This is (Not) a Blog About Gay Marriage

I have a lot of Conservative friends on Facebook, and, consequently, I often run across articles and things that they have posted, liked, commented on, etc.

Recently, for example, I saw more than one person post articles about Buger King's new "Proud Whopper." This was a temporary promotion Burger King ran at one single, solitary store in San Francisco around the time of the gay pride parade there. If you don't live in San Francisco/you don't frequent this one particular store, this will not impact your life in any way. Yet somehow, this became a HUGE deal to those who oppose gay marriage.

This is not a blog about gay marriage, though.

This is a blog about kindness.

Because the responses I read to this story were absolutely revolting.

I debated whether I should include any of the negative comments because they are incredibly offensive. But I have decided to quote some of them here to make a point. So here are a couple of things people wrote in response to articles about one (1) Burger King supporting gay rights during Pride Week.

"Will 1 in 5 of the Whoppers contain HIV, just like gay men in real life?"

"Filthy homosexuality is nothing to be 'proud' of. 'Pride'?!? More like a complete absence of any shame whatsoever."

"I wonder if the "Proud Whopper" comes with a fruit salad?"

"I crossed Subway off my list for their all-halal menu. Now I'll cross BK off my list, too."

Those are just a couple of them. I left out the more offensive/graphic/profane ones. 

But now it's my turn to respond. 

No matter what you believe, no matter what deity you worship, no matter how old you are, no matter how well-educated you are, you do not have the right to belittle or degrade another human being.

I am sick and tired of politics serving as an excuse to speak to and about people like they are less than human.

And if you think your beliefs give you license to speak negatively about people who believe differently than you, than all I can say to you is: Shame on you. 

I know what you're going to say: 
"I have freedom of speech. I have freedom of expression. I have freedom of religion."

You're darn right you do. But my question is this: 

Is your right to "speak your mind" more important than the feelings of the people who stand to be hurt by your words? 

It is time to grow up, America. It is time for ALL of us to show some respect for one another. We are all people. We deserve to be treated as such. There will always be people whose beliefs and ideals differ from yours. But when you choose anger, when you choose to be unkind, you are weak. To sit behind a computer screen and write horrific things about another human or group of humans is the greatest demonstration of weakness that I can imagine. 

And you are wrong. You are wrong to be so blinded by hate that you would compromise the feelings of a living, breathing individual. 

It is time to stop treating politics and society as some enormous battleground. It is not a war to be won. At our core, we all seek to be treated fairly and equally. And we deserve to be treated as such. 

If you can't say something nice (read: constructive) don't say anything at all. Because on the other side of that computer is a person with feelings. There is no excuse to be anything less than kind. Ever. Your beliefs don't give you a free pass. You aren't "speaking God's truth" if you are too busy calling people names and typing up denigrating comments on your tablet.

Because, whether you like it or not, we ARE all the same inside. And I won't stand to see people treated unfairly anymore.

And hopefully neither will you.