Kick The Man When He's DOWN

Three weeks ago, I was enjoying the company of a group of friends at a local lounge in Mount Pleasant area. The conversation was wonderful and the people were fun and fun loving. I met many new friends, the group mainly was Arab American second generation young professional from States like Montana and Michigan.

The majority of the folks at the gathering were journalists so you know better not to have strong feelings either way. Someone brought up the gay marriage in California and the Mormon connection to Proposition 8. It was rather funny to see a group of people who subscribe to many various religions and come from different upbringing not shy away from attacking the Mormons for their "role" in passing the ban. I have noticed that whenever a group of people with similar background gather, they tend to unload on the "absent other" and adopt the common attitude, "Screw them, they are not here" I have diffidently done that myself and also have seen Later-day Saints do the same.

I do not know, but I know that good people of religion are not necessary cheerleaders of gay marriage. They might not appose it, but they are not going to advocate it. At best, they would preach against discriminating against gays. So, I made the LDS argument that the Church members are only 2 percent of the California population and it's unfair to stick it to the religion. There are far more Hispanics and Blacks who voted the same way as members of the LDS faith. In other word, because Mormons are viewed as a free game for all haters out there, we look the other way when people unload on them. do not get me wrong, there are parts of the LDS faith that I do not grasp, there are also parts that alienate me, but as I told the group, most of my good friends in this town are members of the church who do not wake up everyday thinking "oh, boy how can I make life more miserable today for the gays?"

I also had to evoke my libertarian roommate from Missouri who was against the whole idea of the State granting him a license to get married. they only reason he obtained a license was when he learned that the Church won't allow him to get a Temple marriage unless he has a State issued license-to his credit he tried to resist that too, but the House of the Lord is a house of order after all.

As lo there's the polygamy argument that Mormons were forced by the US to ban the practice of polygamy in the State in order to be admitted to the Union. This argument is a knockdown, but i did not want to come across as polygamy advocate--which I am not.

I have also noticed that many people of faith might not denounce gay marriage because it does not affect them or because they feel alienated or disfranchised with the American society and adopt the attitude "this is their country, let them take it to hell" But the money those individuals have to confront the issue at close like having a gay son or a gay teacher who is close to a member of your family, they change the rule and flip to the other side.

I did not mean to unload on you the details of my adventures with Yuppies in Washington DC, but rather try to put my thoughts in order to the best I could.