Beloved advice columnist "Dear Abby" received a letter this week from an anti-gay couple who have a pressing question: "Who is the true bigot here?"
The
couple, penned as "Unhappy In Tampa," tell Abby that they recently
relocated to Florida and seem to be having a bit of trouble navigating
the ins and outs of their neighbors' social circle. According to the
distressed couple, the neighborhood group also contains two gay couples,
and the new husband and wife wrote they "did not include them when it was our turn to host
because we do not approve of their lifestyle choices. Since then, we
have been excluded from neighborhood gatherings, and someone even
suggested that we are bigots!"
The shocked couple just can't seem
to understand their neighbors' aversion to anti-gay exclusion -- to the
point that they felt the need to seek the perspective of an advice
columnist. Luckily, Abby seems to have a bit of a better head on her
shoulders and helps to put this indignation in perspective.
After
shutting down the "lifestyle choice" argument, Abby tells the couple
that she "find[s] it interesting that you are unwilling to reciprocate
the hospitality of people who welcomed you and opened their homes to
you, and yet you complain because you are receiving similar treatment."
She then informs the perplexed couple
that perhaps they chose the wrong place to live, but also that "if you
interact only with people like yourselves, you will have missed a chance
for growth, which is what you have been offered here. Please don't blow
it."
The "Dear Abby" column can be read in full here.
This
isn't the first time that an advice columnist offered the perfect
response to a question from an anti-gay reader. Last November, columnist
"Ask Amy" responded to a mother who was attempting to change her son's
sexuality, telling the concerned parent that "If you cannot learn to accept him as he is, it might be safest for him to live elsewhere."
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