yov, I never spoke of people being disallowed from expressing their beliefs; I merely stated how I perceived those beliefs. I have no power on this board or in real life to keep people from expressing anti-gay views, and if I did, I would not use it in either case. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think that free speech is a near absolute value.
I am absolutely certain that there are members here who believe that homosexuality is wrong and that "practicing homosexuals" are sinners. Hate the sin, love the sinner. It is my personal belief (which surely is as entitled to respect as any other personal belief) that such a view is bigoted (according to the dictionary definition of "intolerantly devoted to his or her own prejudices"), whether or not it has religious antecedents. Fortunately, I too have an analogous policy, which I call, "Hate the bigotry, love the bigot." It's possible that some people will object to characterization of their beliefs on homosexuality as "bigoted" - but then, I object to characterization of homosexuality as "sinful".
It's my hope that I can politely and civilly accept their love of me as a sinner, and they can politely and civilly accept my love of them as a bigot. They may not like it that I believe that a religious belief of theirs makes them a bigot, but I do not like it that a deeply, deeply rooted part of my identity qualifies me for the designation of sinner. Thus phrased, it seems that we're on equal footing with each other. In my personal opinion, neither of us should be precluded from expressing these beliefs, as a simple matter of discussion and free speech. We're all adults, and can be polite to people who do or believe things that we believe are wrong.
Di - thank you for the hug.
I can only ask you to imagine yourself in the most loving, profound relationship of your life, and imagine what it would be for millions upon millions of people worldwide to decry your love, everything you feel for your partner, as "sinful" and "evil" - often, with the force of law behind them. For those people to speak (often crudely) about the mechanics of your sexual union with your partner and announce that THAT is evil.
Having pictured yourself in such a deeply moving (and yet, so fiercely condemned by third parties) relationship, imagine hearing it (your wholesome love for this person) even partially analogized to adultery. Yes, you can love a friend who does bad things - whether adultery, embezzlement, grand larceny, or heck, flat-out murder. But homosexuality - something inherent, loving, consensual, and non-criminal - in the very most important relationship of your friend's life? That shouldn't be on the list of things that you can love your friend "despite". Can you imagine the pain that your hypothetical friend would feel at that "despite"?
As a native Virginian, I'm reminded that mere decades ago, many people in my home state believed, on both religious and non-religious grounds, that there was something wrong and immoral about a white person loving, marrying, and reproducing with a non-white person. Indeed, I'm reminded that my beloved home state used to imprison such people (who were commonly thought to be sinners) for a year or more. I'm sure that then, too, people believed that they were hating the sin and loving the sinner in condemning those relationships and believing them worthy of punishment, Di. But is it not blatantly obvious in retrospect that it WAS hate (whether or not religiously motivated) that made people so vociferously attack and fear interracial unions?
EDIT to reduce the severity of my words on adultery