Provincetown has long attracted writers, artists and gays and lesbians, and is known as a place where people can feel free to be themselves — a seaside version of Greenwich Village. New England’s unofficial gay capital has just 3,400 year-round residents, but summer tourism brings nearly 10 times as many people.
Tension has mounted in the small Massachusetts town mainly because it is the only state that allows gay marriage.Tensions boiled over this year after the names and addresses of nearly 5,000 Massachusetts residents — 43 of them from Provincetown — who signed a petition seeking a constitutional amendment against gay marriage were published on the knowthyneighbor Web site.
Earlier this month, a gay man got into a shouting match at a grocery store with a straight woman, calling her a bigot for signing the petition. Other people in the area have been berated by gays and one woman claims that a gay put dog feces outside her car door. Perhaps the woman was an ‘Nsync fan, failing to accept Lance Bass’ new lifestyle. Another woman found a list of the knowthyneighbor petition list on her windshield. It seems as though that gays are showing their less than rainbow colors in the form of intimidation.
Most of the Provincetown residents who signed the petition are members of St. Peter’s Catholic Church, according to Rev. Henry J. Dahl, pastor at St. Peter’s. The majority of the church’s 750 parishioners are Portuguese families who are not gay, though St. Peter’s is listed as a “gay-friendly” church by various gay Web sites.
Dahl said he is offended that some proponents of same-sex marriage have equated the opposing view with bigotry. “I’ll take ownership of being a Catholic and being a signer of the petition, but I won’t take ownership of being a bigot,” he said.
This is just another of a laundry list of examples that could be added to list of intolerance by the self-proclaimed tolerant. It’s just sad that the straight people are the ones who are the bigots when the gays in Provincetown when the gays cannot accept that some may not approve of their lifestyle. They are the ones destroying the 3000 year tradition of marriage, and this isn’t scoring them any points.
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Last 5 posts by Justin- My Blog from CPAC - February 28th, 2009
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Since the word “bigot” lost all meaning in political discourse long ago (I’d guess around the time of the affirmative action debates in the mid 70s, but I’m guessing), this is hardly “intimidation.” Call me when someone gets beat up or when someone beats himself up and blames the Catholics. Then we have a story.
I heard a woman whose name appears on the list also had canine urine on ALL FOUR of her car tires! Clearly she has been targetted
It’s not a lifestyle. Lifestyles are chosen. Being gay is who people are. There’s a huge difference between accepting that Johnny likes hanging out in biker bars and gets body piercings and tattoos with each paycheck, or accepting that Johnny was born a homosexual. You CHOOSE to believe I’m less of a human being because I’m gay — I, however, did not choose to be gay in the first place.
It is bigotry when you hate or discriminate based on things that cannot be controlled. Race, national origin, sexual orientation, whether or not someone is born handicapped… these things aren’t chosen. These things just happen naturally. And taking away my rights because I was born a homosexual, that’s bigotry at its core.
And by the way, it’s straight people who are destroying the now-invisible sanctity of marriage. Half of all marriages end in divorce. It’s not the gay people that are having shotgun weddings in Vegas or getting married because they’re pregnant or having “open” marriages. Let’s not forget that it’s legal to marry your cousin in 26 states. Oh, but encouraging gay people to enter into loving, committed, monogamous relationships, yeah, that’s really going to send America to hell in a handbasket.
How about you worry about something that pertains to you, and us gay people, we’ll have our legal weddings and enjoy the equal protection under the law that America supposedly provides all its citizens.
There is straight bigotry as well as gay bigotry. Whats your point.
First, so straight people are the ones who are destroying marriage? Well, you forgot a second label to tack on to those certain straight people. Many of these straight people are also “progressives” (or socialists) like yourself. Progressives have been the strongest advocates to make divorce process easier, much in the name of “women’s rights,” and other ridiculous causes. The sanctity of marriage has been destroyed because progressives tolerate “alterative†lifestyles.
