“….criticism from conservative Christian groups who accuse the company of promoting immoral behavior.”
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Prejudice, discrimination, and bigotry is immoral behavior…yet many conservative Christian groups continue to display and promote prejudice, discrimination, and bigotry.
If these people do not like the cards I am pretty sure they do not have to purchase them. However, for the rest of us who have friends and relatives getting married….Hallmark is providing a quality product that we may purchase.
“Tim Wildmon, president of the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association, called Hallmark’s decision “apalling.””
Funny, I usually find Tim Wildmon’s statements appalling!
The desire to control the rest of us by the Tim Wildmons, Tony Perkins, Pat Robertsons, and James Dobsons of the world is really getting pretty old and tired.
Peace!

“….criticism from conservative Christian groups who accuse the company of promoting immoral behavior.”
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Prejudice, discrimination, and bigotry is immoral behavior…yet many conservative Christian groups continue to display and promote prejudice, discrimination, and bigotry.
If these people do not like the cards I am pretty sure they do not have to purchase them. However, for the rest of us who have friends and relatives getting married….Hallmark is providing a quality product that we may purchase.
“Tim Wildmon, president of the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association, called Hallmark’s decision “apalling.””
Funny, I usually find Tim Wildmon’s statements appalling!
The desire to control the rest of us by the Tim Wildmons, Tony Perkins, Pat Robertsons, and James Dobsons of the world is really getting pretty old and tired.
Peace!

Hallmark is the wholesome Company they’ve always been, only more so now. Mothers, Fathers, and all the families who love their children and that just happen to be gay are delighted. They have such great cards that I found two that were meant for just anybody who was getting married this summer to send to friends of ours who were tieing the knot in California! But it will be fun to see the new ones as they are put on the shelves.
Perkins thinks Hallmark has lost their character for doing this for the gay population. That seems so strange to read this, as I question anyone’s character who willingly disparages other people.

Hallmark is a company owned by stockholders. If the stockholders approve of this decision, then Wildman and Perkins can just go to…Hawaii!:)

RR is concerned about CARDS! Please, how ridiculous is that? Hallmark has cards for all occasions….and this is just another card for a special occasion. No one will force the critics to buy one (they might go to hell if they do, I guess). Hallmark isn’t promoting anything, only answering a need. Now the RR wants to tell companies what they can produce just because they don’t happen to like it? Am sure Hallmark is greatly worried…right, they will be laughing all the way to the bank.

I like Hallmark, I also like the approach they have taken here. They are giving care and consideration to a population that needs that care and consideration without taking a political stand. I know to some Christians it may look like a stance for homosexuality but I don’t see it as that, and also I don’t see Hallmark as needing the market but people trapped in homosexuality do need compassion and care.

“So this does surprise me that they want to get into the culture wars.”
Whatever they do they are in the culture wars on this issue. They made the right choice.
Nice statement, cknuck.

Yes, ck, nice opinion. My friends and their families don’t think of them as being trapped, however. Their freedoms have been trapped for too long though, but finally good sense and understanding is taking shape.

Well said, cknuck.

I for one, plan to continue to make plenty of use of my Hallmark Gold Crown card…

Cknuck…
” people trapped in homosexuality do need compassion and care.”
Compassion and care is something everyone needs but trapped in homosexuality? Not my understanding or belief, being gay myself.
I suppose if you believe you need to be saved from everything…it works for you. To me, it’s an insult but then again, in my faith, no one has to worry about being saved or trapped.
That said, it’s nice to see Hallmark addressing this. I like having the variety of Hallmark cards which I can now send to gay friends for birthdays or weddings.
I’ve thought this need, needed to be filled. I’m glad Hallmark stood up and took the responsibility for creating the cards.
As far as the RR is concerned, they can stew in their own juices for all I care. Their threats and fears are nothing. Their simply doing what they always do when someone or a group does something they don’t like… make a big noise.

If homosexuals are indeed “trapped” in their homosexuality, then I guess us heterosexuals are “trapped” in our heterosexuality. Good thing all of us are born the way we are.

Yep, it seems we are all “trapped” in our particular kind of sexuality we were born with. I guess that means there’s something to be said for being bisexual. You aren’t trapped.

“I guess that means there’s something to be said for being bisexual. You aren’t trapped.” nnmns
Good one, nnmns!

“I guess that means there’s something to be said for being bisexual. You aren’t trapped.” nnmns
nnmns I had no idea I suspected an untold story but this? pagan’s right “Good one,”
One of the key arguments for being born homosexual (even though there is no medical arguments that whole water) has been, and I’ve read/heard it expressed “why would someone choose to be born homosexual, no one would.” So because of this, it’s clear persons had to be born homosexual.
Now when I use the word trapped it stirs a controversy. How interesting.

