I moved to Florida about 15 months ago and only recently started reading our local newspaper, Florida Today. I’m proud of our paper. The editorial staff weighed in on the recent gay adoption ruling and fully supports ending the Florida ban on gay adoptions in a strongly worded editorial. Here are a few snips:

Discrimination against gays is the last legally sanctioned, socially acceptable form of bigotry in America, and an ugly stain on our nation’s promise of equality for all. State voters made it worse Nov. 4, when they sullied the Florida Constitution by passing an amendment that bans gay marriage, denying homosexuals the same rights their fellow citizens enjoy.
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That Florida continues to live in the discriminatory Dark Ages on this issue is deplorable, and it’s long past time the ban is stricken from the books. Lederman’s ruling opens the door widely to finally make that happen, and we urge judges who further review the case to follow her lead and with it the Florida Constitution’s clear guarantee of equal protection under the law for everyone. Gay or straight.

Brevard is a conservative leaning county dominated by the aerospace industry and dotted with U.S. Air Force bases. I’m amazed that Florida Today has stood up for issues of equality and fairness, including gay rights. Just so you can get the flavor of the kinds of uninformed, ignorant, and/or misguided ideas people express about gays and lesbians, here are a few comments posted to the editorial. Emphasis mine.

11/29/2008 7:15:10 AM DBarton wrote:
I believe the children should be at the focus of this conversation. A child is entitled to a mother and father as it was designed to be rather than into a mentally unbalanced home of two mothers or two fathers. I am so tired of the gay lifestyle being shoved down our throats on a daily basis and the belief it to be normal. It is a psychiatric problem that deserves attention as it is not normal. Many kids are troubled enough without adding in this factor of a lifestyle that goes against traditional and moral family values. If one chooses to live this type of lifestyle there are certain rights you choose to forfeit. Case Closed!!
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11/29/2008 7:34:42 AM imoonly wrote (reply to DBarton):
I have to agree. If they were bore [born] with a physical abnormality they would do all the could to get it fixed. But with a sexual confusion disorder they for some reason choose to give into instead of fight it. The children are not better off in gay homes. Simply put, its unnatural.
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11/29/2008 9:53:25 AM deltajordan wrote:
…Personally, the gays I have known did have psychological problems. IMHO they were effeminate males because their mother died at a young age or they were abused by a priest or other psychological traumas.
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11/29/2008 7:34:42 AM imoonly wrote (replying to another commenter):
…Homosexuality is not normal. Therefore, raising kids in this environment can only end up causing harm to the child. That harm may not come out until they are older, but it’s abuse in and of itself. Anything that is done against God’s plan will have a negative impact. Just as woman’s lib and divorce has had a negative impact on society.

I have great compassion for people that hold these kinds of beliefs, especially when they use religion to try to justify them. They grasp stereotypes and hold on to them like a lifeboat. They are afraid of anything different from themselves. Homosexuality challenges them. I understand that. It challenged me.

Neither my partner nor I are “mentally unbalanced,” suffer from “psychological problems,” or were victims of abuse that caused us to be lesbians. We both had heterosexual parents, siblings, a middle class upbringing, and college educations. We both knew from a very young age (5-6 years old) that we were homosexual and that this biological difference was to be kept a secret. We both chose to hide ourselves in a heterosexual life-style through our teens and early twenties by dating guys. We have both had relationships and sexual experiences with males, with full knowledge that the heterosexual life-style for us was a lie so huge it shook us to our core. (For you heteros, imagine making yourself engage in an emotional AND physically intimate relationship with your same-gender close friend because that’s what society has told you is correct and that opposite-sex relationships were an abomination. The betrayal to yourself would shake you to your core, believe me.)

Gays and lesbians spend years, sometimes decades, in self-exploration, trying to understand who they are, why fitting in as a heterosexual didn’t work, and why they are different. No one chooses to be born homosexual, to be a lighting rod for bigotry from all corners of society. No one chooses this. What we do choose is our freedom. We will no longer be shackled by biblical soundbites or ignorant stereotypes that we are unstable, perverted, abominations. We are stable, monogamous, and spiritual people. We work, pay taxes, go to church, and shop for groceries just like everyone else. We struggle with many of the same issues, share many of the same joys, and dream many of the same dreams. We want to share in our nation’s promise of equality; we want to have the same rights and privileges other citizens have, the right to have our unions and families legally recognized.

Like with civil rights and interacial marriage, our country has come to another crossroads with gay rights. Many brave whites and people of color stood together to usher in a new age of equality, tolerance, and dignity. It’s time once again to unite for the cause of equality. It won’t make you popular, but standing up for gay rights, well, is the right thing to do.

Crossposted at No Quarter and Partizane.