On Milk, Porcupines and Bigotry

Everyone in America is talking about Gay Marriage, because the Supreme Court is debating the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) like, right now.

It's quite fascinating to read the analogies being drawn. There's the milk analogy- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (who is liberal) compared "a gay marriage endorsed by a state, but not recognized by the federal government" to "two types of marriage, 'full marriage, and then this sort of skim milk marriage.'" Oh Ginsberg... gotta love her!

There's the porcupine analogy, which was really quite funny. This one has been circulating on Facebook, so most of you have probably read it. Basically, it says will society stop shoving the gay agenda down our throat already???!!! We are not against gay marriage, but it's appearing EVERYWHERE that we are exhausted of it being thrown in our face left and right. It's like pursuing a "porcupine pet" agenda to the point that now, you can't just state that you own a dog or cat, but have to say, "I own a dog/ cat... but there's nothing wrong with owning a porcupine too."
OR right now, make sure you say "it's raining cats and dogs and porcupines."
OR you go to an art history class to learn about Da Vinci's masterful use of line and shadow in his paintings, but instead, the professor spends the whole class talking about how Da Vinci secretly kept a pet porcupine, "despite the disapproval of his backwards society, and this inner struggle was the source of his sensitivity and genius as an artist." [Believe it or not, there are articles out there that does this.]
And if you oppose any of these changes, you are a bigot and insensitive.
Really quite a clever analogy.

And then there's the straight-in-your-face "You are a bigot" analogy.

Oh wait, that's not an analogy. That's a real life experience. 

Yesterday in class, we were talking about racism in Oakland, CA in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. We were having a discussion, when my classmate said, "Speaking about the 'Pro-Family' movement going on today, which, by the way, a few decades from now we will just expose them what they are- bigots (*snickers*); the 'Pro-family' movement etc etc."

FREEZE.

*Sigh* that's me. I'm not one who can respond fast enough on my feet, and I don't debate well, so I usually have a good comeback after the issue has passed, or I just let it slide (gotta pick your battles, ya' know). In this case, it was a combination of dumbfounded-ness and "roll eyes" *whatever* response.

To be fair to him, he didn't know that I am Mormon (I'm sure he would have been a little more sensitive if he knew that), and, like I said, we were talking about racism in Oakland a few decades ago. Back then, policies that we now explicitly label as "racist," were not regarded as such then. So my classmate simply took what happened then ("it was all really racist"), and applied it to the situation now (it is all really bigotry").

I'm not here though, to write a defense of my faith. THIS is a good article explaining my position on gay marriage, and so is THIS.

What I ask though, is please, let's not be disrespectful or nasty of the "other" side. Just as I don't call you mean or derogatory names for supporting gay marriage, please don't call me, my family and friends "bigot." We may have different opinions, but that does not give you the right to insult me. Even if you don't share my faith or even try to see things from my point of view, at the very least don't publicly insult others. We may never agree on this issue, but we can certainly "agree to disagree" in a more accommodating manner.