Dropped her off this morning; she was braver than I was. Fuck all....
I wanna say this. He has every right to believe what he wants. But more importantly, he has a duty to his fellow human beings to accept that they are no less human for this; maybe he doesn't have to really believe in it, but it's an obligation that he not campaign to destroy the lives of people for loving other people. And even more importantly than that, by such a magnitude that every other consideration is practically meaningless, he has a duty to support his daughter and help her become a person she wants to be. What he's done is a horrible violation of these, and you (and everyone else who wants to do so) are right to call him an asshat for what he's done to a member of his family, and what he'd like to do to other people.
I, at least, do not condemn him for what he believes, but for what he has done. To bring such pain into another's life over this is just not acceptable, no matter what rights he might lay claim to.
From what I've seen, I like you.
I hope you'll forgive me for condemning him for what he believes, because his beliefs preclude acknowledging such a duty to his "fellow human beings." I've made the legal free speech arguments myself, but I never believed them. I make a lot of legal arguments I don't believe in. I actually don't know if I'm capable of believing this one. My mind gets stuck like a machine in a logical loop:
"Respect others' beliefs even those beliefs that don't respect others. But by respecting those beliefs that don't respect others I am not respecting the people they don't respect, which in turn causes the system of respecting others' beliefs to fail...." Perhaps I'm too close to the subject matter; perhaps I lived too much of the real world consequences to look at theory. Perhaps I'm just pissed off/sad because I've lost friendships with women whose boyfriends/husbands have a problem with gays (me). Perhaps I'm just overly vengeful and don't suffer
fools those who repeatedly, willfully and purposefully harm others gladly. I realize fully that the KKK, neonazis, Westboro Baptist Church and really everyone who has objectionable/bigoted views, has to be allowed to believe them and speak. That said, I can't blame, black people, jews, or gays for condemning those beliefs especially since they suffer from them. My entire life is literally a very convincing lie and people like him are the reason I was terrified to go to school as a child. I don't know if it's something I lack or something extra I have, but I just am incapable of really seeing this line of argument.
Also, it's after the first of the month, which means I'm filing far too many evictions today, a grim business.... Moreover, the landlords haven't advanced me the court costs, probably won't reimburse us for them for a while, and this serves up situational irony. "Go get them for not paying on time, but I won't pay you on time either...."
I've used alcohol as a coping mechanism, but at least I'm cutting back on that with the goal of giving it up entirely.