Good News And Bad News On The Homophobic Front This Week: The Religious Are Surely Losing Ground.

Cross posted @ the Atheist Oasis

The bad news is that North Carolina has reinforced the backward-assed stereotyped image the South has developed since it got its ass kicked back in the Civil War, by shoving religious discriminatory practices into law. 

A snippet says it all;

"We are not anti-gay; we are pro-marriage," said Tami Fitzgerald, chairwoman of the group. "And the point -- the whole point -- is simply that you don't rewrite the nature of God's design for marriage based on the demands of a group of adults."

By the very definition and nature of their second-hand shepherd’s storybook, they most certainly are anti-gay. And then they have the chutzpah to hide behind their imaginary buddy (hey, psst – yeah, you! We can see you…because there’s NOBODY THERE, you delusional freaks!).

This is irritating and tiresome. We’re in the 21st century already: this is a non-debate.

The good news is, that our first black president has ‘flip-flopped’ on the issue.

President Obama today announced that he now supports same-sex marriage, reversing his longstanding opposition amid growing pressure from the Democratic base and even his own vice president.

In an interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an "evolution" that led him to this decision, based on conversations with his staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and his wife and daughters.

"I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that 'don't ask, don't tell' is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married," Obama told Roberts in an interview to appear on ABC's "Good Morning America" Thursday.

I find this to be worth some cautious celebration. Obama is still a Christian, after all: and he has vacillated on this issue; pro gay marriage in 1996, against it in 2004, and changing stances between 2009 and the present.

One of the worst litmus tests of our society, is that elected officials commit political suicide if they change their minds on an issue. This is almost tantamount (for them) to being caught making out with a gay person after strenuously pursuing anti-homosexual rhetoric and legislation. It is considered hypocrisy of the highest order.

Changing one’s mind after weighing the facts and evidence should be allowable, and usually it is. Scientists do it regularly. Any rational person would agree to these premises. But politicians? Sorry, not allowed.  

Somehow, sheer bull-headedness seem to be hallmarks of both the religious and the political: and if ever the twain intertwine, it becomes a Gordian knot that has only one solution.

Till the next post, then.