Wednesday, February 20, 2019

David French is Incredibly Offensive to LGBTQ, Christians

I'm a cisgender, heterosexual male, and a non-Christian.  So I should probably leave this alone.  But somehow I can't:
Here is the distinction that makes no sense. An orthodox Christian and (to take an example) a married secular gay employee work side by side. They disagree with each other about matters absolutely fundamental to their lives and identities. The secular gay employee believes the Christian’s worldview is false. The Christian employee believes the secular gay employee’s worldview is false. Why is it uniquely intolerable or even injurious for the gay employee to have to share the workplace (much less the industry) with the Christian? Do they not have the same obligations to set aside their differences and treat each other with dignity and respect?
This isn't the first time that French has argued that in order to be Christian, one must be an anti-queer bigot.  Sadly, it's also not the first time that he has attacked those who object to his bigotry.  In fact, French's Catholicism seems to be such a significant part of his identity that he derides ALL of the people he disagrees with as anti-Christian (queers of course, but also liberals).  Apparently it is inconceivable to him that a person can be queer and Christian, or accepting of LGBTQ people and Christian, or liberal and Christian.

Needless to say, in addition to insulting queer folk, this is a grave insult to Christians who DON'T feel compelled to be anti-queer bigots.

Let's rewrite the above paragraph in an effort to clarify the problem:
An orthodox Christian and (to take an example) a married secular gay employee work side by side. They disagree with each other about matters absolutely fundamental to their lives and identities. The secular gay employee believes the Christian’s worldview is false (note: not all gay people feel this way; many are themselves Christian). The Christian employee believes the secular gay employee’s worldview is false should not be allowed to marry, adopt children, or have his loving partnership recognized by the state in any way, and would, if he had the ability, force the secular gay employee to undergo conversion therapy.  Why is it uniquely intolerable or even injurious for the gay employee to have to share the workplace (much less the industry) with the Christian? Do they not have the same obligations to set aside their differences and treat each other with dignity and respect?
The final two questions seem pretty stupid when the true nature of French's argument is spelled out.

Of course, French's conservative buddies are once again congratulating him on writing such a marvelous defense of bigotry.

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