Tolerance: part of a complete and balanced breakfast
Remember when House Speaker Kurt Zellers thanked job creators?
Minnesota for Marriage changed the message to “Job creators, we’ll thank you to keep your opinions to yourself.”
Who would have thought that General Mills’ opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment that bans gay marriages would have made foes snap, crackle and pop with anger. (Not a General Mills cereal but I couldn’t resist the phrasing.) Especially since General Mills is in a firmament of Minnesota businesses like Pillsbury and the Mayo Clinic. They’re iconic. They’re benevolent. They can do no wrong.
To me, breakfast is about family and nourishment and inclusion. Everybody, gay or straight, needs a complete and balanced breakfast. To support an amendment that excludes gays from marrying is telling them “you are not a family” – and excluding them from the table. That’s not what a company known for breakfast cereal wishes to embrace.
You can’t force people to eat their Wheaties when they don’t want to. But you can remind them of what they’re missing out on. Like how tolerance and acceptance and compassion enriches one’s own life.
Follow @mn_ladyslipper on Twitter.
Aaron adds: You can send the message “Thanks, General Mills!” by bringing non-perishable unopened General Mills products to the 331 Club in northeast Minneapolis (331 13th Ave. NE, on the corner of University Ave and 13th Ave. NE) from 6 – 9 PM tonight (Thursday, 6/28.)
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