You are complicating the issue. It is simple. Gay people are human beings and should enjoy the same rights everyone else has…..period! I voted No on measure 36 in Oregon. The whole campaign was run "religiously". You will burn in hell for eternity if you vote with the "gay people". As I’ve said before, you can’t legislate morality. Hitler tried to, so did Stalin. I can add Dumbya’s name to that list now. Watch and see.

In respect to Mardi Gras, my point there was exactly what you stated, "Mardi Gras has little impact on anything or anyone’s thinking. It is virtually ignored." I simply find it amusing that a celebration (to mark the beginning of a religous season, btw) where exhibition is the expected and tolerated norm has little impact. I didn’t recall any measures on any state ballots this election banning any of the things that go on at Mardi Gras. My personal opinion is that the reason why this is the case is that the exhibition is mainly of a hetrosexual nature.

Of course, you then say "And nobody is using it as a demonstration to change minds." True. I don’t think anyone is using Mardi Gras to change minds. It’s just a bunch of people blowing off steam and having a good time, right?

While I am no expert in what goes on at every Gay Pride Parade, I have been to one of the country’s biggest in New York City and two or three in Seattle, WA. For the most part, I would say that they too, were just a bunch of people blowing off steam and having a good time.

I guess the key difference is that the main revelers were gay.

Now I must address this point: "When you are trying to change society, you must put your best foot forward." I would agree. Moral high ground is often the best platform to mount any attack on the status quo. Jesus helped set that standard. It was reinforced by people like Martin Luther King, Ghandi, and Mother Theresa. I would hope that all people trying to affect any changes in any society (ours or someone else’s) would try to live up to that standard as well. However, as you probably know, that’s a hard standard to live up to. That’s why forgiveness was invented.

And lastly, I would have to disagree that Fundamentalist Christians, unlike other Christains, do very much grappling with their sprituality. I think that what many fundamentalists grapple with is not their own spirituality, but the fact that they feel the rest of the world doesn’t share it with them.

If they did, how do they reconcile war (Jesus didn’t kill anyone)? If they did, how do they reconcile broad condemnations of people who aren’t like them (Jesus was a big fan of turning the other cheek)? I personally see way too many inconsistancies between Fundamentalist Actions and Christian Theology. I am interested to know what spritual grappling led them to these conclusions.

Mardi Gras has little impact on anything or anyone’s thinking. It is virtually ignored. And nobody is using it as a demonstration to change minds.

When you are trying to change society, you must put your best foot forward.

As to fundamentalist Christians grappling with their spirituality daily–that’s what they do, and what makes them fundamentalists.

1) Likening sexual preference to religous preference is shakey. While the analogy is clever, it’s unfair and inaccurate. People have a choice when it comes to religion. Saying there could be Fundamentalist Homosexuals is like saying there could be Fundamentalist Asians.

2) If half as many religous fundamentalist Christians grappled with with their spirituality in the same way that most homosexual people have had to grappple with their sexuality, I’d be willing to bet that there wouldn’t be many fundamentalists anymore.

3) It is not the responsibility of the gay community (or any community for that matter) to ensure that they are percieved ‘properly’. It is the reponsibility of the individual to ensure that their opinion is well informed and to understand that large segments of a population shouldn’t be characterized by the activities of a vocal few. Anyway, I doubt that people start to ‘disagree’ with homosexuality based on what they see people doing at parades. These events really only provide something for people with preconceived notions to point at and say "See what heathens are these!".

4) If Gay Pride Parades are bad PR for homosexuality, Mardi Gras should be real bummer for hetrosexuality.

Not everyone voting for such things is an evangelical fundamentalist.