Twitter Watch: What Is A Bigot

I was looking through my Twitter pages (as per my morning routine) when I found this little gem in my activity feed:

Yeah, that really happened. So, just for good measure, I went to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary's website to see what they had as their definition and here is what it said:

In other words, a bigot is what I always thought a bigot was. It isn't a stretch at all to attribute this word to people who spend their lives away fighting against equal rights for the LGBT community and try to beat us down like we are sub-human. In fact, it is because of people like these that the word is even necessary. How is it not intolerance when you don't want openly gay people to serve in the military? How is it not prejudiced to deny legal protections to committed couples (even though "uncommitted" couples can get the same protections only to end the arrangement days later)? How is it not hatred to single out someone who is LGBT and call them "a fucking faggot" on a regular basis?

I already know what their rebuttal would be. In fact it already has been this: WE are the real bigots. This is, of course, categorically false. The LGBT community as a whole is not moving for anyone to be stripped of their rights the way some groups, primarily religious groups (though not all religious groups) try on a regular basis to keep us beneath social/legal parity with the rest of society. We seek equality, not dominance over or submission from anyone. We seek the same rights, privileges, opportunities and respect afforded to everyone else.

I would submit to the author of the above tweet that not only do gay people understand the meaning of the word bigot, we understand it better than most people on this Earth will ever have the displeasure of understanding it because of people like him/her.