The Meaning of "Tolerance"
by Jennifer King
"The Heretical Housewife"
Last
night, a guest on the Fox News show Hannity and Colmes demonstrated -
once again - what the Left really means when they advocate "tolerance".
The woman, a lesbian spokesman/person for one of the gay groups, slammed the Boy Scouts - again - for their alleged "intolerance" towards gays. Because the Boy Scouts prudently want to keep openly homosexual Scout leaders away from young boys, they are judged "intolerant". This same woman also categorically denied the right of religious people to their belief that homosexual behavior is a sin. Bible believing people are therefore intrinsically "intolerant", and one senses that she would eagerly embrace a movement which muzzled or banished them. So much for free speech on behalf of the Left.
As we have seen in other areas, the Tolerant Left is only tolerant when it comes to us being tolerant. We must be tolerant when they use our taxpayer monies to fund works we find blasphemous and obscene. We should be open-minded when they want to preach the joys of sex to our kindergartners. We should meekly comply when our underage daughters are given contraceptives and/or abortions without our knowledge or consent.
The Left, however, suffer no such constraints upon themselves. When faced with a discordant issue, the Tolerant Left becomes the epitome of the intolerant - all excused because they are on the "correct" side of the argument. Instead of rational debate, the "Litany of the Left" is employed. We, because of our political views, must be labeled as "racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic" and ridiculed as hopelessly outdated. Rational discourse becomes impossible in the face of such irrationality - which, of course, is the desired outcome.
The discussion of homosexuality should revolve around the issue of personal behavior rather than personal predilection. Those on the right, including religious Jews, Christians and Muslims - believe that their religion proscribes against homosexuality. In their religious viewpoint Man is a sinful creature, drawn to sin by his very nature. Sin is to be resisted. There are many activities which one might wish to engage in, but one is to resist the temptation - whatever its form.
The homosexual activists are therefore disingenuous. They claim to be looking solely for inclusion, but they pursue a radical agenda which insists that society not only accept but enthusiastically support every activity of theirs regardless of personal or religious belief. Anything less makes us "bigots and homophobes". Instead of debate, the activists invoke the Litany, thereby avoiding many potentially unsettling arguments.
For example, it is well documented that an active homosexual lifestyle can lead to early death in young men - with a median lifespan of 70+ years being reduced to approximately age 40. Yet, encouraging our sons not to embrace a lifestyle which can cut their lifetimes literally in half is denounced as "bigoted". Likewise, support groups of ex-gays who have renounced the homosexual lifestyle for a heterosexual one are muzzled and their testimony denounced. They, too, are "bigots" and "homophobes". What better example of the double standard is shown in the duel treatment of the murders of Matthew Sheppard - a homosexual killed by "homophobes", and that of Jesse Dirkheiser - a boy killed by admitted homosexuals. The murder of Matthew Sheppard was splashed across the nation’s papers for weeks, while the repeated rape/strangulation/murder of 10 year old Jesse Dirkheiser by two NAMBLA members was almost completely ignored.
The Boy Scouts are publicly chastised while several inconvenient facts are swept under the rug. Many male homosexuals have admitted that they were molested by older homosexuals while still children, and it is a given fact that homosexual pedophiles tend to take jobs where the have proximity to young boys. The Scouts are correct in denying access to youngsters to openly homosexual potential Scout masters. By doing so, they are saving kids from potential molestation and a conceivable lifetime of psychological and physical torment.
It would be nice to see some "tolerance" for this rational position expressed by our oh so tolerant brethren on the Left. ***
© 2001 Jennifer King
COPYRIGHT © 2001 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.