What to tell my godbrother about gay marriage?

Perhaps showing him Keith Olbermann's monologue about Prop 8 would have some influence. You can find it all over YouTube, but I don't know if the rants of a liberal commentator would completely swing your brother around. Really, don't put too much work into this. Sometimes people are too far in the hole to dig them out, even with common sense and reason.

 

Probably nothing will change his mind until you yourself come out. Some people are just so deeply rooted into their religion that it really takes a big bolt of reality to face the truth. People are gay and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

 

From what you said several times, his message to you was 'very offensive' and obviously stirred up enough emotions that you posted this here, so here's my advice. If he is being so offensive, you have every right to be DEfensive of your opinion. You certainly don't have to bow to his ill-informed opinion simply because you're afraid he might hate you, although if you choose to that's your choice. I've found that it usually hurts you a lot more when you go along with bigotry than to stand up against it in some form or fashion. You don't have to come out to him if you don't want to, but you can certainly point out that this will not be the first time marriage has been 'changed for other people's benefit.' Originally, marriage was a lifelong vow that could not be dissolved except by death itself, thus the vow 'til death we part.' We changed it to allow divorce. Then we changed it to allow slaves to marry other slaves. Then we changed it to allow races to intermarry. So for him to say that this has ANYTHING to do with him is absurd. If he doesn't like gay marriage.... then don't get one. But to state that marriage is a religious institution is ludicrous, and therefore his religions beliefs should have no power over the practice of marriage as a civil institution at all.

 

Love is the most powerful emotion there is. I'm sure your godparents love you and they deserve to know the truth about you.

 

Astaroth is so right. You know divorce all dates back to Henry the eighth. In a nutshell Britain was under the Catholic church, which forbade any kind of divorce (a reason why he decapitated a couple of wives...that and boredom I would assume!). So instead of fighting the church he stuck two fingers up and said, "well I'm king I can do what I like so I'll invent my own denomination"...Church of England, otherwise known as the protestants or Anglican church. This denomination allowed divorce...its now one of the largest christian branch in the world. Things change and the world adapts. Your godbrother is naive and I hope one day he will learn to be more open minded. My family is very much exactly like that unfortunately, which explains my "coming out" hesitancy.

 

Tell him marriage has existed and continues to exist outside of christianity. Then ask him why he doesn't try to control non-christians from marrying. Muslims and atheists can get married even though being either is a sin listed in the Ten Commandments (homosexuality is not).

You could also point out that whole silly 'separation of church and state" clause in the U.S. Constitution.

AND...
Marriage is always progressing and in no way is the current state of marriage even traditional. "Traditional" marriage would be a father trading his teenage daughter to an older man in exchange for property or something, but it is no longer that. Eventually in our culture it became an institution and ceremony for people who love each other, regardless of religion or what each one's parents thought (at least in America), so why so many Christians are hanging onto hetero only marriage I don't know. This notion of preserving the current state of marriage as traditional is absurd and delusional.

 

Make sure you do not comeout unless you feel comfortable with it. Do NOT make a despret attempt and end up maing it worse. Trust me, it is not fun.

Show him the Keith Olbermann video. It is pretty much common sense, at least to Wander and I.

Talk to him about why /you/ think it isn't wrong, not why we don't. It'll seem so much more important if it seems like something you would say.

Good luck and tell us how it goes!

 

Oh man... I love these. I used to get into these sorts of things all the freaking time.

What I usually do is either make myself appear hopeless by proclaiming what a liberal commy I am or pretend to agree with them. Latter is safer, former is much more fun and the one that I usually go with.

Either way, there's a good chance that they'll just leave you alone. I've used the hopeless technique on not only my extended family but also an entire Christian school.

 

Most christian denominations don't even recognize straight civil marriages because they are not held in a religious ceremony or with church blessing. That's why it's so absurd for them to get so angry about the government allowing marriages for gay people that they don't even recognize for straight people. It's a really stupid double standard. If they want to really hold up their beliefs, they should be protesting all government marriages not just gay ones.

Now, if gay marriage was suddenly introduced in their church, then I could understand why they would be mad, but being mad about a ceremony that they don't recognize in the first place is just ridiculous. It truly has nothing to do with them or their church, so why does it bother them so much?

 

if it's possible, then you could bring up the other things that are considered sinful, such as divorce and adultery- they're not illegal, yet they are considered sinful according to the Bible.

what I say to people sometimes(you can use it if you want): "Since one "sin" was banned from the people through the constitution, why not ban everything! after all, since it's bad in the Bible, make the Bible our state constitution and ban anything that's considered sinful. I mean, why not? The government pretty much crossed that line into our personal lives. It's possible."

Personally, I hope there's a proposition next year that bans cheating on your spouse or divorcing legally, because those are considered sinful, and since that was the reason behind prop 8, it can SOOOOO be done. Of course, that won't happen.

I hate the way things work. I thought everyone had the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; well, gay people in CA pretty much lost the last two.

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are probably turning in their graves.

sorry, I just went on and on.

 

I dont know if its too late to stick in my input but...

Just dont use any scripture, any comments about the bible, or anything like that. My entire family/friendbase is super mega conservative christian and the thing they hate most is using the bible against them. They get very protective and refuse to belive you can understand it better than them / at all. I agree with explaining it like Keith Oberman did (for the most part). Try and tell him that Church and State are seperate, and that in favor if equality, and human rights, you should give EQUAL (not more, not less) rights to all people, gender, race, or orientation aside. The church cannot interfere with state, and the government should not rule in favor of a religious view of marriage because of that. Try and convince him that if Gay Marriage was allowed, it would not affect him. A church cannot be forced to married, because that again is church and state interfering. Kids cannot be forced to go on a field tip to a lesbian wedding (like that "yes on 8" campaign blew out the water) because there are laws letting kids opt out of things like that already in place. Maybe close it with something powerful along the lines of:

"If your against Gay Marriage, your against Equality. Your against Women having the right to vote. Your against blacks marring whites. Your against freeing slaves. Your against our president-elect. Your against immigration. Your against all that America stands for."

Human Rights for ALL Humans!

 

point out how the bible says that slavery is ok, contradicts itself saying god loves us and killed those who didn't worship him in the old testament, and it staits that jesus preaches to love one another and to not judge.