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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (10659)	10/22/1998 8:24:00 AM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 67261

Message 6113649 It is a hatred of the poisonous doctrines of liberalism, one of which is the embracing of homosexuality as an acceptable and societally supportable alternative to heterosexuality. You wouldn't happen to share this benign, perhaps even beneficial hatred, would you JLA? Of course, I was informed long ago that I'm the partisan hater around here. I do have a certain visceral distaste for hatred being preached in the name of Christianity, I admit. It seems to me, oh, maybe sort of blasphemous? To turn around another "innocuous slur"? NOt to mention the cheesy high school debate tricks. I didn't say anything about anybody being responsible for homosexual killings, all I said was that I haven't heard about people being killed because of their heterosexuality.

To: jlallen who wrote (10659)	10/22/1998 1:43:00 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 67261

<<The crime against Matthew Shepard is truly heinous. If in fact his murder was solely related to his sexual orientation that is a tragedy. >> It is a tragedy even though his murder was not solely related to his sexual orientation as the media coverage would have us believe. I live in the region where Matthew lived. The radio stations, television news, and print media are gorged with simpathetic coverage of the murder which was perpetrated by two boys who to a large extent were influenced by their anti-gay attitudes. There is another issue that no one wants to discuss. I know because I have tried to bring it up, and as uncomfortable as it is, (because of the timing) there is no more opportune time. Where is the wisdom in sending our children, or ourselves to a culture where they are encouraged to put themselves in the most vulnerable position a human being could ever allow themselves to be (intoxicated) with the goal of going off to an unknown destination, with a stranger and availing their sexuality to this person? Please don't waste time with the typical left wing jargon about blaming the victum. I am not blaming Matthew Shepard for his own murder. I am holding society, you, me, and Matthew responsible for the culture that champions the behavior described above.

To: jlallen who wrote (10659)	10/23/1998 2:35:00 AM
From: Borzou Daragahi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67261

Chicago Sun-Times October 20, 1998, TUESDAY, Late Sports Final Edition SECTION: NWS; Pg. 11 LENGTH: 728 words HEADLINE: Time to come to grips with hatred of gays BYLINE: Richard Roeper BODY: Scene from a funeral in Laramie, Wyo.: Outside the church where hundreds of mourners have gathered to remember gay murder victim Matthew Shepard, protesters hold signs that say, "Matthew is Going to Hell," "No Tears for Queers" and "No Fags in Heaven." Among the protesters is a man of the cloth who has made it his mission to show up at the funerals of gays to condemn their immorality. Scene from just outside a bar in Buffalo, N.Y.: Gary Trzaska, 41, a gay man, is attacked by three men who beat him so hard that nearly every inch of his body is bruised and almost every internal organ is damaged. Trzaska dies from the assault. Scenes from Washington, D.C.: Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas) calls Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) a "homo." Meanwhile, Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) says homosexuality is a "disease," not unlike kleptomania. Scene from Halsted Street in Chicago: A 37-year-old man suffers critical head injuries when he and two friends are jumped by men shouting, "Faggots!" The brutal beating is the worst such case based on sexual orientation in Chicago in recent memory. Scene from a TV commercial airing in Honolulu: A tuxedo-clad groom on the beach runs toward a beautiful young bride -- but then brushes past her and embraces -- shock! -- another man. The ad is designed to drum up support for the proposed state constitutional amendment banning gay marriages in Hawaii. Scenes from dozens of cities across the United States and Canada last weekend: Candlelight vigils mark the passing of Matthew Shepard, the young man who was killed in Wyoming -- the crime allegedly committed by two men who pretended to be gay to lure Shepard into their truck. In Tennessee, in New Jersey, in Maine, in Texas, people who never met Shepard mourn him and pray for a day when gays will not be attacked for being "different." It's 1998, and we're still debating whether an attack on a gay person -- based at least in part on the victim's sexuality -- constitutes a hate crime. It's 1998, and "religious" people are still showing up at funerals to spit on the graves of gays. It's 1998, and politicians are still moralizing about the gay lifestyle. It's 1998, and we're still not comfortable with two people of the same sex living together as a legally married couple. It's 1998: Do we know where our compassion is? I've never understood the fear and hatred some straights feel toward gays. (Right about now is when I start hearing from anonymous cowards who leave me phone messages like, "I always knew you were a fag, Roeper!" For the record, again, I'm a raving heterosexual. Who cares.) They get more worked up talking about the immorality, the depravity, the sick and twisted nature, of gays, than they ever do about murderers, rapists or child molesters. Somehow they're threatened by the mere existence of gays and lesbians. Let me try this out on the gay-bashers. Imagine living in a world where 90 percent of the population is homosexual -- but you're as straight as you are now. You like the opposite sex, you've always liked the opposite sex, and the idea of feeling romantic toward someone of your own sex just grosses you out. Yet there are those in the gay majority who feel they have the right to dictate your life. They say what you're doing is wrong. They say you can't marry outside your sex. And a tiny but terrorizing percentage of them would like to kick the crap out of you just for being straight. It'd be a lousy way to go through life, wouldn't it? Hearing political leaders saying you're diseased; reading news stories about straights who are killed for no reason other than sexual orientation; wondering if someday you'll be victimized by some thugs who will shout, "DAMN HETERO!" while beating you to a bloody pulp. Still, you wouldn't change your ways because of all this hatred and ignorance and prejudice, would you? You're straight! It's who you are, for God's sake; it's not a lifestyle choice. All you really want is equal treatment, and to be left alone. Now we return to the real world, dominated by straights. A world where the gays want only to be treated as equals, and to be left alone. Explain to me again why you feel you have the right to deny those wishes. Richard Roeper (rroeper@suntimes.com) appears Tuesday and Thursday at 7:55 a.m. on WFLD-TV's "Fox Thing in the Morning."