Tolerance Works Both Ways

Timothy Birdnow Here is a video produced by TFP Student Action (Tradition, Family, Property - a traditional Catholic defense student group) that shows acts of violence and hatred by pro-homosexual marriage advocates against TFP members. http://www.tfpstudentaction.org/what-we-do/news-and-updates/tfp-attacked-by-tolerance-video.html Please do not misunderstand; this is not an indictment of all gay people, the majority of whom are decent enough. It IS an indictment of the radicals, the gay revolutionaries, whose purposes are more than just to get a fair shake. The gay agenda, the political homosexuality, is an act of rebellion against tradition, against concepts of decency and normality. It is a type of anarchism couched in sexuality. We've seen this in other areas of Leftism with heterosexual anarchists, heterosexual terrorism, but it is particularly obvious in the homosexual community because there has already been a break with the cultural norms. (Remember "make love not war" back in the '60's? That was sexuality being used in similar fashion as many of the radicals rebelled against the sexual norms of their parents. Bear in mind that Charles Manson held regular orgies with his followers and used the sexual energy to bind his group together, and to incite them to violence.) If gay marriage advocates were seeking decent treatment and fairness, would they not be the first to support the rights of those with opposing viewpoints? If the murder of Mathew Shephard was an evil act, is not the assault on people protesting gay marriage an equally evil act? How can someone argue for greater tolerance by being intolerant of their opposition? The reality is that many in the gay rights movement are not seeking tolerance or acceptance but are promoting a revolutionary agenda. I don't know if being gay is something they embraced as an act of rebellion (perhaps they had tendencies and embraced them to assuage their anger) or if their sexuality drove them to anger in the first place, but many of them clearly hate the traditions of Western society and religion. Most gay people will argue that homosexuality is something they are born with, and I don't necessarily dispute that, although I suspect there is more than one type of homosexual and I'm not at all sure that we can categorize it as monolithic. Certainly if one accepts the premises of Darwinian Natural Selection it must be argued that homosexuality is a serious aberration, because a "gay gene" should have bred itself out of the gene pool long ago. Given the arguments made by the gay community that they are oppressed and mistreated - and that would have been far worse in the past when society wasn't so enlightened - being gay should have discouraged reproduction. And, of course, a gay gene does not explain bisexuality, which is probably more common than straight homosexuality. I suspect there are numerous factors that go into establishing the sexual identity of an individual. Nature, nurture, environmental factors, cultural factors all probably play a part. How many gay people have stood at the threshold and had to make a conscious choice? I suspect more than we know. I suspect, too, that many had experiences early in life, perhaps acts of molestation, that made them feel that this was the course of their lives. There may be people who are just born wrong, and have a biological drive that pushes them towards their own sex, too, but as I said, the issue is probably much more complicated than it is made out by the gay activists. In many cases I suspect there is a rebellion that comes first. Be that as it may, it is understandable that gay people want to be happy and feel accepted, and I would be the last person to want to make someone feel bad because of it. But there are all manner of things in this world we must bear, and all manner of things that we cannot simply redefine to suit our wants. There are times - many of them - that we must deny ourselves. Any married man knows temptation and the need for self-denial. (The argument made here is generally that at least the married man has a sexual outlet, to which any veteran of matrimony will answer resoundingly Hah!) There are people addicted to nicotine, to alcohol, to narcotics, to food, to any number of things, and nobody suggests we redefine our institutions to accomodate those addictions. Do we excuse alcoholics from sobriety at work, say, because they are born that way? There is stronger evidence for a genetic component to alcoholism than to homosexuality. Granted, the homosexual isn't doing it at work (or so we hope) but you get the point; there are laws against public drunkenness and there used to be laws against sodomy, but those are largely gone. Nothing but convention stops a gay couple from kissing or holding hands in public. And the public is o.k. with that, provided it remains discreet. It should be pointed out that this was true of heterosexual expression in public until the sexual revolution of the 1960's too, it should be pointed out. But redefining the institutions - and demanding that religions and religious people knuckle under - is unacceptable. That is the main reason why many on the Left support gay marriage; it's an act of sexual vandalism to the culture. They know this, and the gay rights movement is but another weapon in the war against orthodoxy. So the good foot soldiers like those in this video trudge angrily into battle against those they see as the enemy. And nothing makes someone angrier than to have their flaws pointed out to them, which is what generates such bile in these people. Christianity teaches that homosexuality unrepentant leads to damnation, and the Christian tries to save these folks from a fate worse than death. Saving people who do not want to be saved is a most thankless task, and yet who is it that is showing tolerance and even love? I Christians didn't love them they would let them perish. Christian "hatred" would mean supporting gay marriage and letting the gay people lose their souls. Whether one agrees with the Christian worldview or not, at least it should be understood that the opponents of gay marriage here mean them well, even if they are misguided. The fury displayed here bespeaks a guilty conscience in many of these people. I am mindful of the Book of Revalation12:12 "Woe to the earth, and to the sea, because the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time" Something has certainly gotten a bee under the gay marriage supporters' bonnets! Tolerance works both ways.