[...]The Gospel According to Hate | AltDaily : Creating and celebrating local culture in Norfolk and all of Hampton Roads.[...]…

Don’t feel that you should represent the Navy. The military has more than enough mechanisms in its bureaucracy to support its own pomp and circumstance. I know. I was in uniform for twenty three years.

I was also once a father to teenage daughters. They were not gay, but certainly had strong opinions contrary to mine. We talked. Then, we talked some more. And we grew up together. Nowadays, the biggest argument we may have is which film is going to win the Oscar.

Stay strong, and keep talking. Unless they are plainly obtuse, parents eventually put their kids’ happiness as their greatest achievement.

Right, Hannah?

Being there for the counter-protest was one of the most positive experiences I’ve had. What could have been a an angry mob was in reality a beautiful display of love, tolerance, and acceptance in contrast to the hate the WBC was trying to spew.

All I can say, is that if Crushed never stands up to her parents, they will never change their beliefs. The single most important indicator of whether people are accepting of homosexuality is whether they know anyone who is gay. For my husband, it was our gay neighbors two houses ago–the nicest neighbors we ever had–and now my husband’s closest friends. Even Dick Cheney loves his gay daughter. Will Crushed’s parents honestly do less? We cannot foment change if we are afraid.

And as for why there are not older people at these protests: we’re working, taking care of kids, and don’t read Alt Daily or even know it exists. I didn’t know there was a protest, or a counter protest. I’d surely have gone to represent the over-30-non-gay-mother-of-three-Navy-spouses-who-doesn’t-hate-WBC-but-thinks-what-they-say-is-hateful. I wonder if it ever occurs to them: people hate those who spread hateful lies as well as unpleasant truths. Just because people hate them, doesn’t mean they are spouting the latter rather than the former.

I suggest checking out the documentary “Americas most hated family.” It’s interesting. And Jesus Camp is also interesting, especially when the lady goes all God Warrior on Harry Potter.

“Philadelphia” with Tom Hanks/Denzel Washington has been on tv all week. Re-watching it in 2010, it’s sad to see how little has changed in public perception of gay rights.

What I didn’t realize until reading this article, was how awful WBC is to more groups than just the LGBT community. While they’re asking for our hate, and a large group of us are giving it to them, when we do that, we are essentially ignoring a fundamental practice in Christianity: Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself.  

Lead by example, not by ignorance. Catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Etc Etc Etc

In essence, they brandish a dissected Bible wrapped in lead and bristling with barbed wire. And just as the selective abstraction of a film review enables a movie’s marketers to create the illusion of approval, the Phelps’ bizarre, selective abstraction of a religious text has resulted in their believing that they are creating their own salvation by inciting hatred of themselves, or has at least resulted in them believing that the hatred they experience is confirmation of their pending salvation. For me, this realization was notable.

That aside, I’ve been extremely heartened to see the number of comments AltDaily’s Facebook posts about the WBC have consistently generated. Such an energetic, extended, supportive response has been wonderful to see, and it pleases me to read about the feelings of unity among the counter-protesters who came together in opposition to the forces of Phelps. When the targets of derision and condemnation are so broadly-identified, for a time, we are all one, sharing a commonality we often otherwise can’t see.