bigotry

hello23

I am from California and with the recent elections I have been thinking about my opinions of people who are against gay marriage. I find it very hard to not judge them negatively, as people, as bigots. But when I say these things to myself I also think about the definition of bigotry as intolerance of other peoples' opinions. Am I a bigot for having so much passionate disdain for people who seek to take away civil rights from people? Is it bigotry to be intolerant of racism, ageism, sexism etc.?

pickarooney

A wise man one said to hate the sin but not the sinner. There's no shame in being repulsed by repulsive opinions.

Liam Byrne

Interesting dilemma. I think pickarooney is on the right track, but then who's to say what opinions are "repulsive" ?

Anyone that judges people purely based on things they can do nothing about (and in most cases, are irrelevant) such as age, race, sex is 100% wrong.

But when it's what those people "want" then it's less clear, and how they view being treated "equally"; if they overdo it or take advantage, then I get VERY annoyed...

I think marraige is going out the window anyways, but I will query one aspect of your post -

for people who seek to take away civil rights from people

Marraige isn't a "civil right", and it's not been given to be taken away; mind you, since that you're from California I do think there's one state in the U.S. that was proposing revoking the right, which is COMPLETELY unfair.....think the automatic entitlement to the medical card in Ireland here, which should never have been given, but once given, should DEFINITELY not be taken away.

But marraige was primarily to provide a stable and legal platform for couples to have children. And gay couples can't - physically - have children, so it simply wasn't required.

Given the changes in society, though, with so many "single-parent" families, and so many break-ups and divorces, I definitely think marraige is on the way out in its current form.

Personally, if I do ever find Ms Right, marraige would just be a piece of paper required if we ever did decide to have kids; maybe I wouldn't mind some sort of civil partnership or something before that, but to me marraige = legal footing = kids = inheritance rights, nothing more.

I do think, though, that there should be some sort of visitation and inheritance rights for people who are in long-term, committed relationships. Whether that's covered by Civil Partnership I don't know, but that's my view. And then again, your husband/wife might just be a moneygrabbing **** visiting you on your deathbed just to make sure they get a windfall in your will, because while the marraige was still there, the partnership died long ago. So even when marraige is there, the "rights" attributed to the people involved can and should vary.

Am I a bigot because of the above ? Equality doesn't mean PRECISELY equal, word for word; it means treating people with respect and recognising their NEEDS, not their WANTS; there's a difference (although today's advertising seems to interchange the two).

I don't think that's bigoted, but some people might, and then again some people might think I'm sacriligous and belittling marraige.....

metrovelvet

I dont think that qualifies as bigotry unless you apply it to people based on skin, gender, etc.

Wibbs

hello23 how is this a personal issue for you? Does it affect your interactions with others or is this just a debate? If so I would suggest the humanities forum here as debates are not this forums remit and I will close the thread.

LegacyUser

Well as a practising catholic I would certainly be opposed to gay marriage.

I certainly would not be worried about being perceived as a bigot though. People have different views on things, we all look at the world in a different way. Its about being tolerant of others views.

There's also the issue here of creating an image of the sort of people who oppose gay marriage and lumping everybody in the same category. Not everybody who opposes it are red necks with pitchforks spouting homophobic slurs.

hello23

marriage isn't about kids.

it's a personal issue because it affects how I view other people every day.

gay marriage is a "civil right" it is written in the california constitution, thats what prop 8 was all about, changing the constitution

Wibbs

hello23, lets be honest, this is more a debate than a personal issue so I'm locking this thread.If you want to open a personal issue to you that effects your life then feel free. May I suggest for your current debate, humanities or for greater traffic and madness, After Hours. Ps as David Bowie sang "this is not America" and it's a different constitution. Please read the charter in here as well