Respectable Intolerance Holds No Respectability

I receive a great deal of letters concerning my editorials. Most of them are well written and well thought-out. Some of them are just crap. While some others are hateful and vulgar.

Then there are letters that are well though-out, well presented and downright scary.

These are the letters I receive from people who have a very specific social philosophy that borders on the mainstream and is representative of significant numbers of people.

I received some of these concerning my Editorial of February 3, 2005 (Please see Archives). But one of them touched a raw nerve.

The letter writer covered all the Right-Wing bases with a self assured forecast of what will happen if Gays and Lesbians are given the same rights as heterosexuals. It was Sodom And Gemora all over again.

HERE’S MY RESPONSE:

Louise: The doom and gloom scenario you present are the same arguments that have been used to deny rights to people of color, gender and religious minorities in Canada, the USA and beyond.

Why would you ever believe schools would provide education in sodomy because Gays and Lesbians will be allowed to marry? Don’t you think there are heterosexuals who enjoy sodomy? Yet sodomy and other sexual appetites have not been added to the school curriculum.

Your over-the-top hysterics concerning Gay and Lesbian rights bother me to no end.

Yours is the attitude that makes me cringe when I consider voting Conservative. And as much as I detest Paul Martin and most of his Liberals, I will probably vote for them next time around, just because intolerant Right Wingers such as yourself scare the hell out of me.

As for holding a vote or referendum on whether Gays and Lesbians should have equal rights or not. It’s a stupid idea.

It would be the same as having a referendum in 1930’s Germany on whether Jews should have equal rights or not. Or 1930’s Alabama whether Blacks should have equal rights or not.

Democracy literally means the rule of the majority. And that’s why there are Charters of Rights in all Democracies to protect the minorities from the rule of the “mob”.

I was scheduled to speak at a Language Fairness Meeting on February 15, 2005 in Ottawa at the Citizen Newspaper building. But after reading much of the stuff that’s been published by this group, including people such as yourself, I will not attend.

I can not, and will not associate myself with people who are intolerant of the rights of others. And those rights include Gays and Lesbians.

I have removed your name and address from my e-mail broadcast directory. I am not interested if you read what I write. And anyone else who believes equal rights is only a concept to be enjoyed by some, but not by all, let me know, and I will remove your names and e-mail addresses as well.

I want nothing whatsoever to do with people who believe that all animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.

Even though I am an Atheist, I am ending this editorial with a quote from Rabbi Hillel of the 2nd Century CE:

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if only for myself, what am I? And if not now, then when?”