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Be
Careful of the Precedents
You Set When in Power
I understand the
special nature of this notion that many gay people have that they feel
persecuted at every turn of their lives. This notion isn't
particular to the homosexual community. Other groups carry a perpetual
chip on their shoulder - blacks, illegal aliens, and women are particular
groups who think that just because they feel persecuted, they are
persecuted.
As a Libertarian,
I have no use for victims or those who fabricate a cause to make their
particular ethnic or minority group worthy of special
protections. I believe in total equality where a man and a
woman are equal - a gay and a straight are equal - and there are no color or
ethnic differences to my eyes.
I do believe in
the rule of law - and that those who violate the laws should be held
accountable - and that a government can and should restrict immigration and
that those who arbitrarily and selfishly put themselves above that law should
be dispensed with in the most unflattering and immediate deportation from this
country.
When it comes to
gay rights, I truly understand, being gay myself, this feeling that you
suspect or have actually had happen overt contempt by someone else toward you
just because you are gay. I have lived that and oddly enough one
of the minorities which screams the loudest about race-based discrimination is
the community that showed me physical and emotional contempt for me being
gay. But I hold no grudge or disdain - just sadness that their own
bigotry exists.
But I've also been
insulted and persecuted in school for being too intelligent - once I was sat
on a snow bank in Maine during 6th grade and had a rotten banana pushed in my
face as my classmates "held court" and tried and convicted me of
being "too smart". I get the feeling - I
understand. I've lived it. There is overt
persecution. That wasn't a hate crime, but it was assault.
Yet, I have
matured and grown up understanding that there are ignorant pigs amongst us -
and that no matter how much I wish I was loved - I won't be.
People will loathe me for being queer, being smart, being white, or being a
man. Oh focking well. Yet I do not wear this feeling
of "victimization" as a grounds to punish others.
Instead, I seek to rise above - to show that there is no amount of human
stupidity that can stand in my way of accomplishing anything.
When I read this
article to the left, I was dumbfounded. How is it that someone can
force another person to bake them a cake if that baker does not want that
person as a customer? If the baker does have religious
convictions, those are rights he has - and no State can force him to do things
against his religion. The leftists among us are always fabricating
this notion of a separate between church and state even if those words never
once appear in the Constitution. But when a protected group,
homosexuals, are put in conflict with another group, Christians, the
Christians rights seem to be less important and protected than homosexual
rights.
I take exception
to this "equality by decree" where a court can tell me, a web
designer, that I must design a website for a "socialist" should I
have that opportunity come my way. How is that I cannot refuse to
participate in my trade in a fashion I desire? The last time
I checked, the baker and myself, the web designer, aren't mentioned once in
the Constitution, and that there is not one mention that I am REQUIRED to
service every potential customer that comes in contact with me.
Simply put, no one has a right to my services, paid or otherwise, and has no
right to be a customer of mine.
In my case in and
in the one I've provided to the left, it would seem silly to enforce either of
us to be compelled to participate in commerce where neither of us are the
least bit interested. If I am compelled to create something for
someone I would rather not participate, I will not give my best and I should
not be forced to participate. I would no more take on a Neo-nazi
website than I would one for a Democrat political candidate. I
simply am not interested and will not bust my butt to create such a
website. That baker should not be compelled to bake a cake for a
gay couple and there are plenty of places that will. But you have
no right of absolute right - that is just because you are gay does not give
you rights that allow you to interfere in my exercise of rights - and whether
my right I am invoking is religion or my freedom of association, your
homosexuality is not a trump card you get to wield like a sword of
righteousness.
So the next time
you think being gay means something special - to you it does - but others are
free not to share your viewpoint and that does not make them
wrong. It just makes them American and exercising their freedoms.
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It is refreshing to see the truth being told - as it is in America. Truth is a fact - not a belief or a feeling. This commentary hits the nail on the head regarding America's social awkwardness. It is sad to see our freedoms being eroded in the name of political correctness. Yet personally in my life, as I discuss these types of issues with those around me - few care. Have we as a society been worn down to a state where we are afraid to stand for our freedoms? I say it is time to speak up! Speak out - like this commentary. Learn/know the facts and truths and have courage of conviction. IF YOU STAND FOR NOTHING, YOU WILL FALL FOR ANYTHING!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Skeeze.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time when you went to a place that didn't treat you well, you'd never go back again. You'd tell your friends. The marketplace would decide if that business survived or if enough bigots would support that place of business that didn't appreciate us gays.
But in today's world, progressive whining gays seek to enforce their version of equality upon others in a punitive and hateful way - ironic that in order to enforce equality, they have to violate the rights of the offender. But dare the offender actually exercise their right to association or religion. We all know that having the Rainbow Distress Card gives us members profound justification and self-righteousness to inflict unmitigated retribution upon those that hate us. How dare those people have the nerve to not want to serve us!
I have to laugh - what self-respecting gay person would actually spend a penny at a place that would hold gays in such low regard? Seriously? What stupid queen would even think that they should have a bakery that actually doesn't want their business to bake them a friggin wedding cake? Would you risk a shoddy cake on your emulation of straight america day?
Imagine a world where "tolerate" really was a two way street where gays tolerated opposing viewpoints and perspectives and didn't care what others think. Christian states in this modern world seem to be the most "tolerant" societies - one only has to look at how Mooslim and the Russian Mafia State treat gays - hangings, beatings, stonings, and beheadings are how gays are treated there. And our weak progressive gays whine about not getting a freaking wedding cake made. Now there is a stark contrast in perspectives!
I received a response that used the "N" word and will not publish.
ReplyDeleteBut given the direction of that post, I firmly believe a business should be free to decide whom it wants to serve and that that decision should also have a consequence to that business in the marketplace, not the courts. No one has a right to force a business to serve them; however, that business is not free from being publicly shamed or put out of business should the decision NOT TO SERVE be outside of the accepted norms of the community.
Again, I am a Libertarian. I would no more demand a gay business serve a blatant fundamentalist christian than I would demand a church marry two homosexuals. Freedom of association is a right; but there is also a burden attached to it just like you cannot yell "fire" in a crowded movie theater.