The most hotly-debated issues concern the rights American society is willing to grant people of alternate sexual orientations.

People with alternate sexual orientations have fought to form legally recognized unions, to adopt children and to not be discriminated against in employment and housing.

These are rights most Americans take for granted.

We live in a self-centered, cynical society and rarely consider the thoughts and rights of others, let alone provide each other with some of the most basic courtesies.

When we become offended by another human being’s way of doing things, some people go so far as to invoke scripture to justify their anger and disgust.

People who argue against gay rights claim that sexual orientations other than the heterosexual standard are immoral and justify this by pointing to examples to support their claims.

Often such examples cite erroneous or exaggerated stories of promiscuous sexual behavior designed to scare Americans.

Perhaps most astonishing are people who believe that homosexuals experience no discrimination in employment, housing or public facilities.

That they live happy lives, earning above-average wages, and spend Friday and Saturday nights partying in leather bars.

Such people scratch their heads wondering why the issues are even debated out of their ignorance that gay men, lesbians and transgendered people experience discrimination and prejudice that they themselves will never experience.

Am I fighting for people to accept the fact that I sometimes fall in love with other men while they claim I am having promiscuous sex that I really am not having?

Am I fighting this battle because I hope children who are perceived to be effeminate and abnormal by their peers are provided with some kind of protection against irrational grudges and bitter hatred?

Am I fighting to protect the young men all over the country who are harassed on a daily basis, many times beat up, and sometimes killed by straight, “macho” murderers who get away with little or no punishment by a system dominated by white, heterosexual men?

I am fighting for all of these things, but they are issues we should all be fighting for.

We should all be fighting for total acceptance of the human race without regard to sexuality, religious belief, political orientation, personality disposition, mental and physical health and an immense variety of other individualities for which people are discriminated against, hurt and often killed.

We need to learn to respect each others’ differences and build the culture we need to thrive on this planet and, someday, beyond it.

For everyone who believes wholeheartedly in Jesus Christ and his teachings, there is more than one other person on our planet who believes in the Buddha and his teachings.

As a believer in Christ, for example, an individual isn’t going to get anywhere by preaching the Gospel or invoking the Holy Spirit against perceived evil where it does not exist.

Using Christ or other religious figures to justify disgust for other people isn’t helping the human race move forward.

It will only serve to drive them away and make them distrust a valid expression of spirituality, creating an additional rift between people when we all should focus on repairing those that presently exist.

Perceiving the commonality among human beings and our thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors will help to eliminate the particulars of love which most people tend to subscribe.

The goal of perceiving this commonality is a major theme of the world’s religions and philosophies and is a key factor in helping us get along on a world that is quickly becoming congested with people.

There isn’t a New World to escape to anymore.

Rather than protecting our cozy truths, we need to take responsibility and resolve the issues people throughout time and all over the world have preferred to avoid by forming their own societies or institutions or by cloistering themselves even more firmly and deeply in their existing beliefs.

Indeed, some truths are so simple to understand yet so hard to follow: Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Challenge yourself to learn what this statement really means. Then live it.

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Don Paulsen

Assistant manager

Food service