Cknuck,
You said: “Now when I use the word trapped it stirs a controversy. How interesting.”
Why do you consider it interesting? I’m not trying to argue, just trying to understand in what context you’re using it and what it means to you.
Speaking solely for myself, as a gay man, that’s who I am. I’ve always been attracted to men, ever since I can remember back to five year of age. I knew I was attracted to men and wanted them but didn’t understand the reason, as I do now. I’ve never found any sexual attraction to woman. I remember feeling odd or different when the boys were talking about girls and I found no interest in the conversation at all.
For me, the use of trapped predisposes that there is something better or something I should be attracted to instead of men and am stuck in the situation. I’m not stuck or trapped; I’m simply attracted to what I’ve always been attracted to. That being said, I wouldn’t expect a straight man to be attracted to a guy but rather I woman and that’s completely cool to my mind. Bisexuals, they have the best of both worlds.
Anyway, thanks for taking a moment to read this. I’m looking forward in hearing your thoughts.
Ron

“Trapped in Homosexuality” would make a great name for a dime-store pulp novel: “An eighteen-wheeler, a worldly trucker, a hitch-hiking marine, a sudden winter storm, and the malestrom of snow and lust that neither could control . . . or escape!”
On one hand, it’s good that Hallmark is making cards like this available, on the other, it’s sad that homosexuality has become so tame and banal that Hallmark now has a card for it. Don’t get me wrong, I like the direction the country and the world is going in concerning lgbt rights. But I sort of miss the non-comformist and rebellious air that use to go with being gay.

Cknuck,
As a bi-sexual man, that’s who I am. I’ve always been attracted to men, ever since I can remember back to three years of age. I knew I was attracted to men and wanted them but didn’t understand the reason, as I do now. I am sexually attraction to woman…..to a slightly lesser degree. I remember feeling odd or different when the boys (and adults) were talking disparagingly about boys who were attracted to other boys….calling them names etc.
For me, the use of trapped predisposes that there is something better or something I should be attracted to instead of men and women….therefor I am stuck in the situation. I’m not stuck or trapped; I’m simply attracted to both men and women.
I am sorry that you think there is something wrong with us. There is not….we are normal bi-sexual men. There are also normal straight men and normal gay men….that is just not who we are.
Peace!

Taking a week away brings an different perspective to these articles and responses (I was helping deliver our daughter to college in the far north of Ohio).
ck,
I am impressed by the pastoral tone of your first repsonse. This is not to say I am surprised, but certainly impressed. It echoes my sense that we can disagree and still embody and express God’s love, greater than our political persuasions.
Hallmark is a commercial enterprise. When they see a niche, it is part of their inclination to fill it. These wedding cards are but one example. Now, I don’t go protesting the treacly sweet, theologically goofy cards that some conservative folks favor. So they ought to lay off – and simply not purchase – these cards. If they don;t sell, Hallmark will no longer produce them. If they do sell, then that is an indication that the market is more substantial than some folks would care to admit. We seem to get appoplectic about being a “free market” system – certainly the conservative types keep working that theme. So let the market prevail on this and let’s see where it goes.

j, congrats. I don’t know if this is your first or only or what, but it’s a big and important day; I hope she loves it there.

nnmns,
Thanks. She is our second kid in college, and this is her second year. She is blossoming like never before, which is GREAT! Our son goes to college closer to home (his last year), and he too is coming into his own.
The rewards of parenting!

jestrfyl, thought you were among the “missing” for awhile, and am glad you’re back. Kids to college…seems like a long time ago I did that.

Ron and JohnQ,
I appreciate you posts explaining that you have known since you were very young about your sexuality. It amazes me that some folks still think that people “choose” their sexual orientation.

We have to be careful. Many gays and lesbians testify that they knew they were homosexual from an early age — I did, too. But even if it is a choice, it’s a choice that must be respected as much as any in-born orientation. It matters not whether one chooses to be gay or was born that way: “Liberty and justice for all.”

I’m a recovering Catholic (they ain’t no “ex”). Myself, and many people like me, are really coming around to thinking that anyone who believes in invisible spirits running their lives while suffering from long-term voyeurism about other people’s sex lives must be clinically insane.
Give me those lovely non-godders of all stripes; they don’t hate anything or anybody because things in their heads told them to.

Doodette: You’ve “seen the light”. From one “non-godder” to another, Welcome.

Yes Doodette, welcome! You say it well; keep talking.

sinsonte
I like your story idea. However, I suggest an anthology of short stories, where each reknowned author simply uses this as a theme and sets up their own scenario. There is a whole sub-genre of stories like these, They started with “a wedding cake in the middle of the road”. So now we have “Trapped in H—–sexuality(author’s choice of orientation)”. Either that, or it becomes the opening sentence for the world’s worst first line, ‘Bulwar Litten’, “It was a dark and stormy night” contest.
Run with it all you wan’na be writers!

It seems to me that this is just a good business decision by Hallmark. Gay people are being allowed to marry, which gives them a new group to market their cards too. If the RR dosent like it, they dont have to buy them.