not encouraging you to follow Christ.

…Be very careful out there in the world. Remember, “Don\’t be deceived; Bad company corrupts good morals.”

[Hat tip: Right Wing Watch]

homer

June 5th, 2009

Oh course this is why I do not associate with bigots like Gary Cass.

I had a reminder today at work about how 20-something men and women simply do not care whether someone is gay or lesbian. The bigots have lost.

Christopher Waldrop

June 5th, 2009

This simply confirms something I’ve believed for a long time: same-sex marriage, and specifically denying same-sex couples the right to marry, does have a negative effect on straight people. The effect is neither as direct or as personal as it is for same-sex couples, but there is an effect.

If you’re a straight person with gay, lesbian, or bisexual family members or friends who opposes same-sex marriage, you’re in the uncomfortable position of saying to them, “You don’t deserve the same rights I do.”

And if you’re a straight person with gay, lesbian, or bisexual family members or friends who supports same-sex marriage, it hurts to see people you care about subjected to dishonest and frequently vicious attacks.

William

June 5th, 2009

The cumulative effects over the past few decades of the “coming out” phenomenon have been stupendous. There was a time when most straight people thought that they didn’t know any gays or lesbians. “Homosexuals” were nonentities who existed only in some mysterious and invisible anti-world and who didn’t actually work for a living or even live anywhere. I can even remember my dad saying years ago, “There’s no homosexuality in my family”, even though I now realise looking back that, quite apart from me, the circumstances of his favourite brother should at least have made him wonder.

Now more and more people are aware that we are just people too, and that we’re their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, friends and work colleagues etc. We have openly gay and lesbian members of the government, pop singers, radio and television personalities, sports stars, clergy (even bishops!), eminent composers and so on. And ever fewer people see any reason why we should be treated any differently from others. What a long way we’ve come!

Gary Cass and his like are, in a sense, right; they see the “danger” only too clearly. But it’s too late, thank God: la bataille est perdue depuis longtemps.

Matt

June 5th, 2009

“I cannot prevent anyone from getting angry, or mad, or frustrated. I can only hope that they’ll turn that anger and frustration and madness into something positive, so that two, three, four, five hundred will step forward, so the gay doctors will come out, the gay lawyers, the gay judges, gay bankers, gay architects … I hope that every professional gay will say ‘enough’, come forward and tell everybody, wear a sign, let the world know. Maybe that will help.” Harvey Milk, 1978

Alex

June 5th, 2009

Great quote, Matt. I think coming out is the most effective form of activism.

----

June 5th, 2009

Evangelical Christians seem to care more about Paul than Jesus. They should call themselves Paulians instead.

Ben in Oakland

June 5th, 2009

There was very little that Jesus said that Paul did not contradict.

Jesus: no divorce. Paul– OK if your wife is a gentile.

Jesus: judge not. Paul: here’s a list of sinners.

Jesus: pray in private. Paul: make a church.

Jesus: give away what you have. Paul: make a church.

I’m sure there are many others.

GreenEyedLilo

June 5th, 2009

So…a “good Christian” must shun every LGBT person they know, even blood relatives? Their own children?

So *that*’s what “family” means!

Cass needs to worry about his own defamation of Christians before he addresses anyone else’s.

Jason D

June 5th, 2009

I seriously think that’s why some Christians want to retain/create the right to fire gays, not hire gays, refuse to rent to gays, refuse to help gays, refuse to let gays teach their children math, refuse to let gays move into their neighborhood/town/building, refuse to artificial inseminate gays, refuse to do their job and file the legal marriage paperwork for gays.

It’s 2% “this is against my beliefs” and 98% “I don’t want to have any sympathy for gays, so I refuse to get to know any of them under any circumstances.”
I think they instinctively know that familiarity can breed acceptance — and that just cannot be allowed to happen.

Learned Hand

June 5th, 2009

Cass’s comment is absurdly un-Christian. Christ hung out almost exclusively with the outcasts of society. Up until they snagged themselves an Emperor, the Christian church was made up almost exclusively of the poor and marginalized.

If Christ was alive today, the people he would hang out with would be illegal immigrants, teenage runaways, gang members, drug addicts, gays and prostitutes (can’t skip the classics).

I sometimes wonder whether people like Cass realize that they are the Pharisees.

David C.

June 6th, 2009

Gary Cass is just diseased. He has, by advancing this position, proven that the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission stands for just the exact opposite of what its name is supposed to suggest.

Marlene

June 6th, 2009

OMFG! This guy is a complete loon! Keep away from all GLBTs? You think we all have a big ol’ neon pink ‘Q’ on our foreheads, dearie?

We’re *everywhere*, my dear bigot! We’re your lawyer, your secretary, your janitor, your retail clerk; etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!

Alison

June 8th, 2009

I’m so tired of bigots hiding behind Christianity. Teaching hatred is corrupt and completely contrary to the teachings of Jesus. Mr. Cass, I pray for your lost eternal soul, God is surely disappointed in your actions. Straight and against hate!

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