Dear Editor,
I’m writing this rebuttal in response to:
“OPINION: Gay rights should not mean special rights, only equal rights”
By: Kate Dalley
I’ve read this article multiple times this morning, and I still gasp at the bigotry and historical ignorance in every paragraph.
Here’s an excerpt from the article:”But black people and women were denied ownership of property and black people were denied citizenship as the Founding Fathers did not actually abolish slavery.”
We typically refer to basic human rights like the freedom of speech and association, liberty, and equal treatment in court as civil rights, because they are fundamental rights that every citizen should not be denied on the basis of their sex, race, or religious belief. It has been proven that homosexuality — the sexual desire for those of the same sex as oneself — has existed since humans have begun documenting human history, and is a biological imperative. However, the framers of the Constitution did not include the unconstitutionality of discrimination against citizens on the base of sexual preference, thus, making this discrimination perfectly legal if our moral and legal framework is solely predicated on this document. I’ll go through a brief history of LGBT discrimination historically to give you a glimpse of how massive the gulf is between reality, and what Kate writes in this article, here:
Early laws (as early as 1075 BCE) that lasted for centuries prescribed death as the penalty for homosexuality.
During the middle ages, homosexual men were castrated before being hung or burned between the thighs with a red-hot iron by court order.
1000’s of homosexuals in 17th and 18th century burned at the stake for their ‘crimes’.
Even in the early 20th century (as late as 1936) homosexuals were put to death solely for their sexual orientation.
1952 – The American Psychiatric Association lists homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disturbance.
1953 – President Dwight Eisenhower signs Executive Order 10450, banning homosexuals from working for the federal government or any of its private contractors.
It wasn’t until 1962 that Illinois repealed its sodomy laws, becoming the first U.S. state to decriminalize homosexuality. In other words, it was actually illegal to engage in homosexual activity.
1973 – The board of the American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.
1980 – The Democratic Rules Committee states that it will not discriminate against homosexuals.
Also in the 80’s gay men were labeled disease carriers, and were said to “pollute” an innocent part of the human population.
Finally, in 1982 Wisconsin becomes the first U.S. state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
1993 – The Department of Defense issues a directive prohibiting the U.S. Military from barring applicants from service based on their sexual orientation.
1996 – in the case of Romer v. Evans, the United States Supreme Court decides that Colorado’s 2nd amendment, denying gays and lesbians protections against discrimination, is unconstitutional
2004 – Massachusetts becomes the first state to legalize gay marriage.
Status quo – Unlike race, gender, age, ethnicity or religion, sexual orientation is not a protected characteristic under current federal civil rights law. While it’s true that political movements have been trying for decades to win civil rights protection against discrimination in employment, housing, and elsewhere. Too often the LGBT community faces hostility, discrimination — and sometimes deadly violence — merely because of their sexual orientation. Religious leaders have reasoned for centuries that Jesus asks the mankind in the Bible “to go out and have children.”, and, since homosexuals are not able to reproduce, homosexuality is, therefore, from their prospective an act of sin. Hate crimes committed against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and/or transgendered individuals constitute the third-highest category of hate crimes reported to the FBI annually. Kate simply is incredulous to the historic injustice (and status quo inequality and stratification) towards the LGBT community that provides a context for today’s institutionalized homophobia and discrimination.
Here is another excerpt that displays her clear ideological trend of homophobia:
“I have gay friends. People I admire very much. But, if we had an honest conversation, there is no proof that the LGBT community are treated as second class citizens.”
“People experience natural consequences until they change their own behavior. That’s how freedom works.”
I honestly don’t think this article is fighting for any kind of equality (like the title suggests). I think its perpetuating bigotry and unprecedented dogmatism masked in governmental-overreach rhetoric.
Sincerely,
Michael Dillman
Works Cited:
1. Love, Chris. “Ignorance of Gay History Allows Some to Pardon Injustice.” Ignorance of Gay History
2. Allows Some to Pardon Injustice. Daily KOS, 14 Nov. 2014. Web. 17 Nov.2014.
https://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights
3. Nguyen, Mihn T. “Civil Rights –
4. The History of Gay Rights.” Civil Rights. Ender, 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
5. John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century (University of Chicago Press, 1980), pp. 63, 67–68, quotation on p. 69.
6. Rutledge, Leigh W. Gay Decades. New York, June 1999
OPINION: Gay rights should not mean special rights, only equal rights: http://www.suindependent.com/news/id_7119/OPINION:-Gay-rights-should-not-mean-special-rights,-only-equal-rights.htmlts.html
