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Originally Posted by
Fisherking
Gays have the same rights as everyone else in the US and in a few locals more.
So do blacks, hispanics, and poor people. Why are they more deserving of social spending?
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Which States violate Federal Civil Rights laws by denying people jobs on the basis of sexual preference?
In 29 states an employee can be fired for being gay with no legal recourse.
That means a manager can say "you're doing a great job, the company is doing fine, but I don't like your sexual orientation so you are fired".
Now, as a die-hard capitalist, I completely support an employer’s right to fire anyone for anything - as long as it applies to everyone. However, if - as a society - we have decided that a person cannot be fired for a trait he or she has no control over, that too should apply to everyone.
If you cannot be fired for being black and you cannot be fired for being handicapped, then you should not be able to be fired for being gay.
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As for social inequities I find that unlikely. I don’t know of any forms requiring people to list sexual preference nor how one tells by looking at people. You may discern ethnic or racial groups or gender on sight but not sexual preference.
You may want to check your local library for this, or any of the many other books on the subject.
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Most of their groups and agencies are for the purpose of activism and social networking. How does that benefit the public at large?
What public benefit does the Rainbow Coalition or the NAACP serve?
Also and again, can you provide some more evidence of gay groups asking for federal funding? A quick google search for 'gay federal funding' yielded little other than this story about a Christian group that used federal funds to fight against gay marriage.
:shrug:
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Many groups have been systematically victimized over the past and some prejudices remain yet no other group is more invisible to society as gays. They can come from any walk of life but unless you ask or they have reason to say you cannot tell.
It is not that as individuals they are unaccepted or unacceptable as is the case with other groups.
That is not necessarily true. Some gay people have mannerisms that are hard to conceal.
Are you saying that because gay people are more capable of hiding their differences, they deserve less protection/support from the government?
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Even as a group they are excepted in all but their own eyes.
What world are you living in? I'm living in the one where gay people are routinely mocked, ostracized, assaulted, and even killed for an inherent trait that they have no control over.
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The victimization of gays and lesbians based upon their sexual orientation includes harassment, vandalism, robbery, assault, rape and murder. The location of these crimes is not restricted to dark streets leading from gay establishments. Violence against gays and lesbians occurs everywhere: in schools, the workplace, public places and in the home. Those who commit these acts come from all social/economic backgrounds and represent different age groups (National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Safety and Fitness Exchange, Lance Bradley and Kevin Berrill, 1986.)
Did you miss the national discussion a few months ago over gay teen suicides, or was that just typical gay people looking for attention by hanging themselves and jumping off bridges?
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There it would seem they more wish to be first among equals, so to speak, and seek special status.
Can you elaborate on the special status gays are seeking? I hear a lot about it, but never anything specific.
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Much is perhaps a new found freedom to flaunt their sexuality. Some may enjoy shocking the more stayed types. Often as a group they come across as spoiled children always wanting more.
Again, what is it - exactly - that they want that is so radical? Employment protections, the ability to serve in the military, hospital visitation rights... none of these would seem to impart any special status on them.
All you've provided so far is one blog posting where a gay man argues that because gay people pay taxes they are deserving of some of the money spent on diversity initiatives in his community.
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I once heard someone say that it had gone from the love never spoken to the love that just won’t shut up.
Do you not see that that - in itself - hints at the social ostracism these people have experienced?
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People tend to have more of a problem with activism than with sexual proclivity or life style.
That isn't true at all. Many people have a deep-seated hatred of gay people due to religious and social conditioning.
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But it seems a phenomenon of modern society that nearly everyone seeks victim status.
Who is seeking victim status? Ignoring the fact that gay people are not some monolithic 'one', I see little evidence of even the activist groups in Washington seeking victim status.
You seem to be under the influence of the oft-propagated meme of the 'gay agenda' that is used by certain religious types to stir people up. Show me a gay activist that says he wants a social status that puts him in a more advantageous position than straight people. Everything that they want seems to be aimed at simply putting them on an equal footing.
And speaking of gay people always playing the victim - this guy really took his performance seriously. :no:
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Shortly after midnight on October 7, 1998, Shepard met Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson at the Fireside Lounge in Laramie, Wyoming. McKinney and Henderson offered Shepard a ride in their car.[4] After Shepard said that he was gay, the two men robbed, pistol-whipped, tortured him and tied him to a fence in a remote, rural area, leaving him to die. According to their court testimony, McKinney and Henderson also discovered his address and intended to burglarize his home. Still tied to the fence, Shepard was discovered 18 hours later by a cyclist, Aaron Kreifels, who initially mistook Shepard for a scarecrow.