Family values...

 Family values...

What the f--- does that mean exactly?  And why has the American Christian Right come to feel that only they have them?

Let's see...  Family values...  Do you love your spouse/partner?  Do you promise to be faithful to that person, in sickness or in health, until death do you part?  Will you respect them, honor them, desire their happiness?  Treat your children well, love them without reservation, teach them right from wrong, provide for them, even deny them what they want when necessary for their physical and spiritual growth?  Communicate with your family?  Sounds like family values to me.

To say that only far-right, Republican American Christians have family values offends me.  It taxes me.  How can you say that only you have "family values"?

My wife has all those values, and more.  But she is Japanese, and while she did go to a Catholic school, she is not Christian.  Nor are almost all of the people around me (only 1% of Japanese are Christian).  Yet they love.  They respect.  They honor.  They raise families, cherish their children, teach them proper behavior and to respect others.

My gay friend John -- God, I hate prefacing his name that way --  My high-school friend John has those values, as did my college friends Bo and Scott, and numerous other gay or lesbian friends.  My Iranian friend, Bobby, has the same family values.  So do I..

Are intolerance and bigotry "family values"?  I should hope not..