I'm FINALLY doing my laundry! Hip hip hooray!

Sometimes it's hard for me to not get angry when people blame widespread movements on 'fuckwit knee-jerk conservatives' as one of my reads did lately. But I took a deep breath, read her entry in full, and then composed what I hope was a pretty responsible and evenhanded reply. I reminded myself--I used to think like her not three years ago! So I can relate. So many of us are raised to think that all evils in the world are bred by Republicans and white males and it's hard to keep an open mind about it.

Also, this was in her notes section, which was probably stupid, but I wanted to make sure she got an e-mail seeing it was there. My paragraph marks are added for your reading pleasure.

Please give me any feedback you have. I'd love to hear any responses.

As one of the 'fuckwit knee-jerk conservatives' you love to hate you've got a lot of your facts wrong. To catagorize everyone against gay marriage (and unfortunetely, that makes much of the country at this point in time) as conservative dominated by a 'male' society is wrong.

It's a Republican issue as much as it's a Democrat issue. Both Howard Dean and John Kerry have voiced their opposition to gay marriage; Howard Dean claimed he allowed gays to marry in his state under 'much duress.' Clinton signed the 'In Defense of Marriage Act'!

The statements of Rick Santorum don't refect us all--one of the most influential men in the blogosphere is Andrew Sullivan: a gay, Catholic, Republican.

I think marriage would be a good thing--my godparents were a gay couple, I've got a ton of gay friends, and I think it's only fair to allow them that basic human right. But the Constitution gives some very important rights to the states, and that includes overseeing how they conduct marriage. I would love to see every state in the union as accepting as San Francisco has been, but a Federal law for it forces something down the throats of people not only unconstitutionally but inappropriately.

We can't pick and choose what we like and what we don't like because we believe we're righter than people in Alabama or Utah [or Massachussets!] who don't agree. It doesn't work that way. A public sentiment needs to develop before such a thing is widespreadly accepted. And it's the same thing for an anti-gay marriage ammendment: not only is there not popular support for it, but it's not necessary.

I hope this gives you some things to think about. If you'd like to talk more about it, please e-mail me or post a note. I would be interested in talking to you further.