Some guy threatened to block me for using the word gay. Is it a bad word?

@NativeOregonian I agree. It gives people the false impression that we all (as a group) are so easily offended. I’m definitely not.

@DarkHeaven Thank you. I recognize and accept that not everyone is cool with our lifestyle, and that it is unfair to them that the militants target them specifically to get them in trouble legally. I just say leave them alone and spend our money at businesses that welcome us. I'll put it another way, would we take a prime rib steak into a vegan joint and force them to cook it for us? I mean after all, it is our right as carnivores to go anywhere we want and eat what we want, it's discrimination against meat eaters if they refuse us.

@NativeOregonian It can anger people that feel like their right to disagree is being taken away. I’d personally rather fight more clear examples of discrimination & hate crimes than people’s right to dissent. Sometimes that division is not very clear, unfortunately. ✌️

@DarkHeaven If someone doesn't want to bake a cake because it infringes on their religious belief, they should not be dragged through the mud to be made an example of, it is not discrimination. If anything, it is more discriminatory against the religious, today's culture wars make sure the religious are to be punished.

@NativeOregonian I would argue in a small community where there is one or two bakers that both refuse this can feel very discriminatory.

@NativeOregonian I agree that the baker’s right to peacefully dissent should also be protected but the area can get very gray, quickly.

@DarkHeaven Hardly any LGBTQ live in small towns, they usually migrate to the larger cities where they feel a part of the community, where there are businesses that cater to us. That is a very weak argument.

@NativeOregonian So I, who was raised on a rural family farm, should be required to migrate to a city so that I can feel part of some community and not be judged or discriminated. It’s not a weak argument to the person that is being affected by that issue.

@DarkHeaven That is how the courts would see it.

@NativeOregonian At certain times in history people were stoned for adulatory and that is how the courts would see it. My point is laws are not infallible and actually malleable with public sentiment, through legislation. Your stating what a court would or would not see is a very weak argument as to what is right, just, and moral.

@DarkHeaven What is moral are human beings treating others with respect. What is NOT moral are militant crusaders hellbent on ruining other's lives just because they don't see life the same way, whichbis what those queer activists are doing to the religious.

@NativeOregonian I’m not in disagreement. I’m just saying that the issues can be nuanced at times. Some of my best friends are very religious. They don’t always agree with what I am. While I in no way agree, I can respect their religious view as well. I would in no way, want them to be persecuted or judged because of their viewpoints. Keep in mind there militant religious crusaders as well. That kind of extremism is not just confined to the SJW of the LGBTQ.

@DarkHeaven I will put it another way. My niece, who is 18, grew up homeschooled and is very devoutly religious, I am a bisexual Transgender Atheiest. I love my niece with everything I have and will give her anything she needs or wants. She is starting pastry/baking school at her local community college next month and I gave her two of my digital kitchen scales so she could have her own. However, if any militant activist EVER tried doing to her what they have done to others, all hell will be unleashed on them.

@DarkHeaven Oh yes, even when I was a believer I had major issue with the religious extremist activists, specially the street preachers that get all in your face and refuse to leave when you tell them to. A good friend of mine in Portland, she was in full dress, was acquitted by a jury back in the early 90's after beating the shit out of a street preacher that would not leave her alone.

@NativeOregonian That is case in point the nuance. Your niece would not have any malice. She wouldn’t even use the scale of a transgender bisexual atheist for her bakery if she was in fact prejudiced toward them. I would also be upset if she was persecuted for her religious views, the same as I would for any of my religious friends. That does not change any statement that I have made here. Some friends even pray for me in my “Bisexual ways.” I have no plans to change ever but I appreciate that they care enough to consider my soul from their religious viewpoint. I would never be mean to them about it.

@DarkHeaven My family doesn't know I lean that way.

@NativeOregonian I would sincerely hope, they would love you regardless, as my religious friends do me. Good luck to you. ☮️

@NativeOregonian Light & love.

@DarkHeaven My brother and sis in law are uber religious, her parents even more so, her brother is a baptist preacher, I grew up in an uber religious house, it got worse after my Dad died, my mother's second husband was a jesus freak's freak. They would all disown me in a heartbeat, not that I would care about my brother, his wife, inlaws, or my own family, but it would hurt if my nieces and nephew were forced to disown me, which is why I remain in the closet.

@NativeOregonian No one is forced. That’s the ugliest part of it. It’s always a choice. Maybe not a choice we like but it’s still a choice. You don’t have to hate or disown to sincerely disagree with something. When I came out to my parents 20 years ago, I was terrified as they are very traditional people. My Dad is my hero and my Mom is my best friend. I was scared I would lose them just like you are but I couldn’t live a lie anymore. I had to be true to myself. My family has accepted me and I know how fortunate that makes me. I don’t know if they feel it is wrong or not. Somethings are better left unsaid but I do know that it doesn’t [b][i]force them[/i][/b] to love me any less. Good luck in your journey. I do wish you the best.

@DarkHeaven I am glad that you were accepted. However, not everyone had that same choice. I am not sure if you are old enough to have remembered the 80's, a time when the militant queers started forming within cities and actually out someone, they especially loved targeting celebrities and politicians, but they also went after regular citizens as well, I had a boss in the 90's that was involuntarily outed in the mid 80's by someone he fired for theft.

@NativeOregonian I remember a lot of things. I remember the same year I came out, Matthew Shepard was brutally tortured and killed. I’ve been spat on in public because of who I love intimately. I’ve endured my fair share of prejudice. None of that was at the hands of others in the minority. Not to say that can’t happen. Extremism can come from anywhere. It does lend a lot less of an argument to your theory of strength in numbers in the cities, if you can be so “outed” in retaliation. Why not just love each other. “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” It was good enough for Jesus. Why not also us?

@DarkHeaven I remember that well, it is what tragically happened which made many of us to remain in the closet and be careful who we told. However it does happen much more often in the community than people realize, specially against us bisexuals and Trans, we are treated very harshy.

@NativeOregonian The whole reason I came out was because of the example of my best friend Sam, who had took her own life a year before. Sam was transgender. She had been born a boy but risked everything because that’s not who she was inside. I remember clearly gathering her things from her parents front yard after she came out as transgender. Sam’s family was very religious like yours is. She suffered great depression from her family’s abandonment and society’s rejection but she bravely refused to let herself be confined by others. She risked everything. I did too. I was much luckier but the initial fear and risk were no different. I know you love your family and support them in their rejection of who you are inside (wether they know it or not) but you have risked little in the closet. Not a judgement but a fact. I’m curious if those views would change at all once you felt the sting of prejudice, especially within your own family. I choose light and love, but it’s not easy. It’s not easy at all to still believe in the good of people when confronted with such hate. ☮️ Good luck to you again on your own journey.

@DarkHeaven I am so very sorry for your loss :(