How to Talk to Your Crazy Uncle About Marriage Equality, Part 2

Marriage equality is the law of the land! But not everyone is happy about it.

This holiday weekend, if you get cornered by your crazy Tea Party uncle, that friend who won't stop posting to your Facebook page, or Ted Cruz, here are some helpful replies.

Hopefully, none of them are at your BBQ. But if they are, we got ya covered...

CRAZY UNCLE SAYS: The First Amendment ensures religious freedom! People shouldn't be forced to act against their beliefs!

YOU SAY: Government employees must uphold the Constitution, plain and simple. There is no right to discriminate, and government workers may not withhold government services, period.

CRAZY UNCLE SAYS: Marriage is about having children and raising a family!

YOU SAYMarriage is first and foremost about love, plain and simple. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in regards to straight marriages, "Suppose a 70-year-old couple wants to get married...you know they are not going to have children!" While many married couples have children, many others do not

Marriage allows loving couples equal status under the law. Marriage provides a contract for health coverage, hospital visitation rights, inheritances, and yes...even birth certificates.

CRAZY UNCLE SAYS: Giving same-sex couples the freedom to marry starts us down a slippery slope. What's next - we marry our dogs? Is polygamy, incest and pedophilia next?!

YOU SAY: That's the same slippery-slope argument racists once made about the dangers of interracial marriage. Polygamy involves a host of religious liberty issues that do not come into play in the relationships of committed couples. Marriage is a contract between two consenting adults.

CRAZY UNCLE SAYS: The bible is against it!

YOU SAY: First, put down that pork chop. Second, the bible is also against touching pigskin (yes, football!), getting divorced and remarried, and working on the Sabbath.

There is a distinction between legal marriage and religious marriage. LGBTQ Texans want equal protection of the law for the their families. It is entirely possible to protect the freedom to marry while also preserving the rights of religious institutions.

CRAZY UNCLE SAYS: Next thing you know, we'll be using sex ed classes to teach them how to be gay in schools!

YOU SAY: Being gay is not a choice, thus teaching anyone "how to be gay" is not a thin