Playing Chicken with Gay Marriage

[Wickabee]

veggie, you are talking about kids, kids will be mean to others over the type of clothes they wear, the house they live in and if their mom or dad is fat,

And it doesn't seem to end once they grow up. That's the problem. Kids learn when they are kids and it sticks for the rest of their lives. If you teach them it's okay to bully for one reason because it's not always for that reason, you're telling them it's okay to bully. For any reason.

I agree kids will be kids, but if you don't teach them why what they're doing is wrong (or right) they won't take anything into adulthood. Apparently, the vast majority of kids haven't been taught over the last 50 years.

[shrewsbury]

wickabee, you can certainly be right about that, but I still have not seen this anywhere, ever. we have never been discriminated against in any way, nor any negative comments made, not once. I guess it depends on the company you keep and places you choose to go, but why is it so different for so many others.
besides, TV, magazines, newspapers, and the internet, when is the last time you were somewhere and heard or seen anything negative about gays?

also kids will turn into adults and have their own ideas and opinions about things, if they only follow what their parents taught them, then they were not taught the way I think people should be.

[Wickabee]

wickabee, you can certainly be right about that, but I still have not seen this anywhere, ever. we have never been discriminated against in any way, nor any negative comments made, not once. I guess it depends on the company you keep and places you choose to go, but why is it so different for so many others.
besides, TV, magazines, newspapers, and the internet, when is the last time you were somewhere and heard or seen anything negative about gays?

Then why is there right now a HUGE campaign in the NHL called You Can Play, trying to change the environment of locker rooms and grandstands by changing peoples' thoughts about gays in sports? I guess it's totally unnecessary then?

also kids will turn into adults and have their own ideas and opinions about things, if they only follow what their parents taught them, then they were not taught the way I think people should be.

I agree wholeheartedly, but I also realize that it doesn' necessarily work this way. If a belief is taught early enough and hard enough, it's pretty likely to stick throughout life, even if logic dictates the obvious. Most ideas that stick through life are more than formed by age 20. That's also when one's mind is most malleable. Kind of a dangerous combination if we're not all looking out for them.

[shrewsbury]

If gays are allowed in the locker room and the barracks, why not women? If you want equal rights, should they not be equal?

I think the mind and us as humans are always changing, in fact the only left unchanged is change itself.

but I do agree that people perceptions of gays can be quite ignorant, but this also applies to christians, conservatives, liberals, and atheists.

perhaps because the group I hang out with are educated and have great jobs and long relationships, their treatment by others differ from other homosexuals, but maybe not. In 15+ years I have never seen any of this, ever, besides on TV, radio, or other news mediums.

[Wickabee]

If gays are allowed in the locker room and the barracks, why not women? If you want equal rights, should they not be equal?

...

Gays are allowed in locker rooms (so are blacks, gasp!). Unfortunately, the mindset of most straight athletes in those locker rooms keeps gays out.
Also, I've seen/heard of many female reporters going into locker rooms. I really have no idea what your point is here.

I think the mind and us as humans are always changing, in fact the only left unchanged is change itself.

Ok, but society as a whole is very slow to change, especially in regards to something like this. In the meantime, people are still being denied what they want and should have. It may be "wrong" and "illegal" to treat gays differently, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening on a massive scale.

but I do agree that people perceptions of gays can be quite ignorant, but this also applies to christians, conservatives, liberals, and atheists.

The difference is that no one is telling Christians/Conservatives/Liberals or atheists that they can't marry.

perhaps because the group I hang out with are educated and have great jobs and long relationships, their treatment by others differ from other homosexuals, but maybe not. In 15+ years I have never seen any of this, ever, besides on TV, radio, or other news mediums.

I've had the "f" word (the gau F word, not the normal F word) screamed in my face because I was hanging out with a bisexual male. I didn't know the guy who screamed it, but my friend did. Nothing physical came of it, but right then I understood how violence doesn't require physicality.

[mrveggieman]

If gays are allowed in the locker room and the barracks, why not women? If you want equal rights, should they not be equal?

On the cool I would rather have a woman in the locker room with me than any man but that type of discussion wouldn't be appropriate for SCF. Seriously though if you are in the locker room you need to change your clothes and go about your business. Whatever you do in the privacy and comfort of your own bedroom has no place in the locker room.