Second, and this relates to my first point, we often ask ourselves, “how have we gotten to this point?” And in this case this question asked in reference to the erosion of the sanctity of marriage. So how has it been destroyed? Neither I nor the next person can really blame it on one individual or one event, but rather on marginal changes and the general progressive movement. Liberals have been chipping away slowly and steadily at the moral fabric of American society. Your response is absolutely quintessential of a liberal, and I quote, “Oh, but encouraging gay people to enter into loving, committed, monogamous relationships, yeah, that’s really going to send America to hell in a handbasket.†Liberals have been using the whole sanctity of marriage argument for their own political gain; they don’t give a damn about the institution of marriage. Liberals only think there is progress in this world if they can physically SEE the progress. And they disbelieve that anything will have a negative consequence since nobody can witness an immediate, tangible effect. The progressive movement has completely bastardized the meaning of progress and equality in this country. Progress does not mean forceful extension of suffrage and equality does not mean everyone getting their “equal material share.â€
Allowing gay marriage now may cause rioting in the streets and people being very angry. Human relations might be a little tense, but we won’t see the effects of the actual allowance of gay marriage until later. In 20 years, after progressives are advocating for the legal sanction of marrying two people, your dog, your computer, we will once again be asking ourselves, “how have we gotten to this point?â€
I am no expert on whether one is born gay or not. I am not sure whether I believe being gay is a choice or if some people are just born that way. Either way, being born gay or choosing to be gay doesn’t justify homosexual behavior. Just because someone may be born a kleptomanic doesn’t mean we excuse him from stealing. Just because someone may be born a pedophile, doesn’t mean we tolerate his want to molest little boys.
Unless this topic was played out the last similar post, I put the over/under on # of comments to this post at 15.
This topic has played out many times… the amazing thing is how the comments always focus on the same thing no matter what the original post had to say.
just an FYI… by coincidence the Gay Marriage Episode of the Simpsons was on tonight
Sarah say: “Nah, nah, nah… It’s the evil liberals who have made divorce so easy who have destroyed marriage!”
Well, Sarah, there are plenty of conservatives who have used the ease of divorce to their own advantage. Case in point: Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, now a candidate for Attorney General. I believe that he has been married not once, not twice, but three times! He is so strongly committed to marriage that he has done it multiple times. One wag on another site refers to his latest spouse as “Jessica McTHIRD Bride”.
What say you to this travesty?
MU Socialist,
Firstly, let me say that I am fine with Civil Unions. Nevertheless, whether you are born gay or not is no excuse for these people to commit any type of vandilism to retaliate against anyone who signed a petition for anything. As you (MU Socialist) cry out about equal rights, I don’t see you condeming acts of vandalism as compromising these peoples’ freedom of speech or even holding Democrats accountible for not supporting gays. Secondly, we’ve discussed this before. Nationally recognized Democrats are against gay marriage, including our own Gov, for whom you no doubt can’t wait to cast your vote(s). (Sorry David C, I’m one of those people who brings up the same points.) But stick with me, it will all tie in.
Back to MU Socialist. I know you said that Kerry was the lesser of two evils, but you still had your little pride flag with his name on it insinuating he supported gays. Did everyone hear that Howard Dean…MU socialist’s favorite “supportive” liberal went on the 700 Club television show and said that Democrats believe marriage is between a man and a woman? Man, are you (MU Socialist) programmed! What exactly has got to happen before you can do anything but complain about conservatives and embrace the Democrats who denounce you at every turn? I think that you and these vandals in Mass. are more interested in hating conservatives than in furthering your own “gay agenda”, which is why it will never go anywhere. Dems can count on your undying support, no matter what they do. Consequently, there is no reason to ever do anything for you. The people signing these petitions are not doing a fraction of the damage you are by not holding Dems accountable for their lack of support. You (and I want to repeat this) Y-O-U are the biggest obstacle in furthering any gay agenda. These people commiting acts of vandalism are not helping either. It is for these reasons, that despite the acts of these vandals, I believe that Mass. gay marriage law will be confined to only a few states, at most, because of people like MU Socialist.
