Author:
Ned Depew
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Date Posted: 09:14:33 06/17/05 Fri
Tom -
It's hard to have an intelligent conversation with you when you start off with a sentence like:
"Ned,I didn't know that you can insure human behaviour without paying the premeum to the special interest."
Is that supposed to make sense? Because it doesn't. The entire history or Human government is about trying to "insure human behavior" - to keep us from killing and robbing one another, to create laws that allow us to live in relative harmony and peace. The US especially has had the (as yet unmet, but still aspired to) goal of "insuring human behavior" in order to offer equality to everyone. That's exactly the opposite of "special interests.
It is not the equal rights advocates who pit humans against one another, but those - like you apparently - who see some of your neighbors (whom you choose to brand "special interests") as not deserving of the same rights you enjoy.
While you are right that being gay per-se has nothing to do with budgets - that's exactly the point Byrne is making. People who happen to be gay, in Hudson and elsewhere - make as much of a contribution to those problems as people who don't happen to be. Therefore, they should be entitled to the same rights, protections and treatment as everyone else. At present, in our socienty, they aren't.
No one is asking for "gay-rights" There is no such thing as "gay rights." There are the civil rights that are guaranteed to all citizens by our constitution - including the right to equal treatment under law. Gay people have been denied some of those rights in the past, and are still being denied some of them. Our local elected officials - and all who aspire to be "leaders" - need to think about whether they really believe in "liberty and justice for ALL" or not, and come out strongly for equal civil rights for ALL.
It is your prejudiced mis-reading that gives you the idea that Peter Jung, Byrne Fone or anyone is talking about the "superiority" of of any group over any other. Once again, people have simply pointed out that ALL groups in the community had contributed to its current prosperity and NONE should be discriminated against. Apparently you disagree?
No one is ignoring the fact that gay couples have their own relationship problems, just as all couples do. In fact, again, that that meshes perfectly with the point Byrne is making, which you apparently missed. And no one, as I pointed out very clearly above, is arguing that "gay rights will solve the host of problems facing society." That's just a silly straw man you are setting up to avoid the issue.
The issue is that you can't support freedom only for yourself. If you wish to live in a free country, you have to extend to everyone the same rights to live freely and the same responsibilities of civility and respect that you demand for yourself.
If you demand "special treatment" for your self or your group (by denying the same treatment to others) then it is you who are "dividing" society and setting people against one another. And you will have to live with the consequences.
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