Slog - Comments on Quite Possibly the Dumbest Person Alive http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly From Amy Dickinson's advice column (originally published in the Chicago Tribune): Dear Amy: My husband and I have lived in our quiet suburban Denver neighborhood for six years. About two years ago two young gay men moved in across the street. They've taken the ugliest, most run-down property in the neighborhood and remodeled and transformed it into the pride of the street. When it snows, they shovel out my car and are friendly, yet they mostly keep to themselves. Last month I went out to retrieve my newspaper and watched them kiss each other goodbye and embrace as they each... Copyright 2007 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 16:40:37 -0800 Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:23:24 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by gay bingo priceless.

]]> gay bingo http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021831 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021831 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 17:35:36 -0800 Comment by bolo omigod. that story kind of made me want to puke.

]]> bolo http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021908 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021908 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:56:01 -0800 Comment by JA3 I know there are people out there this dumb, but the letter just doesn't ring true.

I guess he might travel a lot, but it seems strange that the husband disappears entirely after the first sentence. I have a hard time imagining the churchgoing suburban husband who makes a habit out of letting any neighbors, gay or straight, dig out his wife's car...

]]> JA3 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021913 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021913 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 19:03:58 -0800 Comment by Dan Savage They could be elderly.

]]> Dan Savage http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021925 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021925 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 19:13:39 -0800 Comment by eat me Gosh, these responses are just *so* Seattle. When will this city learn that there is a world outside of this Liberal hellhole, where people have *values* and stick to them? (Of course, you wouldn't know this from the Liberal media and their "advice columnists!")

]]> eat me http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021927 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021927 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 19:14:40 -0800 Comment by Ballard I grew up in a family that changed churches every couple of years. So I'm pretty familiar with the different churches and denominations out there.

I will tell you from personal experience that people who go to their pastors for advice, react like this to things they don't agree with.

Promise keepers, sermons on homosexuality, and youth group all influence countless people into believing that people who don't follow the bible are wrong and need saving.

It's been a number of years since I gave up the ghost, but I'll spend the rest of my life feeling sorry for these people and dealing with a nice conservative christian family.

I know one thing for sure though, I love living in "sin". I'd never go back.

]]> Ballard http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021940 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021940 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 19:22:06 -0800 Comment by tupelo My rich gay cousin outside of Kansas City had a similar problem with one of his neighbors that escalated into a similar problem with all of the neighbors.

Granted, I've gleaned from the retelling that my cousin (always a confrontational fuck) was confrontational from the get go, but basically the same thing happened and three neighborhood husbands came to his door and asked he and his partner not to have their gay sex parties in the backyard pool anymore.

Actually, I'm sure they weren't sex parties because they're monogamous and I've been to a few of them, and they're just loud, **GAY** pool parties (that honestly I wouldn't want to live next door to either).

]]> tupelo http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021966 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c021966 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 19:37:52 -0800 Comment by David Summerlin My husband and I had a house in a conservative suburb of San Francisco for a couple of years. I caught this story on Google this morning and it rang totally true. Many of our neighbors attended a nearby megachurch. The suburban churchgoing husbands in our neighborhood were lazy trash. Conversations typically were short and polite, and they acknowleged the work we did to improve the house and property values. I don't doubt they were repulsed by our P.D.A.s and thought it a shame we'd burn in Hell.

]]> David Summerlin http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022005 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022005 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 20:57:38 -0800 Comment by Comte The thing that strikes me in all this is the appalling disconnect in this woman's mind between economic and spiritual/moral values: home repair & snow shoveling=good; Gay Public Display of Affection=bad.

Not to mention, the complete cluelessness of her response, but, whatever.

Oh, and Eat Me, if you can't stomach living in this "liberal Hell hole", I'm sure there are plenty of other places that would welcome you with open arms; perhaps the neighborhood in this story for example.

]]> Comte http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022017 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022017 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 21:25:12 -0800 Comment by SDA in SEA I'm not at all surprised by her homophobia. I've become accustomed to that over the years. Lotsa people don't like gays. I get that. What astounds me is her complete ignorance of her own homophobia.

Lots of people hate gays, they know they hate gays, and they treat gays with unapologetic open hostility. I don't like it, but I can deal with it. It's nasty, but at least it is the honest truth for them. But this woman is so delusion that she actually thinks she likes these guys, thinks she's being polite, and thinks she is doing the right thing. How can someone be that oblivious to their own homophobia?

]]> SDA in SEA http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022018 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022018 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 21:26:57 -0800 Comment by David Summerlin People like the woman who wrote that letter don't acknowledge the existence of homophobia. For them, gay is not something one is, it is something one does, and they often believe even gay people think of their behavior as sick. That's what the preacher man tell her. Her condition is a common enough pathology. The gay couple in this transaction would have done well to respond to her letter sincerely and drop some education on the biach.

]]> David Summerlin http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022081 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022081 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 22:11:50 -0800 Comment by Anthony People this ignorant and hateful certainly exist, and in great numbers. If you think this doesn't ring true, you're not paying attention.

And homophobia... Lately I'm getting really irritated by the word itself. It's not a phobia, it's just bigotry. Labeling it a phobia removes all responsibility from the bigot, as if it's not their fault, it's just like being afraid of spiders. These attitudes are not a resultof pathological fear, they're learned hatred and intolerance.

Maybe the KKK aren't racists, they're just blackophobes.

I know it's semantics, but it pisses me off.

]]> Anthony http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022251 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022251 Tue, 21 Feb 2006 08:21:11 -0800 Comment by violet_dagrinder "They have made it so uncomfortable for the other neighbors and me by not even acknowledging our presence."

Yeah. THEY made it uncomfortable.

Fer fucks sake.

Glad the advice lady got bitchy about it.

]]> violet_dagrinder http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022253 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022253 Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:23:00 -0800 Comment by J Good point. Bigotry is a much better word for it. And speaking of the end of the world... what a morning for news, huh?

]]> J http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022254 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/02/quite_possibly#c022254 Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:23:24 -0800