And Ricky, its normal for people to be angry at those that insist on injustice. We have no moral obligation to tolerate the actions of those who seek to harm others.

he sat there both times blinking like a lizard that just swallowed a stinkbug

I love that line : )

But we call them homophobes and haters, but they call us Nazis.

What were the Nazis famous for… something involving fences, I thin.

I’m just curious, how much political power do Muslims have in this country?

Or would it be a waste of time and energy to go after a minority with even less political clout than the gay community?

Attacking Jewish or Muslim religious groups individually makes no sense. It’s only when they side with larger organizations such as NOM that they become a large enough target to actually fight against.

Muslims don’t really have a central authority with much of a media presence. You never see individual imams calling for anti-gay measures on television. It may happen but I’ve never seen such a press conference. When it does it will get the backlash from gays that it deserves.

And I don’t see gays sponsoring anti-fundmentalist legislation attempting to strip away their constitutional rights. Do you? Where?

Hateful rhetoric? Oh, horrors, how will they survive our harsh words???

Have gays blamed “fundies” for Katrina? 9-11, Sandy? Call for them to be imprisoned as traitors? No?

But people like Pat Robertson, Paul Ryan, John McTernan, Sean Harris (the list seems endless) have said these things about gays, and more!

Good point, and I think it has a direct bearing on my point: when you disagree on something like marriage equality or gay rights in general with with someone who is getting their information from NOM, FRC, and the like, you are challenging beliefs, not a carefully thought out, rational position: you are disputing received wisdom from recognized authority figures.

I’d wager that it takes more than a reasoned argument to change those attitudes. Certainly, they’ll be uncomfortable and less willing to discuss it with you, not necessarily because they are reconsidering their position, but because you don’t recognize “truth” when you see it.

(And as a footnote, my approach is somewhat akin to Timothy’s — I tend to ask questions on the order of “But what about. . . ?” And then they go away.)