Suing to Protect Obnoxiousness
These people are pitiful. Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX-GAG) have apparently filed a lawsuit, at least this press release says they did. They claim that "ex-gays" are persecuted and discriminated against, and they want government protection.
Imagine a guy who used to be gay, and now he's not. He gets up in the morning, dresses, goes to work, does his job, maybe has a beer at happy hour and comes home again to watch a TV show or two. Maybe he's got a wife, maybe some kids, because well he is straight now.
Do you imagine that this guy is going to be "bullied and maligned" for how he is? Of course not. Nobody cares how he used to be, in fact I don't understand how anybody would even know he used to be gay. Now he's just another straight guy, and nobody cares about that, either.
Now imagine a guy who used to be gay and now he's not. He gets up in the morning, dresses, and goes out to tell gay people they need to be like him, they need to stop being gay. He tells them that their lives are dangerous and immoral, hands out flyers and puts up billboards telling gay people they need to "change," to stop being gay. He is, in other words, obnoxious.
Do you imagine that this guy is going to be "bullied and maligned?" Well, actually, I'll bet he gets a bad reaction sometimes.
Nobody minds a person going from being gay to not-gay. I expect that gay people will regard him (and it's always guys, there is almost no attention paid to lesbians) with suspicion, they are not likely to believe he's really changed, but whatever. Now that he's straight he doesn't hang around with gay people much, anyway, so it doesn't matter what they think.
People do mind a person who is obnoxious. There is nothing in the Bill of Rights that protects obnoxiousness. There will not be a great movement to ban discrimination on the basis of obnoxiousness. People don't like obnoxious people, they don't like to be around them, they don't like to interact with them. Obnoxious people get fired for being obnoxious, they get kicked out of places, their friends abandon them. You can't pass a law to stop that.
It's not a big deal if people have wrong opinions, for instance, it doesn't matter much if someone believes that gay people can choose not to be gay. They'd be wrong, but it's just like a lot of opinions, as long as you keep it to yourself it doesn't ... stink. You'd be wrong but lots of people are wrong about different things. But PFOX-GAG wants to take their wrong opinions and try to force them on others, or in this case try to sue to get protection from people who are sick of hearing their wrong opinions. That's called being obnoxious, and they can sue till the end of time, obnoxiousness will not become acceptable, the government will not force us to put up with it.
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) is suing the Washington DC Office of Human Rights for failing to protect former homosexuals under its sexual orientation anti-discrimination law. "The ex-gay community is the most bullied and maligned group in America, yet they are not protected by sexual orientation non-discrimination laws," said Regina Griggs, PFOX executive director.
The DC Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on "sexual preference," "sexual orientation," "gender identity," and "gender expression." The Office of Human Rights maintains that homosexuals, bisexuals, transgenders, and cross-dressers qualify for protection under this Act, but ex-gays do not. PFOX's lawsuit asks the DC Superior Court to direct the Office to include former homosexuals under the sexual orientation law. "Shouldn't ex-gays enjoy the same legal protections that gays enjoy?" asked Griggs.
"Former homosexuals and their friends have been fired from their jobs, repeatedly ridiculed, assaulted, and intimidated. This harassment is most often perpetrated by the same groups who demand protection under sexual orientation laws but work to deny ex-gays the same respect." Human Rights Office Sued for Refusing to Protect Former Homosexuals
Imagine a guy who used to be gay, and now he's not. He gets up in the morning, dresses, goes to work, does his job, maybe has a beer at happy hour and comes home again to watch a TV show or two. Maybe he's got a wife, maybe some kids, because well he is straight now.
Do you imagine that this guy is going to be "bullied and maligned" for how he is? Of course not. Nobody cares how he used to be, in fact I don't understand how anybody would even know he used to be gay. Now he's just another straight guy, and nobody cares about that, either.
Now imagine a guy who used to be gay and now he's not. He gets up in the morning, dresses, and goes out to tell gay people they need to be like him, they need to stop being gay. He tells them that their lives are dangerous and immoral, hands out flyers and puts up billboards telling gay people they need to "change," to stop being gay. He is, in other words, obnoxious.
Do you imagine that this guy is going to be "bullied and maligned?" Well, actually, I'll bet he gets a bad reaction sometimes.
Nobody minds a person going from being gay to not-gay. I expect that gay people will regard him (and it's always guys, there is almost no attention paid to lesbians) with suspicion, they are not likely to believe he's really changed, but whatever. Now that he's straight he doesn't hang around with gay people much, anyway, so it doesn't matter what they think.
