You don't get informed by listening to your family members arguing about it. Most people have very one-sided views. Having "real life experience" just doesn't fly around here.
And that was my point exactly, and why I was asking Angela if she actually knew any gay people who want to get married. Because most people do have very one sided views. And because you don't get informed by never talking to someone on the other side of the issue and only immersing yourself in information and arguments that only support one side of the debate.
I don't imagine myself to be some kind of gay rights debate scholar, but I think I know a hell of a lot more about both sides of the debate than the average person. Those who have no "real life experience" are the ones who are unable to see past one side or the other and see the merits of both sides.
Part of the problem with this conflict, this "culture war" going on, is that a lot of people opposed to gays getting equal rights don't even know any gays. (Well, they probably do know some, they just aren't aware of it.) Their religious and/or political leaders often do a good job of dehumanizing the opposition--that's a critical step in fighting any successful war, get your soldiers to forget the "enemy" is human too--and so a lot of people have never tried to put themselves into someone else's shoes. They don't know what these people are going through, or why they want to get married, or what it does to them and their children, to be second class citizens, not entitled to the same thing everyone else is.
Of course gay rights lobbyists are guilty of the same thing, getting their troops riled up against those evil Christians/bigots/haters/whatever label they throw out. Labels are great for instantly stripping people of their humanity.
I think the biggest problem, and probably the main cause for all this backlash and the resulting culture war, is the ridiculous idea that somehow people's kids might CHOOSE to become gay if it becomes too acceptable. And/or that if their kid is gay, that there is anything on earth they could do to prevent it.
That misconception (the issue of choice) causes people to fight against the whole "normalization" of homosexuality in society. I think for most people who live the homosexual lifestyle--not all, but the vast majority--they do NOT have a choice about being attracted to the same sex, they are incapable of feeling any attraction for the opposite sex. They cannot change their nature no matter how many times you tell them they're going to hell and no matter how many summers they spend at Jesus camp. It's how they were created. And it's silly that some people would expect them to live their lives devoid of happiness and fulfillment because they're unable to recognize that IS their nature, and for that person, homosexuality IS natural.
