🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Nov4.171920.436@athena.cs.uga.edu> carr@athena.cs.uga.edu (Beth Carr) writes:
>Colorado's Amendment 2, which makes it illegal to pass any legislation in
>the state protecting gays & lesbians from harassment (or protecting their
>right not to be fired because of their identity), FAILED.
>
>Iowa's ERA FAILED.
>
>Tampa repealed an ordinance protecting lesbians & gays from harassment.
>
>This is a sad day. To all you Creton men out there who are going to reply
>about how lesbians & gays don't need protection, think about this: Every
>day, in every city, gays & lesbians are yelled at, beaten up and fired from
>their jobs - not because they've done anything TO their attackers, but
>merely because they exist. They must hide their identity's merely in the
>hopes of keeping their jobs - the only route to self-support & self-esteem
>in our capitalist society.
>Since the campaigning for Oregon's Prop. 9 - which would have given gays &
>lesbians the civil rights of, say, convicted child molesters - gay-bashing
>has risen by (i think) 30 percent. Last month a retarded gay man had been
>attacked by skin heads on several occasions; a black lesbian moved in with
>him to protect him: BOTH WERE KILLED IN A FIREBOMBING LATER THE SAME WEEK!!
>If the proposition had passed, that would not be classified as a hate crime.
>Kinda like, the Nazi's didn't kill people because they were Jewish (or
>Gypsies, or Gay/Lesbian, or Socialist).
>
>Happy that we're finally out from under the Republican yoke; happy that
>Carol Mosely Braun won (is that correct?); happy that Prop. 9 didn't pass
>(only a 10% margin).
>Sad that Americans have sent a clear message that they don't believe one
>should have the right love whomever one desires. (and not suffer injury,
>economic retribution or even death for that choice)
>
>- Sad in Georgia

At the risk of being a "Creton", I don't think that homosexuals should
be given special treatment and protection because of their lifestyle or
because a lot of people don't like it or harrass them.  There are
already laws against harrassment, laws against abuse, laws against
violence, laws against job discrimination, etc. that should be
sufficient.  Homosexuals are not the only ones harrassed because of
their lifestyle.  I would think that mixed race couples, ex-convicts,
overweight people, and others I can't think of are harrassed also, but
we don't need special laws singling out every group and protecting them
by name.  We already have general broad laws which serve that purpose.

Owen Alexander