Then I calmed down...we are the minority here in a democratic society. 10% of the population is not enough to make compassionate policy, even if we were 100% unified. You cannot get people who fear you to be comfortable around you by physical violence.

     Whenever I get all tied up in knots, I mean so emotional I can't think rationally, I have to turn to my faith for comfort.

     "'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.'" - Matthew 18:21-22.

     But it sure feels like I have been sinned against by these religious zealots more than 490 times...can I kill them now?

     "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." - Matthew 22:37-39.

     But why should I just sit here and let these religious political extremists beat me up all the time? Is there no justice in this world of Yours?

     "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one convert; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." - Matthew 23:15.

     "if that evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,' and shall begin to beat his fellow-slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and shall cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; weeping shall be there and the gnashing of teeth." - Matthew 24:48-51.

     Well, I feel a little better. I will continue to love my enemy, and will continue to be a better representative of Christ than they are.

The Mind Regains Control:

     But, were not these people MY legislators? Is this not MY government? Is this not MY country? Suddenly, it doesn't matter how good I am at my job, the federal government will not intervene if my employer decides he is not comfortable having a gay employee. So the guy with an IQ of 5 is better qualified for my job because he is naturally attracted to the opposite sex? It doesn't matter if I sacrifice my personal time for the betterment of the office, John Straight will always be the better employee whether he shows up for work or not?

     And heaven forbid if two people who love each other and want to spend their lives together should seek to marry!

     Despite claims to the contrary, gays have served this country in battle. We are your brothers and sisters, your uncles and aunts, your cousins. We are your doctors, your educators, your neighbors: what in the world have we done to make you so hateful toward and fearful of us? I don't care about studies that show orientation to be a fixed, unchangeable trait...you should know enough from your own experience that there is no choice involved.

     Whether it be a result of environment during rearing or of biology, either way we have no control over the sex of the people we are attracted to. This goes for the overwhelming majority of the people who fall in the categories of heterophilial or homophilial. In your heart you know this to be true: could you just one day up and decide that you wanted to change the sex of your partner? Forget the studies, you don't need them if you are honest with yourself.

     The fact that there is no choice involved in orientation and that orientation is a fixed trait has many serious implications that conservatives conveniently ignore. Religious political extremists like to confuse the issue by pointing out that behavior IS a choice. Yes, a gay person can choose not to have sex, but he would still be a homosexual, that will never change. He will never suddenly feel attracted to people of the opposite sex, and he will never stop desiring members of the same sex.

     I often wonder what these religious people want gay people to do. Outside of us willingly walking into gas chambers, what do they want us to do? They want us to not have sex and to act as though we are heterosexuals. But this will eat you alive on the inside until there is nothing left...I know, I've been there. There is nothing like living a lie to destroy your self-confidence and your willingness to live. If you want to know what it is like, just imagine the reverse where 90% of the population is gay, and all heterosexuals had to suppress their natural desires and act as if they were gay. Using the same logic, we could solve racial tensions by forcing all African-Americans to bleach their skin.

     Or, maybe if we were to marry someone of the opposite sex, then that would prove that we were no longer gay. No. We would then be a gay person pretending to be a married heterosexual person...living an even bigger lie. And I'm sure that every straight woman wants to be married to a gay man, or that every straight man wants to be married to a lesbian. That sounds like the makings of a happy family.

     If you are interested in how such twisted thinking has destroyed lives, read Ex-Gays?, There Are None!, by Reverend Sylvia Pennington.

     Gay people are not going away. You cannot legislate us out of existence. Religion will not miraculously change us into straight people. Perhaps God could change us, but He could also change straight people into gay people, that does not mean that He will. We have always been here, homosexuals are not a recent phenomena "indicative of a morally-bankrupt society." We were around before people even knew what "morally-bankrupt" meant. The only thing that has changed is that we have grown tired of your bigotry and will fight you until you change or one of us is destroyed. We are fighting for our lives, what are you fighting for?

     We are blamed for being morally-bankrupt, for being sexually loose, sleeping with a different person every night. You blame us for the AIDS crisis. And yet you deny us the very thing we need to encourage monogamy, marriage.

     We are blamed for the decline of ancient civilizations (which I'm sure had nothing to do with another conquering civilization or natural disasters). Let's ignore that homosexuals have existed in every culture we know of. I see. So whenever gay people are treated like human beings the whole society will crash. It'll probably be on a Tuesday. What planet are these people from? Well, if these ancient civilizations were under the control of bigots then maybe they should have fallen.