I support gay rights

[tamarai]

Do you?

"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?" - Ernest Gaines

Comments

[tamarai]

Marriage and the legal stuff surrounding it is pretty big -- health care, beneficiary rights, visitation, end of life care decisions, etc. So I wouldn't consider it an aside.

I think it's fair to say that there is also still a lot of condoned discrimination (job, adoption, and otherwise); making such discrimination illegal doesn't, to me, constitute special rights. I'm not sure what special rights you are actually referring to, but I can certainly understand your reticence about any group requesting those.

What are your thoughts on the dishonorable discharge of Arab translators from the armed services because they were gay? One of them was actually the subject of a recent Daily Show report. My understanding is that Arab translators are hard to come by. Not that I think those soldiers deserved special treatment because of their area of expertise; I think "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is ridiculous and that the services should be non-discriminatory, myself. But it was still an interesting display of priorities, IMO.

You're missing an awesome Indian summer day in Michigan, btw. Sunny and 75!!! Whee!

[tamarai]

We agree on the marriage (or legal status for gay couples) issue, and the military one.

I have mixed feelings about affirmative action, etc., and I haven't studied the issue enough to intelligently argue it here. It is my understanding, however, that the laws regarding job discrimination are varied and not always uniformly applied. So I think there is a lot of room for improvement.

Thanks for the dialog - you helped me flesh out my reasons for posting this in the first place!