Land of the Free: Put Up or Shut UpAs Americans, we constantly...

Land of the Free: Put Up or Shut Up

As Americans, we constantly blab about how free we are in this country, almost as if we're trying to drill it into our own thick skulls and convince ourselves that it's true.

With same-sex marriage legal in six states now, plus the District of Columbia and including New York, home to almost 20 million people, 12% of Americans are free to marry who they want. This doesn't quite rival the percentage of Americans legally allowed to marry blood relatives (40%, 16 states). Sure, incestuous marriage between cousins is still much more condoned and legally accepted than same-sex marriage, but, gradually, we're making progress, easing ourselves out of the dark ages, and becoming as free as we so often boast—at least when it comes to marriage rights anyway.

The tide has turned, and those who enjoy telling others how to have sex and who to marry are being rightfully shouldered to the fringe.

And they're not happy about it. In fact, many of them are feeling bullied. Jim Campbell, an attorney with the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, has said "They're advocating a lot of changes in the name of tolerance, yet ironically that tolerance is not returned."

I would like someone to explain to me why I have to be tolerant of intolerant people who are not tolerant themselves. The problem for them, it seems to me, is that, like the racists before them, they have lost the argument.

Chuck Colson, who helped launch the Manhattan Declaration in 2009, has said "The gay rights groups have shown their fangs. They want to silence, and yes, destroy those who don't agree with their agenda."

Seriously? What, is he high?

The Manhattan Declaration, by the way, is a manifesto issued by more than 150 religious leaders—all of them Christian— that objects not only to same-sex marriage, but also to divorce and the "uncoupling of marriage from childbearing." In other words, it's a scrap of paper telling you how to conduct your personal romantic relationships.

Claiming victimhood is a ploy as old as the sun. When losing, simply stomp your feet and say the other guy is being mean to you. BAM! You've successfully derailed the whole discourse. Now it's about the people having the discourse—the mean, nasty one and the poor, attacked victim— rather than the original objective topic, which, in this case, is FREEDOM—the freedom to love how and who you want, the freedom to marry how and who you want.

There are controversial and provocative people on both the right and wrong side of this debate. The cretins and lizard people who make up the Westboro Baptist Church, for example, picket and mock fallen U.S. soldiers because of a hatred of homosexuality. They say America is being punished by God for its gradual enlightenment toward gay folks. Of course, these are marginal wack jobs whose behavior and black hearts would get them tossed into the imaginary hell of their own imaginary religion, but, really, how different are they from more eloquent and subtle haters of private and personal freedom?

I won't lie to you. Winning an argument is fun, and I am having a total blast writing this. I will never in a million years be tolerant of intolerance, nor will I ever apologize for being right.

The undeniable fact of the matter is that a section of the human race is, has always been, and will always be gay. Just like there are black people and people with freckles and people under 5"2, there are gay people. Give them all the freedom you enjoy, even if you don't agree with their "lifestyle."

Be the American you boast you are.

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