The glee with which so many laughingly and light-heartedly defended the right of someone to say hurtful if not hateful things about gay people and pursue policies that will continue to deny their equal rights.
The right to say such things is not in question. The joy and mirth that so many expressed in defending that right is. They seem to have forgotten that their joyful anti-gay messages will be heard by small ears.
"Careful the things you say, children will listen."
Lost in all of this are the children growing up gay but too scared (some for their lives) to talk to their parents or loved ones. They fear they will be cast out (because they see their loved ones doing it in the things they say and in the politicians and policies they support). These kids will have no where to turn. And so these kids will hide. They will withdraw. They may turn to drugs and alcohol for relief from the crushing loneliness and rejection. All too many will see suicide as their only option in a world where loved ones mock other people who are just like them.
After all, what future is there in a world where your dreams for a relationship full of love and companionship are demonized and rejected?
I hope that all those people standing in line to support anti-gay free speech at Chick-fil-A and posting "funny" cartoons about it like this one do not have any gay children or grandchildren. Sadly, I know they do.
More sadly, those kids are watching.
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