So wait, Lance Bass had to ANNOUNCE he was gay, and that he hid it because of THE REPUTATION OF THE GROUP???
Lance does know he was a member of NSync and not ACDC right?
First of all, we support the Democrats because they’re much more likely than conservatives to support us, and we’re smart enough to know that a third party candidate will never win in this country so throwing all our support behind one is a pointless battle. We’d rather support a party that supports us sometimes rather than a party that would sooner stick us all in a gas chamber and flip the switch while thumping their Bible with the other hand before they allow us equal rights.
Secondly, with the exception of Nevada because of the bastardization of marriage caused by Las Vegas quickie weddings, the highest divorce rates in the country are in the Bible belt. Don’t for a second tell me that my monogamous and loving lifetime marriage to another woman would screw up the institution and cause the breakdown of society. Why don’t you look up some conservatives who oppose gay marriage and check out how many times they’ve all been divorced, had affairs, had drug addictions, etc, and then you go ahead and tell me that gay people are the ones causing the societal breakdown.
Homosexual persons have the same rights as heterosexual persons. Gays are not denied equal rights because they are gay people; rather they are “denied equal rights” because they demand rights without following the requirements to obtain them. So do gay people want rights because they are gay, or because they are American citizens? Are gay people homosexuals first? Or are they American citizens first? If they consider themselves American citizens, they must realize the law is what it is for specific (and good) reasons. Law and constitution are inherently discriminatory, but those of the U.S. are that way not on the basis of bigotry but on the basis of safeguarding a civil society.
Being homosexual seems to have become a worldview, not a sexual orientation. Homosexuals portray their have different perspectives not on the basis that they are unique individuals but because they are homosexuals. This baffles me if they want to be taken seriously as people and not judged based on their sexual orientation. How can anyone ever see eye to eye with each other when the so-called tolerant homosexual community keeps up with its juvenile labeling tactics?
Ego, did you read what you wrote? Because it makes no sense. Homosexuals ARE denied rights BECAUSE they’re gay. “Following the requirements” in order to obtain equal rights in this case would mean denying who we are and pretending we’re straight. We would have to compromise who we are as people, who we were born to be, in order to obtain the rights that others gain by being born straight.
We are American citizens and we are homosexuals, and we shouldn’t have to compromise one in order to be the other. However, discriminatory legislation like a marriage amendment forces gay people to choose whether to be loyal to themselves and their identity or to be loyal to their country of origin. Frankly, I would choose loyalty to myself over loyalty to a country that hates me every time.
And you say law and the Constitution are inherently discriminatory to protect people? Really? Then why didn’t we stop at 10 amendments? Why did we give blacks full status as people and give women the right to vote? Weren’t those discriminatory principles in the Constitution in order to protect the civil society? And the world hasn’t imploded since we realized that the laws discriminating against these groups were ugly and hateful? Hmmm… seems to me that it’s about time we realize that we have another ugly and hateful principle on our hands.
I personally think that fundamentalist Christians are missing a vital set of brain cells somewhere, but that doesn’t mean that they deserve fewer rights than the loving, liberal Christians I’ve come to know. And just because you think that the way I was born was somehow incorrect and you personally think it’s “icky” doesn’t mean I deserve fewer rights than you.
I was so close. I said 15 comments and we are only to 14, now.
#15!!!!!!!
MU Socialist, like these vandals you are a prime exsample of people who are more intrested in hating conservitives than actually making any progress for gay equality which does not make you a gay equality advocate but a hate monger. Ego is completly right about juvenile labeling tactics. At least we made progress on you not lumping all Christians together as evil…baby steps.
