My roommate pointed out to me that as soon as we put up our yes signs, the lesbian neighbors across the street put up no signs, and distributed them to a few others on the block. Prior to that conversation I did not know that lesbians lived across the street. That was Friday morning, Friday evening I got home from work and was getting ready to leave for San Diego when the doorbell rang. I opened it, and the minute I saw the person on my porch I knew this must be one of the lesbian neighbors, and she wasn't there to exchange pleasantries.
She immediately introduced herself, claiming that she'd never had an opportunity to come introduce herself before (yeah, right) and in the same breath said that she lived in the house with the "no for 8" sign in her yard. I smiled, shook her hand, introduced myself, and told her that it was nice to meet her (it was nice for the first 30 seconds or so). She then told me that she was there to talk to me about our yes signs, and wanted to know why I intend to vote for prop 8. Before I could answer she let me know that she's spent the last 8 years travelling throughout California giving presentations on the "thousand different rights that are denied same-sex couples because they can't marry." Then she sat back and waited for my response, like a lion stalking it's prey.
I considered leading out with something from one of the commercials, but I could tell from the smug look on her face that she was prepared to shoot those reasons down, and frankly I felt ill-prepared to argue those points with her. So I led out with polygamy. It was the only thing I could come up with on the fly that I knew she wasn't going to be able to dispute. I told her that one of my reasons is that I am very concerned about prop 8 legalizing polygamy. That was met with a moment of stunned silence and followed by "Polygamy?! This isn't about Polygamy! This is about same-sex couples right to be married." I politely explained to her that although that's obviously not the intended purpose of prop 8, it removes the definition of marriage from the state constitution, leaving the door wide open for all other types of marriage and I have a problem with that. She fumbled a bit and all she could respond with was "You're really going to vote 'yes' because of polygamy?" I shrugged and told her that I have other reasons that's just one of many, the primary reason actually being that I believe that God created man and woman to marry, and raise the children they create.
At that point the lesbian got very worked up and I stood in silence and watched as she described her recent marriage ceremony with her partner of 30 years, and the tears of joy that were shed by all who attended. She paused and looked at me expectantly. I refrained from offering a congratulations that I didn't feel, and waited for her to make some sort of point. From there she launched into a tirade about her life as a persecuted homosexual. It all culminated with her first shouting at me "what about people like me who were just born this way?!?! Do you think I chose this?! Why would I choose this for myself?!" Then she bent down, picked up the edge of my doormat and asked me in a loud angry voice if I would just like to sweep her, and people like her under there where I wouldn't have to see them anymore. All I could do for a moment was stand there and stare at this woman crouched on my porch with the edge of my doormat lifted up. She was creating a really weird visual for me.
The conversation went on for a while, with her doing most, but not all of the talking. For the majority of her visit I found myself standing there listening and trying to appear firm but pleasant. It ended with her asking me if I am married. I told her I'm not, she said that she hopes I do marry someday. I thanked her, and then as she was huffing back across the street she hollered back over her shoulder that she hopes I never have to defend myself. I sat there astounded that she would say something so ignorant to someone that she had just confronted about political signs in their yard. Furthermore, if the words I was speaking didn't give me away, the BYU t-shirt I was wearing at the time should have. What an absurd thing to say to a Mormon.
4 comments:
I’m a bit surprised that you weren’t able to muster much of a response to your “new neighbor”, but I’m sure that had a lot to do with the situation that you found yourself in. Here’s my 2 cents worth:
Since 1999 CA has had a civil union for all gay/lesbian couples that have granted them “the rights” that they are supposedly being denied as a fellow californian. This vote is more than the right to be called “married”. Let’s put aside your personal religious belief of marriage (like you said- God created the union of man and woman). What all gay/lesbians want is to change the way marriage is defined. We will all have to be re-educated, goverments will be in a position of forcing onto citizens a belief system that equates homosexuality with heterosexuality, through public schools, special programs, all government venues and so on. This is not what the “majority” of Californians desire. If we are not to impose our “religious beliefs” on anyone, then we should not be succumbing to their desired belief of marriage.
Good Luck with your neighbor!!
The left in this country are the new nazis of our time because they dont allow for dissent and will go out of their way to shout you down, embarrass you, and even do destructive things to you or your property. This is one example of the way the left is and especially when it comes to gay marriage. I find it amazing that she thought she could come over and bully you into changing your position.
On the other hand she might have come over to flirt with the new neighbor :) (Just kidding by the way).
Go Cougs!
Good job! You handled that very well.
nice work. this hateful and disgusting woman showed her true colors. Does she honestly believe her hateful and provocative tactics will change your mind. It seems she may be feeling a little guilty about something. nice job bdb. I wish I had the opportunity you did. I would have calmly explained my beliefs to her and asked her if she could support my decision to stand for what I believed in. The homosexual mafia wants "tolerance" as long as you agree with everything you say, otherwise its hate speech. I hope and pray Proposition 8 passes and the perverts who are against it lose their vile marriage papers.
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