Maybe he thought "Justice for All" was a group seeking rights for guys who like to sleep with guys?

Maybe. They're logo does have a passing resemblance to the logo for HRC.

I dunno - I know that there are lots of gays and lesbians who are politically and socially conservative, and that pro-gay-rights doesn't necessarily mean pro-reproductive rights, but I guess I'm a little disappointed or something. I don't know.

A gay friend of mine from high school became a Catholic priest.
The whole "I'm not really gay, it's just something that happened to me when i was a child" conversation we had in the dark one night had me crying silent tears and i had no idea what to say to someone who was so blindly running to the priesthood.
He loved men.
He would be a good priest as well, an excellent preacher, but good lord, the denial.
He is currently in the church as far as i know and last said as far as i knew, "I'm still wearing black and lighting incense, it's not that different."
So i wonder.
That nearly a decade ago.

These moments are always jarring --- these little collisions between your understanding of a person and that person's actions or beliefs.

I had one such collision a while ago with one of my sisters. I thought she and I were pretty similar in socio-political outlook. Then we started talking about gay marriage, and I learned to my shock that she thinks "marriage" should be reserved for heterosexual couples.

Y'know, she's entitled to think that, however fervently I disagree. But the conversation, where she dug in her heels and refused to discuss it except in terms of gut reaction... that was unsettling and frustrating. It had simply never occurred to me that someone of such like mind could hold that kind of belief, and hold it dearly, resistant to discussion.

I felt a real distance between us spring up in that moment.

I worked at NARAL in DC for two and a half years. Lots of the anti-abortion people were pretty much what one might expect. But there were (and are) anti-abortion people who do not fit the mold. Feminists for Life as one example. Of course I disagree with these groups, and oppose their proposals. But I don't think that just because a person has one view on civil rights for women, gays and lesbians, poor people, whatever, means that they automatically have to be pro-choice on abortion. Even though I view access to abortion as part of civil rights for women. (I guess that sounds contradictory but it's not inside my head.)

Abortion's a weird issue. I knew a girl in college, who was such a strident lefty that she made most MeFites look like Bob Dole, but who was pro-life to the point of having a gruesomely graphic poster about it on her wall. Some issues touch people on weird levels, psychologically rather than politically.

But I don't think that just because a person has one view on civil rights for women, gays and lesbians, poor people, whatever, means that they automatically have to be pro-choice on abortion. Even though I view access to abortion as part of civil rights for women. (I guess that sounds contradictory but it's not inside my head.)

It's not contradictory at all, among our civil rights is the right to disgaree.

Isn't it the worst to find out that kind of stuff on Facebook? I don't need to know everything about people I like, because I don't always have the energy to keep them from getting in the way of my opinion of you. I don't want to know you supported (crazy candidate)- like, for real, thought they had a chance of winning. I don't want to know you practice natural family planning- like, for real, think everyone should do it. I would not want to learn these things in "real life" interactions, and I don't want to learn them on Facebook, either- if Facebook could figure out how to build that into my News Feed, they have me for life.

I reconnected with a long lost friend from high school via MySpace this past year. For years I had thought of her fondly, wondered where she was, whether I would cross paths with her again. I would google her sometimes, no luck. She found me on MySpace.

Sigh -- some things are better left imagined. We have nothing -- nothing! -- in common. She writes a blog about her life, to which I dutifully subscribed. Major topics include real estate, prayer, her children, her husband, Empowering and Uplifting Thoughts (and/or Quotes).

A turning point was a blog post she wrote about Running with Scissors. She thought it was horrible and ugly and advised everyone not to read it. My foster son and I had just read it, and my kid thought it was great.

What a coincidence, Claudia -- I did my time at NARAL DC too, but I barely made it 6 months before the cattiness and infighting drove me to a neurologist for the migraines, and to grad school for something else to do with my life. Kudos for lasting 2.5 years!

Hey somanyamys -- I was there from 1992 to 1995 -- you?

2000. Like I said, 6 months and out. ;-)