I've been angry these last few days. Angrier than I remember being in a very long time. I've said some very harsh things to fellow DUers who have, either knowingly or unknowingly, said some very harsh things to me. I've taken some time to think on what has been debated here since Thursday, though, and I find I'm not so much angry any longer, but embittered.

You see, in a moment caught off guard, our president elect said that those without hope turn to religion and guns out of bitterness because they see no real way out of their situations. I agreed with him then and I still do. The only difference is that we in the GLBT community are turning to each other and away from those who want us to 'wait just a little while longer'.

We're doing this because most of us don't understand how we can 'respectfully disagree' with those who truly hate us. We don't know how to say "I disagree" when someone tells us that we are no better than child rapists and dog fuckers, and we don't know how to celebrate when our president gives people who tell us this a position of honor at his inauguration.

Even more, we don't understand how we can stand shoulder to shoulder with people who advocate our destruction. We can't easily forget when these people work to take away our humanity. We lash out when someone tries to rip our families apart and denies us the basic foundations of freedom.

So when we are told to wait just a little longer or to merely think of the Warren invocation as a door being closed on homophobia, we cringe. When people tell us to trust a man who has given so much honor to someone who works to harm us, we get angry. And when we are told by our DU 'friends' that our humanity is nothing more than a single issue and that we have to look at the bigger picture, we become embittered.

We do this because we see the hatred that comes from Warren and people like him. We see it when a loving couple is denied the right to marriage because it's 'unnatural'. We see it when that couple is told they cannot adopt a baby because it would be 'unhealthy' for the child. We see it when we are told we can't give blood because our 'lifestyle' is too dangerous. We see it whenever we hear of another friend being beaten or killed for being 'a dirty queer'. We see it in sitcoms and commercials that make fun of 'those silly fags'. The reasons are all around us every day. We see it every time another friend or loved one passes from AIDS. There is no let up and there is no sanctuary from it.

So after all of that I ask you, how do you respectfully disagree with hatred?