Sometimes, the only appropriate response is “thank you.”
I read with horror a report today on Huffington Post about a gay Iraqi war veteran who was booed by anti-LGBT protestors this week when he spoke in favor of a San Antonio anti-discrimination ordinance.
The measure, which would simply add in sexual orientation and gender identity into an existing city code protecting civil rights, has been strongly debated in San Antonio with the facts wildly distorted, including one group who protests the additions claiming that the changes would bar Christians from serving in the city council, according to equalitymatters.com. (Any language that would have indicated that could have been a remote possibility has been altered).
But back to Marine Eric Alva. He lost his leg in combat, so he’s pretty much gone through tougher stuff than most of the rest of us will ever have to, and the reaction was so harsh, he wrote on Facebook “I just left city council chambers and I feel like crying. I have never seen a city so divided and hateful towards each other. All of mankind should be ashamed. I already spoke and even some of the religious groups even booed me as I spoke. Such disrespect as they preach the word of God.”
He then added: “To all you people that preach the word of God, shame on you because God loves me, like the day I laid bleeding on the sands of Iraq and that’s why he saved me!”
I understand fear and I understand fear of change, but I really believe 100% within my heart that those who continue to oppose LGBT rights by wrapping their bias in religious speak are on the wrong side of history and will one day be looked upon as discriminatory as those who opposed desegregation. And to think that they would boo someone who under any other circumstances they would applaud, rightfully so, as a a man who served his country when he was called to do so at a horrific cost, is unconscionable. I wish I could hand them a Bible in one hand and a copy of the Declaration of Independence in the other.
Or maybe all the San Antonio protesters should just be forced to watch this and see what happens when you realize that who someone loves has no bearing on anyone’s life but his or her own.
Today’s $10 goes to GetEQUAL TX, a Texas-based organization fighting for LGBTQ rights. It works by building movements and coalitions fighting for the same goal: equality.
AUG. 16: GetEQUAL TX
Click here to get “Causes and Effects” delivered every day to your email inbox (the subscription link now works) or enter your email in the top right corner.
No comments:
Post a Comment