I’ve written many letters in support of gay rights. On May 1 this year, one of my letters was published in the Source. I quoted state Sen. Gary George in a statement he made to Basic Rights Oregon (BRO), which is worth repeating: “My advice to the gay community is SHUT UP. Just don’t talk about it. If you walk around talking about what you do in the bedroom, you should be on the pervert channel.” Unbelievable, and of course HE loves talking about it, I wonder if he watched the “pervert channel” often. Former Republican state senator Marilyn Shannon and current state Rep. Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer), were heading up proposed initiatives to repeal the recent legislative approved gay rights laws – SB2 (Anti-discrimination) and HB2007 (Civil Unions). As some readers may have read, the gay rights opponents have had to abandon their attempt to repeal because they failed to receive state approval for their ballot titles. I believe BRO deserves thanks for that. Unfortunately, the opposition may try again in 2010. But their tyranny has temporarily been put to rest and justice has been served. Would it be too unkind to suggest that the opposition community, headed up by George, Shannon, and Thatcher, be quiet (a.k.a. “SHUT UP”), grow up, transcend their ill-conceived prejudice and join the 21st Century? It wouldn’t be.
Bob Bates, Bend
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2008.
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Yeah, Bob, uhhuh… but, you’ll never change the fact that many folks just don’t cotton to gays… and… there is all that Biblical stuff…gay aversion fuel for those that pretend to adhere to the ‘Gowuhd thang.’
Frankly, many hetro’s are just creeped out… to some it is that gays are an unfortunate and pathetic manifestation; some twisted perversion of the natural life force… that goes against the normal will to propagate the species. I’ve never seen a couple of buck deer goin’ at it hammer and tong… have you? A vision of a couple of huge male lions passing an ‘after’ joint of wildebeest back and forth just doesn’t jell…
It’s easy for ordinary, normal folks to feel superior to those we consider freaks. As a species, we tend to not worry so much about the “rights” of those ‘things’ we feel are disgustingly sub-human.
But, no matter how much one might loathe and despise the gay lifestyle and those very strange perverts that practice it… we should remember that all human beings deserve equal rights…not more rights, mind you…just equal…