| Topic: |
Science > Abortion |
| User: |
"*** Rob Wade ***" |
| Date: |
27 Oct 2005 05:20:04 PM |
| Object: |
Tolerance falls by the wayside at pride march |
Tolerance falls by the wayside at pride march
Joe Fitzgerald
Tolerance took another pounding at the hands of militant gays who
turned their venom on religious protesters at the much-publicized Gay
Pride March in Lawrence yesterday.
The event, first of its kind in that city, drew attention when parents
announced plans to take kiddos out of town, incurring the wrath of
march organizers.
Truth be told, by the scandalous standards of past Boston marches -
nudity, drag queens, the flaunting of pedophilia - this march was tame,
yet reaffirmed activists' contempt for any resistance to their agenda,
including a silent carrying of signs by those who dared invoke
reminders traditional morality was being trashed.
"It's sad to see bigots today," Steve Trussell, 27, representing
International Socialists, shouted into a bullhorn, directing the
crowd's attention to signs like, "God says, `If you love me, why don't
you follow my commandments?' "
Policemen kept a wary eye as Trussell led a fiery chant of, "Hey, hey,
ho, ho, homophobia has to go!"
At rally's end he was buttonholed.
"I'm from the Herald. Can we talk?"
"First, are you pro-march or against it?"
"I don't like it."
"Are you going to try making me look stupid?"
"No, I'm going to try quoting you accurately. You called those people
bigots. Why?"
"They're handing out anti-gay literature."
"They've simply got the courage of their convictions, like you."
"But they say we could end up going to hell."
"They believe it."
"Yeah, well Nazis had beliefs, too. That's what this is all about."
Isn't it ironic how those who demand tolerance so rarely display it
themselves?
Tolerance does not mean endorsement, nor does acceptance mean approval.
But the way this crowd sees it, any form of resistance is, ipso fact,
an act of hate, which is nonsense.
Not only is it not hateful to reject what you believe in your heart to
be wrong, it would be cowardly to do otherwise.
Another speaker railed against the "Religious Right."
That, too, begged a question: Is there a Secular Left? And how come we
never hear about the dangers it might represent?
The low point of the rally came when a speaker said, "They're trying to
tell us concepts of gay and family should be separate. I say no way! I
want all the kids to come out here now."
On cue, a group of youngsters was led into the middle of the street by
several women, the leader of whom sported an orange buzz-cut.
None looked comfortable, especially when the crowd began to clap and
chant.
"If that was a `family' demonstration," Linda Besse was later asked,
"where were the fathers?"
Besse, 57, seemed taken aback by the absurdity of the question.
"It's a Gay Pride march, Joe. We don't have mothers and fathers. We
have mothers and mothers."
"Please, there had to be fathers involved."
"I know. I was married 10 years, have three wonderful kids and am going
to be a grandmother in the fall. I'm very much like you."
"God help both of us."
Besse laughed. "Look, you say you're not hateful and I believe you. But
you also say there's something about this event that makes you
uncomfortable, and I'm telling you there's an element of homophobia
there."
"No. The correct word is honesty."
And until those terms are reconciled, it says here, tolerance is going
to remain the hostage of those who claim to need it most.
.
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| User: "The Watch Dog" |
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| Title: Re: Tolerance falls by the wayside at pride march |
27 Oct 2005 07:16:16 PM |
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Gays are as tolerant of anti-gay protestors at a gay pride march as
blacks are of the KKK at a civil rights march, or Jews would be of
anti-semites protesting at a temple. (NOTE: Being Jewish is a BEHAVIOR,
chosen by the individual. So is being Catholic, being Protestant, or
being Hindu.) More tolerant, I suspect.
Gays and their supporters are fighting for equal rights and civil
rights. The protestors are representatives of groups that are working
to make sure that the gays don't get equal rights and civil rights, and
in addition are doing the best they can to make gays feel terrible
about themselves. (That might not have much direct affect on adult
gays. But when gay, closeted, scared kids - including some of the
children of the protestors - hear it, the suicide rate goes up.
Congratulations.) Gays have to tolerate those who would make them
second-class citizens precisely to the extent that that behavior is
legal in our society. But how can you expect them to not feel (and
express) anger towards people who will do everything they can to not
allow gays to have the same rights that those people have themselves?
Most of the gay people I know are not intolerant of straight people.
Not intolerant of people who wish to live their own lives by the
tenants of their own relgions, be they Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, or
Wiccan. They do, however, feel the need to fight back against anyone -
straight or gay, religious or atheist - who would try to deny them
equality under the law and in society. You would too, if people were
passing amendments saying: You and your loving relationships are hereby
declared inferior by law.
Most straight people will never know what that feels like. But if they
have empathy and love - as opposed to officious piety - they would try
to understand. Many have done so.
Honesty is all good and well, but if you're going to be honest about
the fact that you consider a group of hard-working, tax-paying
Americans, who are just trying to live their lives as best they can
without exploiting anyone, to be inferior to you - and deserving of
inferior rights under law - don't expect a pat on the back.
.
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| User: "Joseph Heffel" |
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| Title: Re: Tolerance falls by the wayside at pride march |
28 Oct 2005 09:58:56 AM |
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Well said and appreciated.
"The Watch Dog" <tirhuan@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1130458576.475478.245720@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
Gays are as tolerant of anti-gay protestors at a gay pride march as
blacks are of the KKK at a civil rights march, or Jews would be of
anti-semites protesting at a temple. (NOTE: Being Jewish is a BEHAVIOR,
chosen by the individual. So is being Catholic, being Protestant, or
being Hindu.) More tolerant, I suspect.
Gays and their supporters are fighting for equal rights and civil
rights. The protestors are representatives of groups that are working
to make sure that the gays don't get equal rights and civil rights, and
in addition are doing the best they can to make gays feel terrible
about themselves. (That might not have much direct affect on adult
gays. But when gay, closeted, scared kids - including some of the
children of the protestors - hear it, the suicide rate goes up.
Congratulations.) Gays have to tolerate those who would make them
second-class citizens precisely to the extent that that behavior is
legal in our society. But how can you expect them to not feel (and
express) anger towards people who will do everything they can to not
allow gays to have the same rights that those people have themselves?
Most of the gay people I know are not intolerant of straight people.
Not intolerant of people who wish to live their own lives by the
tenants of their own relgions, be they Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, or
Wiccan. They do, however, feel the need to fight back against anyone -
straight or gay, religious or atheist - who would try to deny them
equality under the law and in society. You would too, if people were
passing amendments saying: You and your loving relationships are hereby
declared inferior by law.
Most straight people will never know what that feels like. But if they
have empathy and love - as opposed to officious piety - they would try
to understand. Many have done so.
Honesty is all good and well, but if you're going to be honest about
the fact that you consider a group of hard-working, tax-paying
Americans, who are just trying to live their lives as best they can
without exploiting anyone, to be inferior to you - and deserving of
inferior rights under law - don't expect a pat on the back.
.
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