"The first prong is political. When a politician like Marco Rubio is
willing to sacrifice his career defining immigration reform legislation
solely to insure that gays and lesbians are denied equal protection
under the law, we have to admit that we're under attack. This is not
pragmatic politics at work. These are the policies of bias, exclusion
and unfairness.
"The second wave is the steady barrage coming from those who would call
themselves moral leaders. Shielded behind lecterns, they assign
condemnation with impunity. Claiming to be brimming with the love of
their creator, they spew forth the cowardice of the mob. Fundamentalism,
whether raining down terror abroad or in homilies from our home
parishes, is the enemy. It is the death knell of tolerance, progress and
compromise. Fundamentalism is, in all practicality, nothing but an
invitation to bigotry.
"And thirdly, when we excuse homophobia as a matter of opinion instead
of treating it as a destructive social illness, we invite fear to
explode into violence. How often are the perpetrators of hate-crimes
discovered to be self-loathing? Valued individuals do not strike out
against strangers." -
Harvey Fierstein, writing for the
Huffington Post.
Read the full essay.
Reposted from Joe
