[saymaListserv] gay marriage: Bush's trump card

[Steve Livingston]

Dear Friends,

I understand how easy it is for the many citizens who are 
disappointed with the outcome of the elections to momentarily 
forget that we are all citizens of the same country, whichever lever 
we pulled in the voting booth. Or wherever we touched the screen, 
as the case may be.

Once the dust settles, we citizens may return to our primary task of 
good stewardship of our Ship of State, care and concern for the 
welfare of our neighbors from community to global, and we Friends 
may return to our calling to cheerfully walk upon the Earth, 
answering to that of G*d in every one.

I think we will find that last particularly daunting if we regard our 
fellow citizens as collectively ignorant, and view their deeply-held 
spirituality as "Christian Taliban". I doubt we can be helpful to them 
unless we are more open to connect on both a spiritual and an 
intellectual level.

It's important to remember that even among us Liberal Friends, 
there is not universal acceptance of "gay marriage". Some Friends, 
including some I know personally and do not consider to be 
ignorant, find that they are unable to unite with the term "marriage" 
being applied to couples of the same gender.

How long has it been since we Quakers have been united in our 
acceptance of homosexuality as natural and Divinely sanctified? 
Was this a revelation given to George Fox? or did it take us 
hundreds of years to get to this point? Do we dismiss our 
forebearers as ignorant because the way had not yet opened for 
them to be so enlightened?

I wonder how many of us would unite in refraining from marriage of 
heterosexual couples because we oppose discrimination against 
homosexual couples. Which of us who are already enjoying the 
rights and privileges of legal matrimony would willingly give up 
those rights until such time as they are afforded to all couples?

Steve