How should we respond? (red equal signs on social media)

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Zenkai

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Many of you have probably seen the red equal signs that have sprouted up all over the internet. In case you are unaware, the red equal signs are used by supporters of gay “marriage”.

How should we respond to them?

I have even seen some Catholics on facebook who have posted things in support of gay “marriage”. I was thinking of posting this to give them a refresher on what the Church teaches:

"2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2357-2359"

Perhaps even just paragraph 2358.

What do you guys think?
 
I guess you could ignore it. If they are your friends on FB, posting this, and “know” how feel on the subject, I guess the ball is in your court. I have seen them pop up on my FB page. Two of my FB are gay and there are a few who posted the = sign that are in support. I also have friends on FB who are very conservative and they have posted against it. I’ll let them fight it out, and love them all just the same. 😃 I don’t get into the fray.
 
I find that the “unfriend” button solves the problem pretty quickly.
 
Julianna said:
I guess you could ignore it. If they are your friends on FB, posting this, and “know” how feel on the subject, I guess the ball is in your court. I have seen them pop up on my FB page. Two of my FB are gay and there are a few who posted the = sign that are in support. I also have friends on FB who are very conservative and they have posted against it. I’ll let them fight it out, and love them all just the same. 😃 I don’t get into the fray.
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Thank you for the reply.
 
I think it depends upon how YOU want to respond. Do you want to be confrontational? Do you want to evangelize?

Me, I have quite a few Catholic Facebook sites “liked” so I’ve been sharing their wall posts, such as the readings for the day, today’s mysteries for praying the rosary, etc. etc. So everytime one of my friends post something pro SSM, I share one of my religious pages.
 
I gave up facebook for lent, but I think my husband got unfriended by a former coworker yesterday. She (and a bunch of other people) changed her profile picture to that symbol, and another friend asked what it meant and she told. Her friend said she believes in traditional marriage, and then a 3rd friend actually called her a hateful bigot, so my husband “liked” her comment (the one about believing in traditional marriage) to give her some support (even though he doesn’t even know her, he just tired of people being accused of being bigots for having a different opinion about something). There’s also a “one man/one woman” symbol, if you’re “provocative” enough to use it (dh doesn’t really like to get political on facebook, unless he’s pushed to it).

In Christ,
Ellen
 
I was quite disturbed when I saw it, and felt defeated. But I pray that it won’t get anywhere.
 
Personally, my heart is breaking from seeing what was once the sanctity of marriage being dragged through the courts for want of changing it into something it was NEVER meant to be. Gay “marriage” has never been and will never be “right and good” because it goes against nature and it goes against God’s law. I accept that many people identify themselves as homosexual, but what they do sexually needs to be kept in their own bedroom and between them and God, and this gay marriage should NOT up for public vote because it is NOT marriage.

I realize my opinion is strong and may offend others, but I stand by it and my morals. All this talk just makes me feel like nothing is sacred anymore, least of all the very basis of home, family and community. What’s next? Pedophiles fighting for the “right” to “love” children in the way that they do? Bit by bit we have been removing GOD from this country and look where it’s gotten us. America has gone to hell.
 
What I did was ignore all of those red equal signs. I considered posting my own statement or picture but instead, I just went and “liked” a bunch of pro-marriage, pro-family pages. My likes will show up but it’s a little more subtle. (and I don’t have to worry about deleting ugly comments.)
 
Zenkai said:
But I don’t want them to continue in their error.
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This error is an ancient one. Remember what happened to the city of Lot, Abraham’s nephew?
Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
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That someone has spoken in Mt 19:5-6 and for us that suffices:
and he answered and said, “Have you not read, that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh’?”
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When Christ comes back, he won’t accept as an excuse from us that everyone else thought it was all-right, that this was a matter of equality and rights, or other such nonsense.
 
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, as many cars in my area have the purple bumper sticker with the yellow = on them. I was trying to think of a symbol to really bring home our point, and this is the best I could come up with:

Marriage > Love

Symbols (wedding rings for marriage, hearts for love) could be used, but either way, it gets across the point that Marriage isn’t just about romantic love between two unrelated consenting adults, and the gap between Marriage and Romantic Love is something complementary in the way we are created as Man and Woman, so homosexual relations can never reach that point.
 
