gay

I Am Not A Conservative

Sat, 11/01/2008 - 6:00am | posted by Brett Bittner

A few weeks ago, I went to see “An American Carol” with high hopes for an atypical Hollywood film. It reinforced something I have been working on. When you look at the spectrum of topics I have written about, I am difficult to pigeon-hole by the average American. The two-party system forces people to consider politics in a linear manner, one is either a conservative Republican on the “right” or a liberal Democrat on the “left,” with no room for anything else. Interestingly, most Americans are not able to fit their beliefs into one of those two options, but they settle for the side they feel most comfortable with.

Poll: Gay Soldiers Serving Openly OK, Homosexuals Not… HUH?!?

Fri, 02/12/2010 - 4:50pm | posted by Brett Bittner

As I await the Snowpocalypse to descend upon my small part of the Deep South, I come across this entry about a New York Times/CBS News poll that shows overwhelming support for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The poll seemed innocent enough, asking participants a few questions about gays in the military and open service. In a test, those polling used different terminology for both halves of the respondents. One half were asked their opinion on permitting “gay men and lesbians” to serve, further asking about whether they should be allowed to serve openly, while the other half were asked were questioned about permitting “homosexuals” to serve, and whether that service should be allowed when they are open about their sexual orientation. The results are most certainly interesting:

The wording of the question proved to make a difference. Seven in 10 respondents said they favor allowing “gay men and lesbians” to serve in the military, including nearly 6 in 10 who said they should be allowed to serve openly. But support was somewhat lower among those who were asked about allowing “homosexuals” to serve, with 59 percent in favor, including 44 percent who support allowing them to serve openly.
Democrats in the poll seemed particularly swayed by the wording. Seventy-nine percent of Democrats said they support permitting gay men and lesbians to serve openly. Fewer Democrats however, just 43 percent, said they were in favor of allowing homosexuals to serve openly. Republicans and independents varied less between the two terms.

The Struggle of Ted Haggard

Sun, 12/21/2008 - 1:56pm | posted by Michael Orion Powell

I’m not one of those people who thinks the personal lives of public figures should be up for display. I find what happens with Bristol Palin and her boyfriend or Bill Clinton and his interns on the whole, irrelevant, and media coverage of it to be a breach of their right to privacy.

However, I take exception with those that publically preach against a type of lifestyle, while all the while participating in it. Take for example evangelical Ted Haggard, who preached Biblical condemnation of homosexuality: