All too many people use "equality" to refer to making everybody literally equal. Many of them are on the liberal end of the spectrum, as you are.
It may have been an incorrect interpretation, but it was the logical one to make.
As for "forcing equality", that is one of the things that the government exists to do- uphold the rights of the people. All of them. Equally. And
I agree with this- the government needs to create total legal equality, regardless of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and a host of other
characteristics, and force it to be implemented.
What it can't do, though, is force people to acknowledge that equality socially. That 'bigotry', as you put it (it is actual hate, for some, but
many other people are just convinced that homosexuality is morally wrong), is like Logan said. It's a generational thing: more accurately, it will be as
long as gay relationships are presented in a wholesome, family-friendly way, so that the next generation can learn that they should be accepted, not hated,
while they're young and impressionable.
As for the religious right, I come from a conservative Christian family on my mother's side (I'm somewhere between true atheist and agnostic, leaning
toward atheism, and moonlighting in Discordianism every so often). My mother is religious, though she doesn't attend services, and is usually very
accepting of people's rights to behave in ways she would never accept personally. In many ways, she's my ideal person of faith: she has it, but she
doesn't force it on others.
We had a talk about this last night. She adamantly opposes gay marriage. In earlier conversations, when it was presented as just a "everybody should
have equal rights" issue, she didn't care, because gays marrying was WRONG, and should never happen. Last night, I explained my position to her, and
she did the strangest thing. She rejected my position, but then argued for it as a countering position, literally saying something like "You're
wrong. Gays should have all the same legal rights as straights, but marriage is a right of the church, and the government shouldn't have a say in
it." I explained to her that that was my position, and she started agreeing with me. If my mother can agree with
this idea, once she's told that it respects (heck, even enhances) the religious status of marriage, then it's not as farfetched a compromise as you may
think.
There are plenty of hatemongers to go around, anyway. Few people are as hateful as an extremist Christian confronted with a gay couple, but I've found
that advocates of 'tolerance' confronted with Christmas, even if several other winter holidays are being celebrated, can be just as hateful and
intolerant.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
It may have been an incorrect interpretation, but it was the logical one to make.
As for "forcing equality", that is one of the things that the government exists to do- uphold the rights of the people. All of them. Equally. And
I agree with this- the government needs to create total legal equality, regardless of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and a host of other
characteristics, and force it to be implemented.
What it can't do, though, is force people to acknowledge that equality socially. That 'bigotry', as you put it (it is actual hate, for some, but
many other people are just convinced that homosexuality is morally wrong), is like Logan said. It's a generational thing: more accurately, it will be as
long as gay relationships are presented in a wholesome, family-friendly way, so that the next generation can learn that they should be accepted, not hated,
while they're young and impressionable.
As for the religious right, I come from a conservative Christian family on my mother's side (I'm somewhere between true atheist and agnostic, leaning
toward atheism, and moonlighting in Discordianism every so often). My mother is religious, though she doesn't attend services, and is usually very
accepting of people's rights to behave in ways she would never accept personally. In many ways, she's my ideal person of faith: she has it, but she
doesn't force it on others.
We had a talk about this last night. She adamantly opposes gay marriage. In earlier conversations, when it was presented as just a "everybody should
have equal rights" issue, she didn't care, because gays marrying was WRONG, and should never happen. Last night, I explained my position to her, and
she did the strangest thing. She rejected my position, but then argued for it as a countering position, literally saying something like "You're
wrong. Gays should have all the same legal rights as straights, but marriage is a right of the church, and the government shouldn't have a say in
it." I explained to her that that was my position, and she started agreeing with me. If my mother can agree with
this idea, once she's told that it respects (heck, even enhances) the religious status of marriage, then it's not as farfetched a compromise as you may
think.
There are plenty of hatemongers to go around, anyway. Few people are as hateful as an extremist Christian confronted with a gay couple, but I've found
that advocates of 'tolerance' confronted with Christmas, even if several other winter holidays are being celebrated, can be just as hateful and
intolerant.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.