Corki said:
What I did was ignore all of those red equal signs. I considered posting my own statement or picture but instead, I just went and “liked” a bunch of pro-marriage, pro-family pages. My likes will show up but it’s a little more subtle. (and I don’t have to worry about deleting ugly comments.)
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I did the same thing! Someone I know wrote proud bigot but I thought that was too much so I did the like thing
 
Corki said:
What I did was ignore all of those red equal signs. I considered posting my own statement or picture but instead, I just went and “liked” a bunch of pro-marriage, pro-family pages. My likes will show up but it’s a little more subtle. (and I don’t have to worry about deleting ugly comments.)
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thanks for the idea, I have changed my avatar hear and on facebook to that of the holy family in support of the structure of a true family. I don’t support ignoring the red signs, since that only caves in to gay agenda to destroy the family
 
The original one - the “marriage equality” one - has burned itself into my brain. Honestly, I feel like it’s some kind of inkling of how Jews must have felt upon seeing the Nazi flag in the early days of Hitler’s rise to power.

Persecution has begun, where will it end? What Catacombs will there be for Christians in the Digital Age to hide in after our defenses of traditional marriage get us branded as dangerous individuals spouting “hate speech” who must be silenced at any cost? Think it can’t happen? I hope not but I’m not optimistic. This issue seems to be reaching some sort of tipping point. Look at the part social media plays in presidential elections anymore, vs. the amount of influence traditional morality seems to have in the world.

I pray to God I’m just overreacting.
 
I have tried not to respond directly but instead posting a lot of things from say, Catholic Answers, or even secular sources that defend marriage. I don’t qualify the word marriage because I believe that it is one man, one woman, so anything else is not marriage. But my problem has been this: when my “friends” (mostly old high school friends who do not live in my vicinity) post “I don’t support because I’m straight, but because I’m not narrow” (ugh I hate that one, I posted a piece about “wide is the gate that leads to destruction” hehe) or something else along that line, they get tons and tons of likes. I post something, maybe one person likes it. I can’t believe only one of my167 friends thinks the way I do. I know a few personally, who live near me, who I know as Catholics who believe in what the church teaches, and these people don’t “like” my posts or make supportive comments. One did send me a private message in support! What are we afraid of? Does the new FB algorithm for determining what posts show up in people’s feeds keep my feeds off because my (valid) pro-marriage stance is not as “popular” and therefore not as discussed, as the politically correct stance? I feel like unfriending a bunch of people that I respect, because I just don’t want to see this in my feed.
 
Zenkai said:
Many of you have probably seen the red equal signs… How should we respond to them?
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For the most part, I’ve only seen them on Facebook, and I don’t find Facebook to be a medium very conducive to conversation on topics such as this. When I want to talk with friends about issues such as this, I prefer to do so in person.
 
ahaley said:
I find that the “unfriend” button solves the problem pretty quickly.
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Yep! I maxed out a year or so ago and even though some people unfriended me over my anti-same sex “marriage” statements, I can still afford to shed some. I haven’t seen the red equal sign yet, though, but now I’ll be watching…finger on the button…😃
 
3DOCTORS said:
The original one - the “marriage equality” one - has burned itself into my brain. Honestly, I feel like it’s some kind of inkling of how Jews must have felt upon seeing the Nazi flag in the early days of Hitler’s rise to power.

Persecution has begun, where will it end? What Catacombs will there be for Christians in the Digital Age to hide in after our defenses of traditional marriage get us branded as dangerous individuals spouting “hate speech” who must be silenced at any cost? Think it can’t happen? I hope not but I’m not optimistic. This issue seems to be reaching some sort of tipping point. Look at the part social media plays in presidential elections anymore, vs. the amount of influence traditional morality seems to have in the world.

I pray to God I’m just overreacting.
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I don’t think you are overreacting, 3DOCTORS. The world is at war with the Roman Catholic Church. One is either on one side or the other. Those so called “Catholics” (in name and baptism only) who try to stay in the middle, i.e. claim Catholicism while supporting same sex “marriage” and other causes which are anathema, will find themselves cast into the outer darkness…where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
 
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