My best friend growing up was gay, i guess you could say he was the will to my grace and it was really hard for him because he was raised LDS and believed with all his heart but still couldn’t get over the trial that had been put in his path. He came out of the closet right after high school and the only people who didn’t shun him were me and our other friend Jonathan. I couldn’t believe the response that our community and friends were now showing him. They shunned him like a leper and it broke my heart to see this.

It’s hard to see, and it’s that kind of intolerance that doesn’t help the people who need it the most. There is a big difference between tolerance and condoning actions.

Here’s a good question for you Drew… What would you do if several years from now, you have a son that comes to you and tells you he’s gay? What will you do then?

In the void of a new post (I forgive you) My thoughts returned to this whole escapade. When you initially posted on this, I found it far more interesting than my physics class, and spent an uncharacteristic amount of time perusing the posts and comments. I was curious about the person who could take so bold a stance, and I spent some time familiarizing myself with his blog–reading older (and newer) posts, attempting to decode the cryptic title, and trying to get a feel of who he is. Tonight another analogy comes to mind.

think of that special someone in your life. A spouse, a mother, a child. Then imagine that they were killed in a car accident, hit by someone who had been drinking but whose blood alcohol level was below the legal limit (0.08). The driver is cited with only a moving violation, his penalty is the proverbial slap on the wrist, and he is back to drinking, and driving before you have even begun to mourn your loss, seemingly unaffected by the event that has left your life in chards and fragments.

Then imagine that the state legislature released a statement that the allowed blood alcohol level was up to and including .08, and that a driver could not be convicted of DWI unless their blood registered .085 or higher.

Wouldn’t you feel betrayed? You would feel as if someone had dug open your wounds and spat in them. Wouldn’t you go on, if not a crusade, at least a tirade, about how the legal limit is far too high, the penalties are too few and too forgiving, and that no one with a hint of alcohol in their blood should ever be allowed behind a wheel?

If we are to believe a would-be publication, our dear author might be on a comparable tirade, and (in my opinion) more justified in his defiance than at first he appeared.

The thing that still has me thinking, is the miniature throng of followers before the ‘reign of terror’ brought on by an opposing comment. Perhaps some have a similar motivation, but I fear there is too great a “cloud of back-slapping support” as you put it. I think often we take sides without realizing where we are standing. It is damnably easy to side with a friend, and nearly as simple to follow the most charismatic, or even the most energetic voice we hear. In much of our lives we are not encouraged to think, only to accept what is in front of us. From advertising to entertainment to corporate policies. We are surrounded my much more newspeak than we realize.

Crusaders change the world (for good and for bad) they are an invaluable part of society, but they are (at least in theory) only as strong as their following is large. I guess the take-away thought is that we need to differentiate the resonating and the dissonant voices we hear before we start singin along.

Isn’t that the right thing to do?

Shouldn’t the church do the same thing for people with homosexual inclinations who want to be in a righteous environment and feel the spirit?

This, Drew, is where you tuck tail and run. You are a soft slap to Nate’s uppercut. You are an 8-track to Nate’s iPod. You have thrown your hat into a ring that you just…can’t…compete in. Go back to your own little minor league blog and continue to spew your hate-filled diatribe. But please, for your own sake, steer clear or the majors.

Or you could continue to flail and post. Someone pass the popcorn please.

You’re ridiculous, but I support your right to be so.

Currently eating babies and destroying the moral fabric of society,

Nate