I write this not for myself (seriously) but for a friend who posed this question on Facebook:
This weekend I was informed that my mother is planning to vote for Romney, mostly because she LOVES Paul Ryan. UGH! I know that some of you out there have dealt with this -- what are your suggestions? She needs to know that her vote is basically a giant slap in the face to her daughter's family.
This sort of thing gobsmacks me. My friend is also a lesbian, with a set of amazingly gorgeous twins that she is raising with her partner. My mom, a Jamaican immigrant who is incredibly religious (a pray on her knees every morning kind of Christian) raised me a Democrat and, even though she struggled mightily with my own coming out, has been amazing. I personally have no conservative friends. One acquaintance has a Republican husband and the one time I met him we got into a fight, so this is not my area of expertise. Why? Because I take Republicans personally which means I actually can't have them in my personal life.
So when I hear this sort of disconnect WITHIN FAMILIES my brain freezes. How do you speak connection to people when they think that the policies Republicans are hardly trying to hide won't have real life consequences on their loved ones, colleagues, friends?
Accordingly (and apologies if this has already been done), I am crowd-sourcing coping mechanisms for familial wingnuttery.
Have at it.