What's so wrong with monkeys?

I've been doing a lot of reading about evolution lately and I've learned a ton about it in many of my classes including Philosophy and Media, Society and Technology classes. The other day, I was talking to a family member of mine (on a distant 'redneck' branch) about evolution, and their response was simply: "I did not "evolve" from a d*mn monkey."

What is so wrong with monkeys? I mean really? The current science that I've seen recently says that we probably evolved from something similar to Apes or Orangutans. I took Sandi to Zoo Atlanta two weekends ago, and to be honest, they seemed pretty dang awesome to me. They could communicate, and knew what they could and could not eat. They took care of their young, and different groups weren't attacking each other over oil for their over-priced, over-sized and over-everything SUVS.... way more than I can say for us humans....

Another thing, why do my family members have to be so intolerant. I'm not gay, but I support gay marriage. GLBT relationships to me are no different than heterosexual relationships. Why then do some people always have to point out when someone is "playing for the other team"? GLBT people are not diseased or anything, and they're usually pretty cool. Why do you have to point them out as if I should cross the street to not be near them... I guess some people just don't understand that true love transcends all... age, race, religion, social status, GENDER....