Christianists Declare War

The other day, I was thinking of how my mom decided on what phone company to use when I was younger. Well, let me re-phrase that. How my mom decided on what phone company NOT to use.

At&t called our house to see if my mom wanted to switch our service over to them. My mom replied by telling them she would never switch to At&t because "they support homosexuals." Personally, I would choose a phone service by cost factors and their quality/reliability, but hey, what do I know?

However, this begs the question: "why do some people feel the need to boycott businesses that 'support homosexuals?" What harm is done by "supporting homosexuals?" Does that somehow affect me?

Well, I guess we have some answers after some fundamentalist christians are now upset with McDonalds for reaching out to a gay and lesbian chamber of commerce. Here are some examples of the hyperbolic rhetoric:

"Not today, in light of reports that McDonald's has decided, apparently, to
declare war on my family. And to declare war on the civilization of liberty,
independence, creativity, and humanity under God that my Dad fought for in World
War II."

And more...

"For human beings, this is a matter of liberty under God -- Why help finance
groups that turn their backs on the Declaration of Independence, the Founding
vision, and the living Creator who holds it all together?"

First, I don't see how two homosexual men or women acting in the privacy of their own home somehow negatively affect a heterosexual family. Additionally, homosexual couples embrace the principles of compassion, stability, support and committment. Shouldn't we be encouraging that? Isn't that what heterosexual families are supposed to promote? Gays don't want to destroy the family, they want to strengthen and be a part of it.

And what is with the argument that homosexuals are declaring war on liberty? Liberty is allowing people to be free to do whatever they want (as long as it doesn't harm others). In other words - free choice or free will. The only people here declaring war on liberty are the fundamentalists stating that McDonalds cannot support homosexuals or homosexuals cannot have relationships. Free choice and liberty is allowing others to make whatever choices they want. Liberty is not saying, "you can make free choices as long as they agree with my choices."

This is the major problem with the fundamentalist argument. They are saying there is no real liberty, just liberty that aligns with what God wants. Because of this, they say that to have true liberty, one must destroy the liberty of homosexuals and punish them.

Ed Breyton (where I got wind of the news) adds his own amount of advice.

Good lord, could you be just a little bit more melodramatic? Declare war on
your family? Rick, please...step down off the soapbox and take a deep
breath....the Hamburgler is not going to break into your house and force your
children to sodomize him. Ronald McDonald is not going to convince your son to
fondle his sesame seed buns. Take a step back and realize how ridiculous you're
sounding.