Shattering the Homophobic Status Quo [View all]

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https://medium.com/james-finn/shattering-the-homophobic-status-quo-fe7cf9f59e9f

Yes, homophobia is the default status quo —
People casually accept its baked-in reality. I once wrote a story about the baker in Colorado who refused to serve a gay couple. I reject the insidious idea that a business owner can use religious doctrine to violate civil rights law. It’s just as wrong to use religion to justify homophobia as it is to justify racism.

So many people don’t get that, though. They defend religious homophobia strongly and constantly, even though they’d never defend religious racism.

A man commented on my baker article to tell me that everyone has a right to an opinion. That I have to accept that I might not be right, and the baker in Colorado is simply expressing deeply held religious beliefs.

No, I replied. The baker is stigmatizing and excluding gay people. He’s using his religious beliefs to justify the marginalization of innocent people, the marginalization of members of a minority. I told him that his own comment defending homophobia was itself a form of hate-based homophobia.

But I didn’t say anything hateful at all, the man objected. There are two sides to every issue. You aren’t being reasonable.

end of quote

This article is rather interesting and makes some very valid points. When will we decide that being anti gay is as much a problem as being anti black or anti Hispanic?