By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Gay Episcopalian Bishop V. Gene Robinson will give the invocation for Barack Obama's inaugural celebration Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial.
Score this an inclusive, tolerant victory for Obama.
Robinson, as I wrote earlier this month, had bitterly complained about Obama's choice of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at the president's swearing in next Monday.
As an Episcopalian, I'm in favor of Robinson's role in our church -- but not with his views on trying to exclude Warren from Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20.
On Monday an Obama official said the invitation to Robinson to give the invocation at the Jan. 19 Lincoln Memorial event "has the benefit of further reinforcing our commitment to an open and inclusive inaugural."
That it does.
In fact, Obama has shown more tolerance of different views than Robinson has in recent weeks.
Warren offended many gays with his support of California’s Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage, and with some of his conservative views on other issues.
But Robinson offends a number of people, too, with his open support for gay unions. He has a civilian union with a male partner; both live in New Hampshire.
For what it's worth, one Obama official said the Robinson invitation was not related to the furor over Warren.
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Allow me to introduce you to the concept of paragraphs
Surely you realize that some heterosexuals also display affection publicly. Some also molest children. But to paint all with a broad brush would be wrong now wouldn't it?
I feel sorry for you as I doubt you know any gay people. But I can report that every gay person I know who has felt comfortable talking about it has reported that they did not choose to be gay. We choose our lifestyle but not our sexuality.
As for the rest of your post, sorry, but it needs paragraphs to be easier to read.
More Than a Lifestyle?
Please enlighten me, as I find many aspects of Homosexuality incomprehensible. You stated that "Gays don't choose to be gay", but I am perplexed. You imply that one is born Gay, just as one is born black, yellow, red, brown or worst of all, white. Assuming that, we are all morally bound to afford Gays the same privileged stature as the above minorities, excluding whites. Gays are sometimes hard to recognize, as we are told they come in all colors. Is this why Gays insist on X-rated public demonstrations of their preferences?. Is this why there are public demonstrations of live sex acts and nudity during community parades? If you are truly born with an attraction for your same sex, why must you consistently demonstrate it to the rest of us? Shamefully, I am a heterosexual who finds females mesmerizing and irresistible. I have never felt the need or desire to publicly declare my sexual preferences to anyone. Why does the Gay community persist with homosexual exhibitions that many of us find abhorrent and at a blowing chunks, projectile vomiting degree of nausea? How would you regard similar demonstrations of heterosexual activity? If you were truly born with an attraction for your own sex, you have my sincere, yet apologetically repugnant sympathy. Thanks perhaps to my ignorance and incomprehension of your predicament however, I cannot fathom how you can possibly lobby for minority status simply because of your sexual preference. If you can pull that off, than anything goes. This is one white heterosexual that is finding dolphins and forklifts more attractive by the day. There is solid evidence of the existence of female dolphins, which explains our mutual attraction. Additionally, I believe science will confirm the existence of female forklifts soon, as there is no other way to explain the way the one at work looks at me when I pass by. Perhaps with Government protections, I can explore these attractions free of judgment and develop a meaningful relationship with each? I look forward to your ground breaking efforts, and all of the related benefits of a government endorsed lifestyle. Hail Obama.
There is a big difference you are ignoring
There is a big difference between refusing to be tolerant and actively lobbying to take rights away from people.
This is the new right wing meme. "We are tolerant of gays." And they say this while they raise money to pass laws banning gay marriage and go to churches where gays are not only not welcome but condemned.
It's also more than a lifestyle. Belonging to a country club is a lifestyle. Homosexuality is not a lifestyle. Gays don't choose to be gay, like people choose to belong to a country club.
Code word!
"Lifestyle."
Tell Mary Cheney she's chosen to adopt a lifestyle, she couldn't possibly have been born that way. Tell Gene Robinson to straighten up, find himself a nice girl, and stop embarrassing the Church. Or for that matter, take time today and actively consider what being straight has done for you. Wouldn't it be better to at least try to adopt a gay lifestyle for a few months? You could decorate your abode tastefully, explore the hidden language of white wines, and learn to shake your booty in a way that would permit you to dance in public again.
Then, Nukman, you could choose to go back to being whatever the hell you are now, because you seem quite convinced that it's a "lifestyle," that you can pick up and lay down at will.
I have a great deal of
I have a great deal of tolerance for people who do not share my lifestyle, live and let live. If your lifestyle is not specifically illegal, do what you like. But, I am tired of hearing from minority groups that insist that you accept and allow their lifestyle or you are intolerant. If I disagree with you I am not intolerant, I just don't agree with you.