A newspaper clipping recently posted to Reddit’s MurderedByWords sub features one of the most legendary Dear Abby responses ever recorded, in which (dear) Abby calls out a homophobic couple complaining that they are the ones being discriminated against.
Unhappy In Tampa wrote in to Abby, explaining how her and her husband are homophobes who recently relocated to Florida from a presumably homophobic community, and only invited their non-gay neighbors over to dinner.
When the rest of the community found out, they began to exclude Unhappy In Tampa and her husband from their hangouts and even *gasp* suggested that they were bigots.
Abby did not mess around in her response, writing that “A person’s sexual orientation isn’t a ‘lifestyle choice.'”
“I find it interesting that you are unwilling to reciprocate the hospitality of people who welcomed you and opened their homes to you, and yet you complain because you are receiving similar treatment.”
“From where I sit, you may have chosen the wrong place to live because it appears you would be happier in a less integrated neighborhood surrounded by people who think the way you do,” concluded Abby.
Redditors went on to roast Unhappy In Tampa and applaud Abby, who demonstrated the ideal way to reply to a self-righteous bigot.
PersonalReception wrote:
“My response to people who claim being gay is a lifestyle choice is “why would you intentionally choose to be something that regularly still faces persecution and has a negative connotation, when you could chose to be straight and face no backlash”.
sassydodo wrote:
They’ve decided to exclude their gay neighbours “for lifestyle choice”, they’ve got excluded for their lifestyle choices. I’m 99% sure they also holler “dam libruls taking away our freedom!”
While AndyjHops agreed:
She literally asks “but really, who is the true bigot here?”. I will never understand the “you must be tolerant of my intolerance” logic of these people.
torchwood1842 corrected Abby’s reply:
“From where I sit, you may have chosen the wrong place to live because it appears you would be happier in a less integrated neighborhood surrounded by people who think the way you do assholes.”
ISeeTheFnords noted that Abby should’ve explicitly called the couple by what they are: “You ARE bigots.”
But all in all, edroyque summed it up quite nicely:
TIL: Abby can be a f**king savage.
h/t reddit