August 1, 2012
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(written on 14 March 2013)
If you thought that August on the Northern Hemisphere means summer then you would be right, but if you thought that implies beautiful sunny weather and blue skies then the above picture can set you right. The weather was just appalling and torrential rain showers came down over the city all day, forcing all tourists in my street (and there are many) to seek shelter under umbrellas or in doorways of buildings.
“I was such a big fan of you and now I’m so disappointed”
It was this comment that Daniel had left on the Facebook page of an American starlet that triggered a fierce debate on various Facebook pages tonight. What had happened? Chick-fil-A, and American fast food chain was in the news because its CEO had voiced opposition to same sex marriage. It turns out that the company had been supporting various organisation such as the Family Research Council (classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center) who are all fiercely anti-gay. In America’s heavily polarised and overheated society in this election year, this has caused very strong debates on both sides of the political spectrum.
Mike Huckabee, former governor and now Fox News contributor as well as serious neo-conservative spokesman, had suggested that today should be Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day on which Americans should show their support for the company’s anti gay and anti same-sex marriage stance by going to their restaurants en masse. And so the headless chickens went and did just that. The starlet that had so disappointed Daniel had done the same and had put a status update on Facebook about how proud she was that she was now waiting in line at a Chick-fil-A. And that’s when Daniel expressed his disappointment.
I also left comments on various Facebook pages, including my own, saying how disgusted I was with the bigoted fools waiting in line at Chick-fil-A all over the US. Reactions from my conservative colleagues in the US and their friends followed and I got more and more furious. Not good for my blood pressure, this evening. I don’t deal with hatred very well, especially of course when it’s aimed at me and other gay people, and especially if that hatred is based on biblical texts that were cherry picked out of a whole bunch of biblical texts, most of which we have learned to ignore because of their backwardness. After all, that American starlet that started this discussion? According to the Book of Timothy, she had no right to speak to me or other men with any authority because she is a woman and therefore responsible for the original sin (I’m not making this up and definitely don’t agree with it of course) and neither should she be wearing jewelry because that’s also forbidden by the same book. It drives me crazy when people only pick up on that eternal Leviticus bible passage that seems to forbid homosexuality but so easily ignore the ones that apply to themselves. And that was what tonight was all about.
