'Gay' Conquest Spells the ENDA Reason

woofle »

Thu Sep 27, 2007 6:21 pm Agree: 2   Disagree: 1

First, homosexuality is innate, not mutable. This is a well-established finding of science which few accredited scientists in the field of human sexuality dispute.
Second, FBI statistics show anti-homosexual violence is the most frequent of hate crimes, so the idea of privileged status is absurd at best.
Third, and most important, the overwhelming majority of Americans (around 70%) favor banning the practice of firing or disadvantaging an employee on the sole basis that he or she is gay.

The people favor banning anti-gay discrimination in employment much as we favor banning firings of people because of their race, creed, religion, or political affiliation. They are not legitimate grounds for a public company.

Reasonable exemptions for religious organizations or small employers are in place. No church is going to be forced to hire a gay organist or perform a same-sex marriage if it offends their religious principles. But IBM or HP or other profit-making corporation with over 15 employees cannot.

It's a very reasonable compromise, and it's the best you're going to get.

Bush Pressed on Iraq-Linked Hate Crimes Bill

woofle »

Thu Sep 27, 2007 6:03 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 5

I find it odd that one would claim to be against violence against X, and then oppose legislation which gives the Federal government the authority necessary to prosecute the perpetrators of violence against X, when local law enforcement is uncooperative or incapable of handling the situation.

Especially silly is the false contention that free speech would be limited by a law which addresses, specifically, violent crime, or dishonestly tries to equate this law with some foreign law in a completely different social context.

That anti-gay attitudes will be silenced eventually, is probably inevitable, but that's because a clear majority of Americans reject hate, not because of some anti-violence measure that has existed for many years and is simply being amended to include frequent targets of terroristic attacks that, for reasons unclear, were omitted in the past.

Bush Pressed on Iraq-Linked Hate Crimes Bill

woofle »

Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:56 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 6

FBI statistics prove that gay and lesbian Americans are frequently targeted for violence because of being gay or lesbian. In fact, the most frequently target of hate-motivated violence of any tracked in their statistics.

That's why 200+ law enforcement organizations endorse this common-sense anti-violence measure, as do all good Americans.

Hate crimes legislation is intended to address violent crime, not speech, and it's downright dishonest to mischaracterize this legislation as an attack on free speech, when it is in fact intended as a remedy to the aforementioned violence.

I'm left wondering if the opponents of this legislation don't secretly endorse random violent attacks against gay and lesbian American taxpaying citizens, because they hate America's freedom?