I support Civil Unions, as does President Bush. Did Dean even offer that support when he was stabbing you in the back on national television for the benifit of the Christian fundamentalist you and Polly are so adamently against? Are you even pissed about that? And you said Liberal Christians. Democratic Christians were the ones Dean was trying to reassure when he stabbed you in the back. He wasn’t talking to Republicans (Why would republicans listen to anything Dean had to say?)he has talking to Christian Democrats (Liberals?) so they would vote democrat in the midterm elections. If you, or these vandals, really cared about about equality for the gay community, at least as much as you do about satisfying some debased emotional need to hate someone (and ya’ll picked conservatives, lucky us) you would express the same zeal twords anyone who spoke against the “rights” you are so intent on championing, but you don’t. So I will say it again; That is why you will NEVER NEVER NEVER get any support from Democrats. And since you hate conservitives, even ones who do support civil unions you will never get any closer to leagl equality, but on the plus side you get to go on hating a specific group of people which you and the vandals seem to enjoy doing so much. Ya’ll do have strange hobbies. By the way, what the He** is occasioal support? Coming to your fundraisers, taking your money and crying on your shoulder with you to get your vote is not even occational support. Your tolorance and even support of such antics is exactly the kind of behavior that is going to retard any chance of equality. Why shouldn’t Dean or Kerry or Hillary brush you aside? You will lick their boots no matter what. Just like those vandals who want to hate someone more than make any progress. And you never answered my question. What does Dean or the Democrats in general have to do to loose your support? Whatever your answer is that is exsactly how far they will go. Furthermore, however far that is…is that how far you want it to go before you get some support? I say that legal equality has a better chance with Republicas. Yes, most of us have “sanctity of marriage” values but when those of us who support civil unions, which is what legal rights the gay community keeps bringing up, are met with people like you who are more intrested in hating Christians and conservitives than making and kind of progress our hands are tied. I mean Republicans like Bush and myself who support civil unions.
And the gay community is left with back stabbing Dems who will never do anything for you. Do you want fries with that?
I like this line of yours “Don’t for a second tell me that my monogamous and loving lifetime marriage to another woman would screw up the institution and cause the breakdown of society.” I didn’t say that. The success or faliure of a marriage is dependent on the individuals involved and divorce has nothing to do with it, besides there are Biblical reasons sactioning divorce so being divorced does not negate any value on the santity of marriage. And there you go again limiting your bashing to Christians (although you have made progess in not including ALL Christians albiet your still singling out the wrong ones)…There is not a single major religion that suports gay marriage so why single out Christians? The gas chamber comment is also completely out of line becuase the other hate monger (that makes two of you now) that put people in gas chambers was not a member of any religion and killed plenty of Christians as well Jews and anybody else that did not fit his criteria. By God I hope you already know this. Furthermore, why don’t you show us how many monogomous life long gay and lesbian couples there are? I know there are SOME out there, my family is friends with a few such couples and they are the first to admit that they are the few and far between. They have also been very open about the the gay community and I have learned things that still shock and suprise me. Your having this discusion with someone who has had gay friends and has gay relitives so don’t even try it. Any implication that fidelity and clean living are staples of the gay community is laughable. Open up that can of worms at your peril.
To tie this all in with the post we are all responding to…..it is the these vandals, hate of a particual group and differing views expressed in a peaceful law abiding matter that motivate thier vandilism and not any desire to further any gay equality issues as shown by the exclusivity of thier choice of victims.
Philip,
That Simpsons episode is one of the greatest. By the way, I’m investing in gas chamber equipment, just to spite MU socialist.
LOL
Hey! I just thought of something!
Illegal aliens come across our borders and receive benefits they don’t deserve. If homosexuals receive marital benefits they don’t deserve (since their reasoning is based on behavioral, not physical characteristics), perhaps we should call them illegal sexuals.
And before anyone jumps the gun here, I do not condone adultery or promiscuity, even among heterosexual partners. I’m straight and practice abstinence. If I can keep my tool in the workbench drawer, gays can keep theirs in the closet.
Even gays, at the very least, have to respect me for holding myself accountable to the same expectation I have of them.