However, I do feel the ‘religious right’ in this country has used the LGBT community to generate a wealthy living for it’s leaders, much as Jerry Fawell earned a good living from preaching segregation prior to and during the Civil Rights Movement. Then his efforts continued against the LGBT community after it was no longer economically viable for him to use the Bible to berate and belittle people of color.

I think this is a world-wide epidemic, and the answer lies within the mandating of equality. Governments owe it to all their tax-paying citizens to provide equality and not only in the U.S., however this, being where I live, is where I feel I personally can make the biggest impact.

Alienation of those who stand on the far right of LGBT equality is not my concern. I know they’ve been brainwashed, as many weaker minded individuals historically have been, yet just because they choose to drink the anti-gay kool-aid doesn’t mean I’m not going to continue to point out the hypocrisy and irony.

I ‘hate’ no one, but I have no time or tolerance for those who use personal religious ideology to prevent me from having the same rights they take for granted.

These anti-gay people are evil. They are the ones causing pain. They stand to lose nothing with equality other than the money they sponge up from other’s fears and ignorance.

You also should know by now that I am a non-religious straight Libertarian-leaning Reagan conservative who fully supports gay and women’s rights. That may sound like a bizarre mix, but never forget that had Ronald Reagan not been so outspoken about California’s far right Briggs Initiative in 1978 (and at great risk to his presidential run), LGBT schoolteachers in CA may just have been banned from their classrooms. The values are compatible.

That is not to say Reagan was a gay rights champ by any stretch of the imagination, but he was tolerant. Rock Hudson was one his best friends. And that is the bridge gays and Christians must cross if they are to ever live in peace together. There are extremists on both sides that are totally intolerant of the other and damaging each others’ causes.

Society is evolving on this issue. Gay marriage is already legal in my home state of New Hampshire and five others. Times are changing, slowly but gradually. That is why it is called evolution. Though I am not a Christian my father was, and he was one of the finest men I ever knew. A Normandy veteran too. To attribute Satan broadly to all Christians as you have done here does you no favors, makes you no friends and does not advance your cause.

As a matter of doctrine, most Christians oppose homosexuality as do all three major religions. But never forget that it was the tolerance and jurisprudence within predominantly Western Christian societies that facilitated the great advances in gay rights the past forty years. They are not all devils, and are as entitled to practice their religions under the Constitution as gays are to live peacefully and without fear.

In short, honey works better than vinegar. Look for bridges to build, not to burn. Lastly, it is in radical Islamist extremist nations like Iran that the devil truly has LGBTs by the throat. I have been campaigning relentlessly this past year to bring attention the plight of LGBTs in Iran, where even being gay can be a death sentence. If you want to attribute Satan to any perversion of religion, direct it there. I really wish more LGBTs would. A hell of a lot more than just gay marriage is at stake there. Like innocent LGBT lives, which are on the verge of being snuffed out even as we speak.

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