They're just chicken nuggets, what's the big deal??

So it has been a while since I have posted. A lot has been going on, Kaitlyn got really sick and my attention has been elsewhere. However, due to some recent media events, I am ready to share my thoughts with you again.

First, let me start off by saying I try to respect everyone & I think of myself as a fairly good friend. Judging by my circle of close friends, I think that they agree with that statement. I generally am pretty laid back, I try for the most part to mind my own business and let you mind yours. This particular topic that I keep writing about keeps surfacing and so it is now time for me to speak my own words. It's my blog & I can say what I want. I respect if you and I don't share the same opinion & if that is the case, don't read it. 

Writing on this particular topic always makes me emotional. When I write these blogs, I am usually by myself, with my headphones on so I can focus. Today is no exception. My friends all know I am gay and that I of course, have an opinion. I do. I feel that it is my facebook and my twitter and I can post what I want. Sometimes I get annoyed at what people post, but I just scroll right past it. That is the beauty of the internet, if you don't want to read it or see it, don't. It does hurt me that some people have been so annoyed by all the recent Chik fil a events that they post about it. It's not just about sandwiches. I'm not asking you to share my beliefs or agree with me, or telling you that I hate you if you don't agree. But I do not feel appreciated that some people find this issue so annoying, when it is clearly so important to us. When an issue is important to someone that is important to me, I stand by my friend. I don’t diminish their struggles. I don’t make them feel silly for their opinion or their beliefs. I let them be who they are.  This issue has nothing to do with food, but everything to do with the heart.

I’m somewhat lazy today, so from here on out I will refer to Chick fil a as “the chick”. Please don’t confuse that with my chick, (Kaitlyn). J

The chick donates millions to three very prominent organizations that actively puruse the “foundation” of marriage, as they like to call it. All of their mission statements very clearly define marriage as “between one man and one woman”. Did you know that among other things, they actively believe that single mothers should not raise children? That it is detrimental to our society, and that is a economic burden for everyone else. For those of you that are single mothers, you should have an opinion about this one. I know several single mothers & I couldn’t be more proud of them. I don’t feel they are a burden to me or to society. But these groups do. This excerpt comes straight from the FRC website –

            FRC strongly supports adoption, particularly as an alternative to abortion, single parenthood, or foster care. The purpose of adoption is not to provide children for adults who want them, but to provide for children families that give them the experience of intact married family life as much as possible. Adoption policy should therefore include a primary preference for placing children with a married mother and father as long as such are available.

I’m sorry – what?! So if just one of my parents had wanted me, that wouldn’t have been ok? My parents adopted me because they were unable to have children. They were the “adults who wanted them”. They were great parents. They took care of me from day one, walked with me into adulthood, and still are an active part of my life. They wanted kids. I was given to them by the blessing of God. That’s it. Would one of them have been any less of a parent without the other? No. A single parent is no less of a parent because they don’t have a spouse. They are stronger, because they have to take on both roles. Being a single parent makes you no less caring or capable than a married couple.

Moving on, The Family Foundation’s mission statement gives you the same tagline, “marriage between one man and one woman”. They are actively attempting to block same sex couples from having domestic partner benefits. Why is this important? We are not parents yet, but someday we hope to be. For those of you who are, this will probably tug at your heartstrings. Imagine this. You and your spouse hope and pray and plan to have a baby. You wait 9 long months for this little bundle of joy to enter this world. You think day and night about 10 healthy little fingers and 10 healthy little toes. You wonder, “is this kid going to look like me?” You hope and you pray that you are able to give this kid every ounce of love that you can and that you, as a parent, are prepared to emotionally, financially, and physically support them until the day you die. It’s delivery day and you are off to the hospital. You are in the delivery room, you’re full of emotion and the moment is here – your baby is finally ready to enter the world! What a special moment. But then, something happens. Something isn’t right. Suddenly doctors are flooding around your spouse, and whisking your baby off. “What’s wrong?!”, you cry out. A doctor answers, “the baby is in trouble, and your wife is too”. Your worst fears are coming to life. You’re standing there, and you can’t make a decision for either one of them. By law, you are not married, and therefore, can’t save your wife. And since you aren’t married, the child that you watched grow inside your wife is technically not yours, and therefore you can’t do anything for them either. You can’t save them. You just have to wait. How does that feel?

Exodus International is the third – and it repeats the same information. In summary, “pray the gay away”. I will give them some props, because in four very clear paragraphs they state that they do not condone any violence towards homosexuals. So for that, thank you.

So back to my point, what does this have to do with the chick? It’s just chicken, right? Wrong. Children do not come out of the womb hating, discriminating or judging. It’s behavior that is taught, and these groups profit from actively working to suppress my life choices.

Hatred is taught, and hatred of homosexuals runs deep.

Just in the past few weeks, let me give you some examples of the hatred –

A teenage lesbian couple was found shot in a park.

A lesbian couples neighborhood was spray painted with anti gay slurs

An 18-year-old gay man from Texas allegedly slain by a classmate who feared a sexual advance.

A 24-year-old lesbian from Florida purportedly killed by her girlfriend's father, who disapproved of the relationship.

A 14 year- old was brutally beaten, bullied and harassed in the school cafeteria by fellow students shouting homophobic epithets.

Two unnamed men were caught on video yelling anti-LGBTQH slurs and beating two other patrons

Pastor Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church was videotaped condemning President Obama’s support of same-gender marriage and calling for LGBTQH people to be put in a pen and electrified until they were killed.

Kids all across the country are taking their own lives, because they simply can’t take it anymore.

Most of you don’t have to think twice when you are out with your loved one. You can act how you want and be who you want, and never give it a second thought. We have to always be conscious of our surroundings – I don’t want to end up a headline.

Just the other day, when Kaitlyn was so sick I took her to the emergency clinic. She was scared and not feeling well. I could hear the nurses from the other side of the curtain talking about us. It would give me no greater heartache then to think that she would receive worse medical care and advice because we are the same sex. Often times we are out trying to enjoy a simple meal, and people stare at us. As if we are doing something wrong. People have gone so far as to turn their chairs around to watch us. Are we hurting you? I am going to eat, be polite to my server, and then leave a 20% tip. I’m not going to bother anyone, or act out. But people treat us like we are less. As if our money is not the same, or that we are going to rub our gayness off on them. It makes us feel less than who we are. We try to maintain a low profile, if you saw us out, you’d just think we are friends or sisters. But we don’t always get treated like that, and for that, it makes me sick.

For those of you that have kids - what if your kid walks up to you some day and says, "Mom & Dad, I'm gay". Are you going to continue to support those organizations that tell society that this is so wrong? Are you going to continue to support those organizations that want to take basic freedoms from your child? Are you? 

So it’s about more than just a chicken biscuit. The chick is contributing money to these organizations that want to “protect” marriage, and take our liberties and freedoms away. They contribute money to those organizations that continue to educate the idea that homosexual people are less than everyone else. They contribute money to the “sanctity” of marriage. Because people like Tiger Woods, Jesse James, Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Edwards are really protecting its sanctity. That’s who my role models should be. The 72 hour Kardashian wedding, the Britney Spears wedding weekend and Sinead O’Connor’s sixteen day nuptials are “normal”. They contribute money and time to organizations that spread the word that a homosexual relationship is something to be afraid of. It’s that fear that keeps us in constant fear.

I hate that I have to worry that my love for Kaitlyn could cost her her life.