The Insanity of Defending Discrimination of Gays based on Religion.

A relatively recent trend in American Conservatism is this contention that People of Faith, whatever their faith, have the right, protected by legislation and the Constitution, to discriminate against gays.  The most frequent example of this insanity is denials, by several bakeries scattered around this country, to create wedding cakes for Gay couples.  These business owners make the claim that since they have a religious based objection to homosexuality in general and gay marriage in particular, requiring them to serve each customer that comes in their door without regard for sexual orientation infringes on their rights.

Some conservatives still cling stubbornly to the belief, not supported by any evidence, that homosexuality is a choice.  Strangely, not a single Heterosexual that I have ever asked, has any memory of choosing to be Straight.  I have never heard any straight man or woman recounting fondly that beautiful day when they decided that they would only have romantic love for people of the opposite sex.  Not one.  Yet somehow the ~10% of the population that are not Heterosexual supposedly did wake up one morning and think to themselves, Yeah!!!  I want to be Gay.  I love the idea of being assaulted for no good reason, I love that some people are going to walk up to me in public and insult and defame me in the crudest terms just because I am holding my partner's hands.  Some how, for some reason, Christian Conservatives insist that every gay person did make just such a choice.

And the insane part of this is that Christians do tell fondly, reverently, the story of that glorious day when they did actually choose to become a Christian.  That choice is an essential tenant of their faith.  Some of them even have stories about their first conversion and then the times they had to do it over again cause they hadn't done it right the first time.  Many religions are built around this concept of choice.  And for all those religions, the moment of that choice is a source of joy and pride for them.

So people who chose a particular religion, insist that their choice gives them the right to discriminate against people who don't have any choice about their Sexual Orientation.  Because, they say, Homosexuality is a choice.

Some would call that cognitive dissonance.

I call it insanity.