New Sport?

[ToraToraTora]

Why has the Gay community turned into bullies?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34121411
Ironically they have been delivered from this sort of thing themselves, now they make a "sport" of picking on people that don't embrace their lifestyle as enthusiastically as they think they should. It's going to take time for all the officials to come to terms with new rules etc, why go around trying to find people to bully?

[vetuste_ennemi]

So, just to make it clear for me, Andy, it is possible for a Christian to believe that gay marriage is wrong without being NECESSARILY a bigot?
I just want to establish the point that the word bigot ought not be used as a synonym for disagreeing with fashionable opinion.

[jno]

you're getting a bit desperate trying to drag Islington into it.

But you haven't answered my question: if a civil servant refused to give you a licence you were entitled to, and there were no others empowered to do it, what would be your next step?

[andy-hughes]

TTT - ""Is everyone who disagrees with gay marriage a religious bigot, Andy? " - of course vetuste!"

That's a shockingly narrow-minded view, I am surprised at you!!!

[andy-hughes]

vetuste - "So, just to make it clear for me, Andy, it is possible for a Christian to believe that gay marriage is wrong without being NECESSARILY a bigot?"

If you are opposed to a marriage which is sanctioned in the eyes of the law because of your religious views, then that does not make you a bigot per se.

"I just want to establish the point that the word bigot ought not be used as a synonym for disagreeing with fashionable opinion."

I have referred to this woman as a bigot because that is clearly what she is - but that does not mean she speaks for all Christians, any more than the couple in question speak for all homosexuals.

Stating that this woman's attitude is homophobic is a statement of fact - it is not opinion - fashionable or otherwise.

If you believe that preventing people from enjoying their lives together sanctioned by a legal ceremony is "fashionable opinion", I would argue that it not an opinion, and it is certainly not fashionable!

[mikey4444]

I have been out all day and I amazed that this thread is still going !

Elected official, refusing to do the job that she is charged with and is paid to do, and yet there are some people on here that are defending this bigot !

Sometimes AB amazes me, it really does !

[Khandro]

v_e; It's possible for anyone to believe gay marriage is wrong without being bigoted, just as it is possible to hold any other view on human affairs without being so.

[Ellipsis]

> is possible for a Christian to believe that gay marriage is wrong without being NECESSARILY a bigot?

Of course. A bigot would be someone who was intolerant of others' opinions - for example, the laws that govern her, the employers who gave her the job and the taxpayers who require her to do the job.

[vetuste_ennemi]

"Stating that this woman's attitude is homophobic is a statement of fact - it is not opinion - fashionable or otherwise."
I'll give up on the word bigotry. Disagreeing with gay marriage makes one a homophobe - this is "fact". You have just said that - I have got that right, haven't I, Andy?

[mikey4444]

Whether we can all agree that this woman is a bigot or not, isn't the point.

Let me repeat what I said earlier this morning. She is a paid official of the County, and if two people of the same sex wants to get married, its none of my business and it certainly isn't any of hers either. But her actions are stopping those same people getting married in their County of choice. She should stand aside and let somebody else do the job.

Anyway, who does the job when she is sick or on holiday ?

[jno]

mikey, nobody does it, whether she's there or not. They've stopped issuing any marriage licences at all, which sounds a little unChristian to me.

[Khandro]

I'm extremely intolerant of people who are cruel to animals and likewise those who chop people's heads off, and destroy ancient architectural monuments, and ......... the list is long. Am I a bigot?

[ToraToraTora]

so you haven't actually read the answers in between then Mikey!

Andy; ""Stating that this woman's attitude is homophobic is a statement of fact - it is not opinion - fashionable or otherwise." - that's the definition of bigotry, I'm right it's a fact! PMSL. So is that "good" bigotry Andy?

[vetuste_ennemi]

Yes, Khandro, people who AREN'T bigots can allow that people who hold opposite views to their own are not necessarily either morally or intellectually deficient. I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to get some of the narrower minds on here to see that fact too. It's a waste of time with at least two people on here who are incapable of conceding even the possibility that opposing gay marriage could spring from any other motive than hate.

[ummmm]

Interesting...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/meet-kim-davis?bffb&utm_term=4ldqpgp#.clA89RNeA

[sandyRoe]

No licences whatsoever? Didn't St Paul say: It is better to marry than to burn.?

[mikey4444]

jno...reading the link again, I see you are right...its no licences at all !

Then a higher authority should step in and issue licences above this bigots head.

"Only in America", as the saying goes !

[jno]

that was the basis of my comment, sandyRoe. One shouldn't mess with St Paul, especially when he's joined up with Minnie Apolis..

[mikey4444]

I understand this woman's stance on gay marriage ( although I abhor it )
but why is she refusing to issue marriage licences for heterosexuals ?

[jno]

doubtless to show she isn't homophobic, she's an equal-opportunity refusenik.

[sandyRoe]

This might prompt a rise in the same of broomsticks in that county