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This post was submitted by MikeInWeHo, a longtime Bloggernacle participant and friend of BCC.

Since Judge Shelby’s decision, I’ve seen discussions about the history of traditionalists’ agenda against gays, suggesting that traditionalists were never anything except compassionate and nice to gays. I read it and thought, “Have I been living on another planet?” No, but there are two conflicting narratives. It’s very different from the conservation I remember:

Traditionalists in the 60s: “Homosexuals are criminal predators who recruit our children, which is why homosexuality is a crime. We must close the places they gather and jail them if they refuse psychiatric treatment for their mental illness.”





Gays in the 60s: “We are not criminals, and not mentally ill. We will fight back.”

Traditionalists in the 70s: “We will leave you alone if you remain invisible in society, and we will maintain laws making homosexuality a crime to make sure you do.”

Gays and a few friends in the 70s: “Sodomy laws ruin people’s lives. We will work to get them overturned. We will come out of the closet.”

Traditionalists in the 80s: “We were right all along. AIDS is God’s judgment on homosexuals.”

Gays and new allies in the 80s: “Gay men in our cities are being devastated by a plague. We will work with lesbians and our friends to take care of each other.”

Traditionalists in the 90s: “We will fight against civil unions. We will keep gays out of the military. But we don’t believe in discrimination. My wife loves her gay hairdresser, and I even had lunch with a gay guy at work one time.”

Society in the 90s: “These laws make no sense. We have gay friends and there is no reason they should be discriminated against. This seems like bigotry, and we have seen it before.”

Traditionalists in the early 2000s: “We concede that gays should have some rights, uh, kinda. We’ll agree to let them sign contracts and visit each other in the hospital when they get sick, because we are compassionate. By the way: They want to get married and if they do society will end!!!”

Society in the early 2000s: “We’re not so sure about gay marriage but the rest of what you’re saying sounds very wrong. Why are you still fighting civil unions? We will protect our gay family members and friends.”

Gays and friends in the early 2000s: “Gay marriage exists in quite a few countries now, and nothing bad has happened. We have families and children too, and we want full equality in the eyes of the law.”

Traditionalists in 2013: “We are being persecuted for our religious beliefs!”

Society in 2013: “No, you aren’t. Nobody is forcing your churches to change their doctrines or practices. By the way, you have treated gay people badly for a long time and we don’t want to go to your churches anymore unless you stop. We love our gay family members and we are moving on.”