Private browbeating can't be the exclusive province of the folks who hate homosexuals, or blacks, or Asians, or..whatever. Some of the folks who dislike prejudice had better stand up and say we hate your hate, and we don't have to put up with it in our state laws. If you don't say that, you are no better than the folks who want to institutionalize hate. To fight the institutionalization of hatred really ought to be a good thing. I don't think there's anything admirable about the haters.
Disdain is the food that poisoned white prejudice, and it will poison gay prejudice. Disdain is the most effective method to kill such things. It simply becomes too socially uncomfortable to make the jokes, and exclude the people- and that is as it should be- not because there are laws against it, but because opinion is against it. Do not confuse the freedom of people on their own to disdain bigots (for that is the best discipline for the bigot), and the legal requirement to keep the state fair for all. These are very different issues.
You can, of course, be as nice to bigots as you want to be. I don't happen to think bigots have much chance at conversion- but the disdain of the younger generation for their parents' and grandparents' prejudices, and the old guard dying off, will change things. No need to coddle the old bigots- unless you want to. |
