# I pit Stephen Sorenson **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 11, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137 "2008-11-11T02:04:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/21 "2008-11-11T23:38:12Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > [Send him this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVUecPhQPqY) ZOMG!1 OLDBEARMAN IS TEH D0P3R!``1111ninehundred. Listen at 4:01. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/22 "2008-11-12T00:30:10Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Putting aside my disagreement with his cause, the election was a week ago, and you live in Iowa. So why is he sending you this, and why now? I got it on the 3rd, but its my ‘clean’ email account that I use for jobs and official contacts and only check it once a week, so I didnt actually see the email until days later, and I guess he was just lazy and sent it to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/23 "2008-11-12T00:49:47Z")
Are we talking about the **Microsoft** Stephen Sorenson? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/24 "2008-11-12T00:59:00Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > Are we talking about the **Microsoft** Stephen Sorenson? No. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/25 "2008-11-12T01:56:02Z")
Ah. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/26 "2008-11-12T15:27:38Z")
Hell, I’m not on the side w/ most Dopers here, and I even think that’s horribly inappropriate for someone in a position of authority to send employees. Life & work are gonna get very interesting for this guy. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/27 "2008-11-14T14:23:24Z")
> [@](#): > > I realize this is an unusual step. And I know we don’t usually exchange email. HOWEVER! This election affords us the challenge of setting a course on how we define our society. It’s a challenge we can’t ignore. And it’s a challenge I can’t be silent about! “…so please join me in the break room at 1:00 for a fun hour of interpretive dance and poetry readings. Refreshments will be served.” Seriously… why the hell would you risk alienating a sizeable portion of your workforce by sending this our and not even bother to actually try to persuade anyone? Just “go vote yes!” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/28 "2008-11-14T20:33:01Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > Of all the people on Earth he could have chosen to engage in debate with, it warms my soul to know that he’s chosen **Miller**. My sympathies to Mr. Sorenson. Agreed. I predict his head will be spinning by Monday. Yay **Miller**! ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/29 "2008-11-14T21:44:41Z")
**Miller** ’s overture is articulate, heartfelt, and diplomatic, and will of course fail utterly. For gay marriage oppoonents, the supporting belief system is (as we’ve seen demonstrated on this very board) profoundly nebulous and yet somehow unshakably solid. And someone like Mr. Sorenson, who has made the leap into evangelism—in the figurative, if not overtly religious sense—represents what we realists\* would call a “lost cause.” - Cf. _pessimist_, although the difference between the terms seldom merits, in my weathered opinion, any distinction. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/30 "2008-11-14T23:06:58Z")
I read Sorenson’s email back to Miller as promising. If he truly is hearing from more of the LGBT community, and some of them are speaking in a Great Debate style rather than a BBQ Pit style, he might actually come around. It is easy to dismiss gays when you don’t think that you know any. From this, he might find that the issue is a bit more complicated than he originally thought. Edit - I just saw where he mentions gay friends (who it appears died of aids - if I am reading his comments accurately). Maybe I am too hopeful. -Algher, another Straight Against \* ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/31 "2008-11-15T00:20:04Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > It is easy to dismiss gays when you don’t think that you know any. From this, he might find that the issue is a bit more complicated than he originally thought. > > Edit - I just saw where he mentions gay friends (who it appears died of aids - if I am reading his comments accurately). Maybe I am too hopeful. This was the part of Sorenson’s response that struck me the most. What does he think voting for Prop 8 will do to bring his deceased friends back or prevent anyone who might die of AIDS in the future from still doing so? Even with any set of behaviors that lead to AIDS being a “choice,” Sorenson’s (and other’s) vote for Prop 8 and against same sex marriage isn’t going to to change those individual choices. In a way, it might actually exacerbate the problem by enforcing disconnectedness and promiscuity rather that monogamy and lifetime partnering. **Miller** , I’m another one that felt a wee tad it of “flirting” (for lack of a better expression) in Sorenson’s answer. 😉 Keep us completely apprised. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137/32 "2008-11-15T05:53:00Z")
I got a sense that Mr. Sorenson intended to decline to continue to conversation via email. I’d like to be wrong, though, and to read **Miller** ’s reports if he is. OTOH, I’m a little uncomfortable about the possibility that he might devote a few resources to a search that might lead him to this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stephen-sorenson/472137.md?page=1)