It IS Your Business...

There's this underlying sentiment regarding gays and lesbians by some folks who think they're supporters of our community...it's one of "live and let live."  We often hear and read things like, "It's none of my business what they do in their bedrooms."  (as if being gay is defined solely by what happens between the sheets)  Or we hear, "It's not my business who you want to marry."  Or "As long as it doesn't affect me, I don't care."

I have news for you.

It IS your business and yes, you should care.  It is your business because your silence is akin to acceptance of the unequal status of those in the LGBTQ community in our country.  You should care because if you don't, equal rights will never be a thing of reality for gays and lesbians.  Inequality DOES affect you, when your gay or lesbian neighbor or loved one is treated as a second-class citizen in his or her own country.

It is your business. 

When an individual makes statements like those mentioned above, whether he or she supports equal rights for all Americans or not, they have rendered themselves silent and accepting of inequality. 

It is your business.

No battle for equal rights is accomplished by the footwork of those asking for equality alone.  There are most certainly areas in our country where minorities would still be considered 3/5 of a person had we not chosen as a society that inequality in regards to race was no longer acceptable or valid.

It IS your business.

It is not enough to simply say, "I support equal rights" if your involvement in the fight for equality ends there.  Without your vote in support of equality, or your voice in opposition to anti-gay legislation, or your statements in response to anti-gay hate speech or bullying, nothing will change.

It IS your business.

It's no longer enough to say, "I support you" if you are unwilling to speak up, act up and show up.

It IS your business.

I'm Blogging Again, And It Only Took HRC To Get Me To Do It...

UncleR and I were married on June 9th, 2011 in a lovely ceremony, which I promise I will discuss in-depth in future blogs.  The summer has gotten away from us, with many things on our plate, and I have yet to have the opportunity to put fingers to keyboard in order to write about the happiest moment of my life.  I'll get there though.  But before I do, here's THIS:

Texas Company Runs Hate Ad Against HRC

An HRC supporter in Texas flagged this ad for us, which ran this week in the Lakelander in Whitney. The ad – “How Can We Stop Perversion?” – blasts HRC’s work and was paid for by a Hillsboro-based auctioneering and farm equipment company. Check out a picture of the ad or read the full text:

How Can We Stop Perversion?

Periodically, ads are run listing companies to boycott because of their support of perversion.
You can affect these companies bottom line by doing business with someone else.
The Human Rights Campaign is a group supporting perversion. They use the equal sign – as their trademark, if you see this sign on a vehicle, they are supporting the homosexual agenda which includes:

1.       Marriage between Adam & Steve
2.       Getting into our schools to teach students that perversion is normal
3.       Getting businesses to support their immoral lifestyle

We can provide you a list of companies to boycott. Call 254-582-3000 or email akaddatz@yahoo.com.

Pray that these people will repent and receive Christ as Savior.

The Lakelander confirmed the ad ran on August 10. According to the website of the ad’s sponsor, Kaddatz Equipment, they are a Christian company that tries their “best to model ourselves and our business on Christian values.”

It’s unclear why an auctioneering and farm equipment company has taken such a vested interest in promoting lies about equality.

Sometimes it helps to see these things in print:

Why does this matter?  What does it have to do with us or our wedding?

This is OUR town and this is OUR newspaper. 

Upon returning home from our wedding, we were as overjoyed as any other newly married couple.  We wanted to share our joy with our friends.  So, we did what any other married couple would and we took out an ad in the Lakelander announcing our marriage.  (Yes, we looked cute.)  Our marriage announcement was published in the weekly (yes, our town is so small the paper only prints once a week) edition of the Lakelander on July 27th, 2011.  The phone started to ring immediately with many words of congratulations from those in our small community.  This was the first time a same-sex wedding was announced in the Lakelander.  We received absolutely no negative comments or attention. 

Until...

Two small-town newspaper publications later, the above-referenced ad was placed in the same newspaper. 

Yes, we believe this ad is retribution for the placement of our wedding announcement.  Yes, we heard Kaddatz' message loud and clear.  We're more hazy on why he didn't call us out by name, and instead used "Adam and Steve" as the representative names for same-sex relationships everywhere.  It would have been much more satisfying had he simply said, "Marriage between Jen and UncleR"...but I digress.

I'll say this...the folks at the Lakelander couldn't have been more gracious when we went in to place our wedding announcment.  They were full of congrats and kind words.  This ad is not a negative reflection on them, at all, in our minds. 

Instead, we believe there are truly no thoughts or actions so perverse as those of the business-owner, Alvin Kaddatz, who chose to spend his money in order to reflect negatively upon those in our small community who belong to the LGBTQ community, are supporters of the LGBTQ community, are supporters of HRC, Christians who support equal rights for ALL Americans, and/or/including Christians who themselves are gay. 
 
Hmmmph.  And all we did was get married.