On the list of reasons why I'd be frustrated with a family member for voting for Bush, my being gay/Bush's stance on homosexuality isn't at the top. It's one of many things on the list.
So when my family and I discuss politics, it's all more intellectual and academic a conversation than it is anything personal.
My family is spread across the world. Immediate family, even. Parents are in South America (American, but stationed there with the US Government). Older brother in VA. Younger brother here in CA. It's not too uncommon that with all the various things we're up to, we'll find ourselves all on seperate continents at the same time. And so we e-mail eachother alot, everyone addressing everyone else in the family through the e-mails. And oftentimes aunts and uncles and cousins are in on these family-wide e-mail sessions.
And I noticed, and kind of got a kick out of it, that there wasn't a single e-mail about the election. No one forwarded to any other family member one of the millions of forwarded political e-mails surely showing up in their mail boxes from friends. No one gloated or complained. Nothing. Which was kind of out of the ordinary. But I think we all collectively, with the tension and bitterness surrounding this election, chose not to bring that in to the family.
Fact of the matter is I know that every single family member I have loves me to death, as I do them. But I also know that there's not a single one of them that understands homosexuality or the roots of my sexual orientation. They accept me and care about me, but simply don't understand anything about it. So for me to expect anything from them to come from what for me is a first person perspective just isn't really realistic. I've learned that over time and it bothers me not one bit.
I don't doubt someone in my family voted for Bush, though none of us have told eachother how we voted this year. I come from a military, Republican family with roots in Texas and the South and so it's to be expected. But I don't think any of the family members that may have voted for Bush did it on account of his views towards homosexuals or support of the Constitutional amendment.
If you're someone who honest to God believes GWB is the best option in fighting terrorism, and terrorism is your top concern as a citizen, it's to be expected you'd vote for Bush.
If you're someone who firmly believes that lower taxes for your bracket are what's best for your family and business and that's your priority going in to the election, then it's to be expected you'd vote for Bush.
If you're a religious, Christian individual and see the election as having been drawn along moral lines, more than like you'd have voted for Bush.
Here's where the intellectual/academic part comes in, though. It's not a matter of taking personal offense to any of the above. Rather, what indeed would happen is we'd discuss the merits of the argument that Bush is the best option to fight terrorism. We'd argue over whether his economic policies were sound to the point one could vote for him on account of them. We'd debate whether it was practical or sensible to vote based on moral perspective and the kinds of implications such a movement in the White House would have on the nation as a whole. And no doubt homosexuality and how Bush's administration has and may still yet affect me would be a part of that discussion, but within that context on the whole.
My father's a foreign service officer. My older brother just retired from the Air Force as a Captain. My mother is a State Dept. employee as well. My brother is in law enforcement. My uncle is a recently laid off oil executive. My aunt has evangelical tendencies. My other aunt works for a company that just outsourced half her dept. to India. My cousin's struggling to get through college while raising 3 (count em, THREE kids) and dependant on student aid. Another cousin works for Halliburton. The list goes on and on.
When you really think about it, every single person in my family very well has a vested interested at a very personal level in the outcome of just about any election that comes along. New administrations could mean half my family becomes unemployed. My being gay doesn't set me apart from any of them as having any kind of special status with regards to how I get to react to their votes. I'd best respect their differences of opinion as much as I'd hope they'd respect mine.