On Sundays, we have this ritual. We go to Charlies for bagels, orange juice, and coffee. It's our time to sit back, relax, and catch up on the news.

Not much happening, except for the unemployment rate that I mentioned in my earlier post. But I got through the paper, and on the back page of the CT Opinion section, a full page ad was placed by the Family Institute of Connecticut, and the Knights of Columbus. It read:

Oh pullllllease! What bullshit!

"Same-Sex Marriage Bill 899 will deny citizens their religious rights."
Because you won't be able to say that you don't want to marry a gay couple, just like you can't say that you won't marry a mixed race couple. But my sense is you can do this now - to a point. For example, you can actually deny marriage to a couple who are expecting a child, but aren't yet married. I know because this happened to a friend of mine. They actually lied to the church about her being pregnant so they could have their church wedding. But that's different. That is not against state law. That has to do with the inner workings of church doctrine. What the law is stating is that you no longer have a freedom to discriminate against a couple just for this reason. But is this honestly a problem for you? After all, what couple would want to get married in a church that didn't really want them?

"Schools that wish not to teach gay marriage will have no choice in the matter."
I don't even know how you teach gay marriage. How do you teach straight marriage?

"Church groups who won't comply will be punished by the government."
Yes, just like you are punished when some of your priests molest children. That is against state law. They are punish when caught.

"Business will have to close their doors."
Huh? Why? Are you crazy? Do you have any idea how much revenue this will bring to caterers, wedding planners, and the like?

Dear Catholics:

You are still free to continue to teach your children that homosexuals are vile wicked creatures who only want to get into their pants and prey on them. You are fully able to continue to teach them that homosexuals are worthy of death in the name of God. You can still teach them that it is sport to go out and beat up a homosexual or kill one in the name of Jesus.

You can still do all of those things after the marriage bill is passed. Of course you won't openly say that you are teaching your children that. You don't have to. It comes out in the crime statistics.

This bill brings into line Connecticut state law, in accordance with the CT Supreme Court ruling. Any changes to this bill that will continue to give bigotry a loophole, will be challenged in a lawsuit, because that was not the ruling of the CT Supreme Court.

DEAL WITH IT AND MOVE ON. Your day of peddling this bullshit is over. People are sick and tired of sitting at the back of the bus. We are sick and tired of the violence against our community.

Your problem is that you need to look at your own house before trying to destroy ours. You teach your kids one thing and then when they get into trouble, you say, "I never taught them that." Yes, you did.

You seem shocked when yet another priest is convicted of child molestation, yet, your own church moves them around from parish to parish knowing full well why they are being moved.

And you are upset over this? GET A FREAKIN LIFE.

I know there are more moderate Catholics out there who believe that committed gay couples should be allowed to have marriage, just like there are Catholics all over the place practicing birth control even though your church firmly (no pun intended) opposes birth control. You also have gay friends and many of you have gay family members.

This ad was put out by fellow Catholics, and if you don't stand up against this, you are agreeing with them and your church on this issue. Just remember that the next time you are talking to a family member, friend, or work colleague, who happens to be gay and want marriage. See if you can be honest with yourself and still look them in the eye.