In Immigrant Areas, a Culture Clash Over Gay Marriage

[Gerald]

Molly Blooms, a Victorian-accented Irish bar in Sunnyside, Queens, recently raffled off a free same-sex wedding reception, with a three-hour open bar, a D.J., a photographer and a horse-drawn gilded carriage to deliver the winning couple to the festivities. The bar’s owner thought the idea would be good for business and for the largely working-class and immigrant neighborhood.

But some in the community disagreed.

Neighbors said they would boycott the bar. Bloggers posted reports of past health violations there. Larry Yang, the Korean-American owner of a hardware store next door, said he resented such a public promotion of same-sex marriage. He said many among the large number of Korean-American Christians in Queens felt similarly but feared that if they spoke out they would be demonized by a liberal majority.

“If that horse-drawn carriage rides by my store, I will make sure my kids do not see it,” Mr. Yang, 45, said. “I am worried about what kind of message gay marriage is sending.”

The legalization of same-sex marriage in New York State has been embraced by many in the city. But in some neighborhoods heavily populated by immigrants from countries where homosexuality is less accepted, the idea is stirring feelings of unease or, at times, outright disgust.

Sunnyside has been transformed in recent decades, first by immigration, and more recently by urban professionals priced out of Manhattan. As in some other parts of the city, same-sex marriage has laid bare the clash between the social conservatism of many immigrants and the values of the often wealthier and more liberal newcomers to the neighborhood.

Many immigrants in Sunnyside are Muslims from Turkey, where the military, the guardian of the country’s secular state, regards homosexuality as a disorder. On a recent day on 46th Street, a group of men hunched over Turkish newspapers next to a mosque in a part of the neighborhood that includes kebab shops, a Jewish community center, a Romanian restaurant and a Russian hairdresser.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/ny...e&ref=nyregion


Note: September 7, 2011

[Jimbuna]

A marker

[Gerald]

Could be...

[AVGWarhawk]

There is an old saying, "Can't make everyone happy all the time."

[ZeeWolf]

I know the solution for this depravity!

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Vendor

Many immigrants in Sunnyside are Muslims from Turkey, where the military, the guardian of the country’s secular state, regards homosexuality as a disorder.

Tough. This isn't Turkey, this is America where it isn't, so they can just get over it.

[August]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Tough. This isn't Turkey, this is America where it isn't, so they can just get over it.

It's not Seoul, or Bucharest or Moscow either, but they have a right to their opinions just like you do. You can't legislate people likes or dislikes.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by August

It's not Seoul, or Bucharest or Moscow either, but they have a right to their opinions just like you do. You can't legislate people likes or dislikes.

Good point!

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by August

It's not Seoul, or Bucharest or Moscow either, but they have a right to their opinions just like you do. You can't legislate people likes or dislikes.

Isn't it usually those on the right that are big advocates of immigrants assimilating into their new culture?

[MH]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Isn't it usually those on the right that are big advocates of immigrants assimilating into their new culture?

Isn't a culture an outcome of vast different views among other things.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by MH

Isn't a culture an outcome of vast different views among other things.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say your culture sucks if it's based around hate and intolerance of others.

[August]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Isn't it usually those on the right that are big advocates of immigrants assimilating into their new culture?

Possibly, although the Melting Pot concept is hardly a creation of the right. But isn't it usually the left who are big advocates of maintaining the cultural differences of the various immigrant communities?

Besides whose domestic culture should these oafish immigrants be assimilating into? Yours or mine or somebody elses? After all you and I agree on some things but in many more we do not, so what exactly defines the American culture model is not very clear.

In any case diversity advocates ought to remember that cultural assimilation is two way street. That which goes into our melting pot is blended in, not destroyed.

[ZeeWolf]

Anyway, "tolerance" with this kind of degenerate depravity is only temporary.
America is awakening, especially with us Christians.
Multi-cultural Diversity is as communist as you can possibly get. This federal
mandated to destroy White Christian America has been exposed for what it is
- finally!
Those decent, moral and Christian "LEGAL" immigrants want no part of the
revenge campaign of wealth redistribution and demonizing the White race as
mass murdering ex-slave masters who lost there right of sovereign self-governing.
As a White Christian Heterosexual, I clearly see this assault
on White Christian America - and I do not like it.

[Tchocky]

Originally Posted by ZeeWolf

Anyway, "tolerance" with this kind of degenerate depravity is only temporary.
America is awakening, especially with us Christians.

You call yourself a Christian while saying things like this? You have a mighty interesting definition.

This federal
mandated to destroy White Christian America has been exposed for what it is
- finally!

You're missing a noun and a boatload of decency.

As a White Christian Heterosexual, I clearly see this assault
on White Christian America - and I do not like it.

More of an Old Testament fan then.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

You call yourself a Christian while saying things like this? You have a mighty interesting definition.

You're missing a noun and a boatload of decency.

More of an Old Testament fan then.

Some people who call themselves Christian concern themselves with serving as Jesus served, helping others and proclaiming their truth. Others who call themselves Christian concern themselves with hating anyone who disagrees with them, and blaming the world's problems on those they hate. They forget the part about plucking the splinter out of the other guy's eye, and the last place they would ever look for the real problem is in the mirror.