I\'m Summer, a mouthy, sarcastic bitch. I\'m passionate about natural birth, long term breastfeeding, and living naturally. I curse too much, love tattoos, and will some day be crushed to death by my book collection. I homeschool, dream of gardening, and swing to the left. 
Sean Penn and Hate
Being one of those crazy no-cable families we didn’t watch the Oscars Sunday night. But I heard about them, oh did I hear about them. Aside from everyone on Twitter talking about them as it was happening there has also been a lot of comments since then. Most notable about Sean Penn’s acceptance speech. Apparently some people are upset about what he said, claiming that he was attacking them for voting no on Prop 8 and saying they were motivated by hate above anything else. Well honestly, if you’re trying to convince me that you motivations were anything other than hatred you’re doing a smashingly horrible job at it.
I guess we could break it down to be a little more specific. It was religiously motivated hate, or fear motivated hate, or maybe just ignorance motivated hate. But come on and be honest, it was still hate. Screaming that you’re not a homophobe and a bigot after voting “Yes, I am a homophobe and a bigot!” really doesn’t do much in the way of swaying me to your side.
Or, like Dawn said:
The trick is that the rest of us have to believe you love gay people more then a political agenda. That you find hatred more offensive then gay marriage. That you are more willing to fight against hatred then to feel insulted.
Anything less simply suggests that maybe Sean Penn had a point.
Something tells me it’s a trick you just can’t pull off. You know, that whole “actions speak louder than words” stuff.
Hmm…
…
I’ve tried writing responses to this issue on previous posts of yours, but I couldn’t find the words. So I didn’t.
I’m going to try again today.
“Screaming that you’re not a homophobe and a bigot after voting ‘Yes, I am a homophobe and a bigot!’ really doesn’t do much in the way of swaying me to your side.”
Well, I didn’t vote on Prop 8 since I’m not in California. But I’m not for homosexual marriage, and I think there are very good reasons why its not a good idea. Thus, had I voted it would not be because I am a “homophobe and a bigot” …unless you define homophobia and bigotry as “anyone who does not support homosexual marriage.”
And I try to keep my screaming to a minimum [smile].
…
All that to say, while there certainly are plenty of people who are homophobes, bigots, and haters, not everyone who disagrees with homosexual marriage is that way… not by a long shot. I believe there are very reasonable, rational, and legitimate reasons to want to uphold the “traditional family structure” that are not motivated by politics or hatred. In fact, I think most people’s political agendas are motivated by their worldview, assumptions, and philosophical leanings… none of which are hatred or bigotry, but all of which could easily turn that way.
…gah. I feel like a single response is horribly inadequate here. This has to be an individual discussion so we can hash out what’s going on in all this. I wish I were more wise and well-spoken, but I’m not. So, please accept this comment as a plea for more dialog.
~Luke
Luke, I absolutely disagree. There are no reasons against same sex marriage that have anything to do with “reasonable, rational, and legitimate reasons”. Some are fueled by hate, some by ignorance. But of all the people talking about it no one has came up with a single reason that uses logic. Because there are no reasons that use logic.
Yes, you are a homophobe and a bigot. Just because you can lie to yourself and twist logic into some warped sense of reality to tell yourself that what you are doing is OK does not make it OK. And using religion as a backing is the ultimate ignorance as well as an insult to America. People whowould ban another’s rights based on nothing more than religious preferrence do not deserve to live in America.
There doesn’t need to be anymore discussion, frankly there has been too much already and people like you have long been given too much sway. The discussion needs to end, civil rights need to be given to all US citizens. End of discussion. Don’t like it, I’m sure there are plenty of other countries you will be more than welcome in.