“Tolerance is a two-way street.”  That’s the new battle cry of the religious right and the GOP politicians who kowtow to their every whim – whether they make any sense or not.

Tolerance is a two-way street.  What the hell does that even mean?  It certainly wasn’t a two-way street for the 2,000 years leading up to marriage equality.  For two millennia it was my way or the highway with a dash of we’ll leave you alone if you behave and don’t ask for anything – which is where you get the “characters” who have lived quiet, often isolated lives in small towns all over the U.S. since the beginning of the Union.

But now lots of people are refusing to behave.  LGBTs, atheists, Muslims, we all want a place at the table.  But rather than add a couple of leaves and a few more place settings, the Christians are trying to put our “kids” table out on the parking strip and lock the front door.

Whether or not you believe that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said gays should be happy we don’t kill them, that was clearly where he was setting the bar.  In other words, if your lives aren’t actively being threatened, shut the hell up.  Your concerns have no merit.  In a world where Iran (which he cannot pronounce correctly despite having served there) may soon have the Bomb, we should just be happy with what they allow us to have.

And yet, in the same world that threatens us with a Muslim-created nuclear holocaust, hundreds of state representatives and several governors have felt it was necessary to enact laws the protect the delicate psyches of Christians, who represent the vast and controlling majority in all aspects of American life.  None of these people have been bodily threatened, they have simply been told that the book of stories they hold most dear says people who don’t believe as they do are icky.

I’m sorry, but I have yet to see any measure of tolerance coming from the right.  If they do believe it’s a two-way street, they are going to have to start walking that walk – even when they haven’t been forced to by legal action.  Otherwise it’s the same one-way avenue it’s always been.

In the meantime, perhaps it’s the crazy wing of the right that should shut the hell up.