by Corey Widdison

Created on: July 22, 2009

You may recall a few days ago a gay couple had a kiss-in on church property. Church officials called the police who cited the couple for trespassing on private property. The church said that they were doing more than just giving each other just a kiss, but they were passionately kissing and groping each other. Also, they were talking vulgarly. The reason they were there was to get arrested and simply bring up the fight with the church over Proposition 8 all over again. They were there to rub it in their face. To say we're here, we're queer, deal with it. It was a sign of peaceful protest of the church.

If you remember, Proposition 8 was a proposition for California that defined marriage as a union of a man and a woman. Gay people felt that it was a ban on gay marriage. The LDS church made a stand and stood for Proposition 8. The proposition passed and after that, gay rights activists have been protesting the church for their stance. People for gay rights felt that stance was a direct attack on them and so have been defending their position with these protests and now the kiss-ins.

This kiss-in was a peaceful protest but an aggravating peaceful protest. A good chance to say we are still here and still upset. In my family, when we get together we talk about the topics of the day. I have one brother, however, who likes to get everyone going and arguing about politics. My family, like many families, has strong and varied views so politics comes up, but it's always cordial. Until that one brother gets to the party. What he likes to do is sit in the corner not saying much until everyone is deep in conversation, and then he strikes. He leans in and says the phrase or two that he knows will push buttons and gets everyone arguing about whatever topic. My father tries to stop the arguing but that same brother just leans in and offers up another comment to get things going again, then he just sits back and smiles while everyone is arguing over what he had said without even knowing he was the one who said it. It's easy to see that he is the instigator of the family. And that is exactly what these two gay men had done. Through the kiss-in, they had put in the comment that they knew would get the argument going again.

If you were going to protest against something how would you do it? Would you do the same thing that these men did? It was a peaceful act, and it definitely got the results that they wanted. I would disagree with the way that they did the protesting. If they did their kiss-in somewhere else, it would not have gotten anywhere near the attention that it got. They did it as their own little attack on the church. This way they could play the victims instead of the ones who had instigated it. Every time that I had been in a heated argument with someone, it ended up with both of us on the defense of our own views. It's easy to get caught up in the moment and begin attacking someone when they don't see things your way. The bad thing about this is that you will most likely make the person you are arguing with stand even firmer in their beliefs that you are horribly wrong. These kind of bitter attacks and protests only make a wider divide between people. The saying that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar would hold true in this case. Instead of the antagonistic approach, try one of kindness and patience if you want someone to listen to your side of the argument.

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