Bipartisan Curious: Legalize Queer

You're spinning pretty hard Matt - (0.00 / 0)

The Dem legislators aren't going to do anything before election day that will cause them to lose seats.

It's not a party issue though - the GOP won't do anything to jeapordize seats either.

They all know, as you should too by now, that the general public is tired of hearing about special rights or 'victim status' for gays. We've heard it in every session of the legislature for as long as I can remember, it went nowhere, and I've grown tired of it too.

Hopefully the GOP wins not just working majorities, but strong majorities in the legislature so we can begin to repair the damage that Gov. Schweitzer has done to this State.

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by: Eric Coobs @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 21:51:17 PM UTC

I shouldn't bother to respond to this, but (0.00 / 0)

Eric, Is it a "special right" for a person not to be fired from his job or evicted from his housing because he's gay? Put the other way, do you think it's the right of an employer to refuse to hire or to fire someone because he is gay, the right of a landlord to refuse to rent to or evict a gay man or woman solely because of his or her sexual orientation?

Finally, Eric, are you gay?  Most homophobes I know are in the closet or struggling with the issue.

I'm just asking.  

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by: Turner @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 23:17:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Homophobe? (0.00 / 0)

Too funny - I've written about the subject a lot, and all I've ever said is that I have no problem with queers -

I do have a problem with special rights though -

I'm a Sales Rep - one of the most hated professions in the world - if somebody belts me one it's a misdemeanor, but if I was gay they'd go to jail -

If my landlord doesn't like my car dripping oil he could evict me, but if I was gay it'd be discrimination, right?

That's not a special protection?  That doesn't give gays 'victim status'?

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by: Eric Coobs @ Sat Jul 10, 2010 at 15:32:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I bet some of your best friends are gay, right? (0.00 / 0)

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by: Jamee Greer @ Sun Jul 11, 2010 at 01:12:31 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I doubt it (0.00 / 0)

I don't really know if I associate with any or not - nor do I really care -

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by: Eric Coobs @ Sun Jul 11, 2010 at 02:52:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

You do realize that it's the motivation (0.00 / 0)

of the criminal, not the status of the victim that guides a prosecutor?

No? Didn't think so.

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by: JC @ Sun Jul 11, 2010 at 16:27:35 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Not special rights (0.00 / 0)

Eric, this question is about whether gay people should be pushed into the closet overall. You and I don't see eye-to-eye on anti-discrimination and hate crimes laws -- and I'd love to have that conversation -- but this is a different topic. This is over whether gay people should be criminals just automatically. That's what the Republican Platform calls for right now.

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by: Matt Singer @ Sun Jul 11, 2010 at 19:19:35 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

What's most disturbing (0.00 / 0)

It isn't just that the Republican platform calls for criminalization of homosexuality as deviant behavior, because really, it doesn't.  What it calls for is enforcement of the laws still on the books.  Read it:

We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal.

The sodomy law still exists, regardless of Gryczan v. Montana.  The Constitutional privacy ruling goes pretty far to invalid the State's Sodomy statute, but it still stands as a legal DADT as long as the laws exist as is.

The truly frustrating thing about all these noble Republicans who think that platform plank doesn't belong there is that their party has 4 times thwarted the effort to remove an invalidated law from the legal statute.  The few Democratic officials who are discussing this aren't much better.  They're sniping at what the other Party "wants"  but they're not actually doing anything about what the law says.  The anti-discrimination plank in the Democratic party platform is useless, because it doesn't legalize gay or queer.  It's frustrating because all it really says is that 'We Democrats support the continuing non-enforcement of unconstitutional laws we haven't the strength or will to repeal, but also support legislation that says everybody has to be nice to these criminal sodomites.'

I'm not Mark T, and I really don't hold that "Democrats are the problem."  But they continue to drop the ball on this one. Civil rights issues have got to be matters of principle.  And I find it worrisome at least that this is little more than just another political hot rock and/or dog whistle.

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by: Rob Kailey @ Sun Jul 11, 2010 at 19:45:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Eric has a point (0.00 / 0)

though it is hidden in his rambling excuse of a responce. The Democratic Party won't touch the issue because it is a polarizing issue and one that many "single issue" voters can either get behind or oppose. There are many such issues that won't be hit upon by most candidates (Republican or Democrat) because of thier polarizing nature - Gay rights, Immigration, The anticipated Budget Deficit, etc. Some candidates may give a sound byte or two to one or more of those issues but no substantial campaigning will done on them.

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by: moorcatavalon @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 22:30:20 PM UTC