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Tim, NW, and Nigel as well as Anthony have eloquently pointed out numerous times that perception is key to how an issue is responded to. In the case of LGBT Civil Rights and the fight for Equality, the front lines are in the United States and the lines have been drawn.
It doesn't matter if it's Marriage Rights, or Military policies that proscribe participation in the Armed Forces as openly Gay citizens wanting to defend their country, or Hate Crimes, the opposition is formidable and quite unyielding.
Here is the reaction to the passage of the Shepard Act by one of the largest and most vocal opponent of LGBT Rights:
SAVECALIFORNIA.COM NEWS RELEASE
October 28, 2009 -- For Immediate Release
Mr. President, here’s how ‘hate crime’ laws trample religious freedom
California is using 'LGBT hate crime' definitions to trample people's cherished moral values
Sacramento – SaveCalifornia.com, a leading West Coast pro-family, pro-child organization, is warning Americans that the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual “hate crimes” law signed today by President Obama will, unrestrained, lead to “LGBT rights” trampling religious freedom and everyone else’s rights.
California’s experience with “hate crime” laws clearly demonstrates how moral conscience is trampled by placing definitions of anything-goes “sexual orientation” and “gender” into the law. “In 1998, California first placed homosexuality into the state’s hate-crime law,” said Randy Thomasson, a legislative analyst and president of SaveCalifornia.com. "Ten years later, largely hidden from the general public, these hate-crime definitions are being used to sexually indoctrinate schoolchildren, trample parental rights, and infringe upon the religious rights and moral standards of business owners and property owners."
“By awarding special preference to alternative lifestyles in hate-crimes laws, today in California, the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda has more legal power than religious citizens, parents, business owners and property owners,” said Thomasson. “Children, parents, contractors, business owners, and physicians have all been hurt by the ‘LGBT hate crimes’ law. Given California’s experience, it is reasonable to expect that, unless restrained by voters, Congress will expand the federal ‘LGBT hate crimes’ definitions throughout the U.S. Code, trampling religious freedom, parental rights, moral standards, and ownership rights in the process.”
"Connect the dots," said Thomasson, "and you'll see how 'LGBT hate crimes' definitions are the beginning of the intolerant homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda trampling other people's basic rights throughout the law. It's imperative to understand that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activists are demanding their own way at the expense of Americans' basic rights to exercise their religious and moral beliefs."
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13801
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And his perception is that he has conveniently forgotten about Mr Byrd, who was summarily executed for being black by being dragged behind a truck in chains. He sees fags under every stone, and fails to see that black folk and other folk have human rights, too. But perhaps they don't in his eyes.
I am still intellectually against hate crime legislation, and I see validity in arguing that the law, sufficient law, already exists. I despise knee jerk passing of legislation where sufficient law exists already, seeing it as weakness, not strength.
But that pre-existing law must be applied. And people seem to be unwilling or unable to apply it when the group requiring its application is a minority group. Thus I find I must support hate crime law, a thing I find difficult to do.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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McKellen Bible Trend Catches On
Daniel Deme / WENN.com
Sir Ian McKellen's penchant for ripping out pages of the Bibles he finds in hotel rooms has caught on - fans send him sections of text they've removed.
The openly gay "Lord of the Rings" star tears out a section of Leviticus, which condemns homosexuality, whenever he finds the good book in hotel suites - and his small-scale vandalism has inspired others to do the same.
He tells Details magazine, "I'm not proudly defacing the book, but it's a choice between removing that page and throwing away the whole Bible.
"I got delivered a package of 40 of those pages... that had been torn out by a married couple I know. They put them on a bit of string so that I could hang it up in the bathroom."
Now, that bit was followed by the usual parade of comments, of which, this one caught my eye, especially the last sentence:
tind
10/30/2009 7:35:09 PM
Loves it.
I'd like to say that everyone one from the GLBT community - and their supporters (like me) - who practices ANY organized religion that condemns the existence of the GLBT community should do the same thing to whatever part of whatever book that their religion follows that preaches heterosexism.....
but the thing is that a lot of these religious books that people follow have been grossly misinterpreted - especially if it's been translated.
I'd much rather prefer an interfaith dialogue on the misrepresentation of the GLBT community through the misinterpretation of religious texts to help with the struggle....
However, I empathize with McKellan's anger. Sometimes you just want to rip something (or someone) apart because that's how infuriated you are with having to live with someone's boot on your neck.
Photo of Sir Ian McKellen by Daniel Deme
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johnleeb
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Toe is in the water |
Location: USA
Registered: January 2009
Messages: 44
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And where in that is there any explanation of how their rights would be trampled? Just how does someone's having the right not to be murdered by a self-righteous bigot interfere with religious rights? Oh, they now don't have the right to exterminate gay people! That is the ONLY way their rights are trampled.
And he keeps referring to special rights, as the extremist right wing has done for years. What they want is the 'special' rights for themselves.
The right to be absolutely biased in everything, to kill and encourage others to kill with full impunity, and then go to their own 'special' restricted heaven -- which would be an absolute hell of their own making.
Certainly God is not with or for any of those hate mongers!
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Hate crime definitions trample people's moral rights, values 