People do mind a person who is obnoxious. There is nothing in the Bill of Rights that protects obnoxiousness. There will not be a great movement to ban discrimination on the basis of obnoxiousness. People don't like obnoxious people, they don't like to be around them, they don't like to interact with them. Obnoxious people get fired for being obnoxious, they get kicked out of places, their friends abandon them. You can't pass a law to stop that.
It's not a big deal if people have wrong opinions, for instance, it doesn't matter much if someone believes that gay people can choose not to be gay. They'd be wrong, but it's just like a lot of opinions, as long as you keep it to yourself it doesn't ... stink. You'd be wrong but lots of people are wrong about different things. But PFOX-GAG wants to take their wrong opinions and try to force them on others, or in this case try to sue to get protection from people who are sick of hearing their wrong opinions. That's called being obnoxious, and they can sue till the end of time, obnoxiousness will not become acceptable, the government will not force us to put up with it.
posted by JimK at 1:15 PM
20 Comments:
"But PFOX-GAG wants to take their wrong opinions and try to force them on others,"
And by "force them on others", we mean say them.
Freedom of speech can only exist if it doesn't contradict the gay agenda.
Anonymous exercises his freedom of speech, thereby contradicting himself.
BTW, what standing is PFOX using to challenge the Human Rights Law? Is someone claiming an actual case of discrimination? Can outside organizations simply go about challenging the validity of laws?
Exactly whom are they suing, and why?
Also BTW, does Regina live in Reedville now? Does that mean she won't be speaking to the FCPS school board any more?
Andrea- not anon
I know how much harassment straight guys have to put up with- a terrible, terrible thing. After this elction, I am going to work on that whole straight guy harassment thing. Of course, I thought it was straight guys who harassed others- but if Regina says differently- well......
PFOX and its allies just keep getting more and more hateful and creepy. What does Riggs want, that number one bigot award? Well, she's close to getting it (After Anne Coulter, anyway).
Pathetic! Soon the bullies that constantly target the GLBT community at public schools are going to want protections.
Shame, shame, SHAME!!
Obnoxious is how you people will be if Obama loses.
You are angry about others (non-gays)demanding rights?
Pitiful.
Just like me.
I'd like to read the testimony of a single person who claims to be "ex-gay" and is claiming discrimination. Just one.
I'd like to read the testimony of a single person who claims to be "ex-gay" and is claiming discrimination. Just one.
Go the PFOX website and read.
I think Dana may have meant *sworn* testimony.
But it seems that PFOX may have lied about filing a lawsuit. They filed a Petition for Review of Agency Decision. The D.C. Superior Court does not consider this a lawsuit.
"Anonymous" Troll:
How tiresome you are. As usual, you find it necessary to pontificate on a subject about which you know absolutely nothing!
So typical of egotists who think their opinions are significant or important. You allow your innate prejudices and bigotry to trump intelligence.
We will all celebrate the day when you can announce that you have become an "Ex-homophobic"...but then, again, there are just some things in life that confound rationality.
Anonymous, like PFOX et al, asserts that people objecting to bigotry and overt prejudice is harassment. That, of course, is the essence of PFOX' curriculum, as Jim makes clear in the post.
rrjr
As an American, you have a complete right to give expression to your bigotry, even to the level of hate speech. Just don't ask me to feel sorry for you when people don't like you. Poor baby.
Actually, I think Anonymous thrives when people don't like him. It somehow justifies his sense of persecution.
In thinking about it, I think that internal sense of persecution is at the bottom of the American conservative movement: poor people persecuting rich people by taking their taxes, minorities persecuting the majority with civil rights laws, peaceniks persecuting hawks by insisting on diplomacy, gay people persecuting straight people by taking away marriage, non-christians persecuting christians by not encouraging the government of this christian-founded nation to endorse their religious beliefs.
Am I wrong?
yes, you are, Robert
btw, the comment you all seem to be reacting to was not made by the regular anon
"Anonymous" said:
"btw, the comment you all seem to be reacting to was not made by the regular anon"
Oh, come now...how is anyone who reads here to know who or when the "regular" anon is "regular" or "irregular"? As far as I am concerned, 94% of the "Anonymous" posters here are all the same person.
Diogenes
"Oh, come now...how is anyone who reads here to know who or when the "regular" anon is "regular" or "irregular"?"
I guess you'll know when you're told. I was just letting you in on the secret for your own edification before you wasted too much bombast on the topic.
It's nice to know the "regular" (implying what? fiber? metamucil?) cares about our potential waste of time.
I'm back to the Turing machine question: is Anon what he pretends to be? So knee-jerk we know his nervous system is in really good shape.
Umm...why are they calling themselves "ex-gay"? Why not just say "straight"? B/c essentially that is what they feel they are, correct? Straight people already have rights in society...straight people are not discriminated against based on their sexuality. Either I'm confused, or they are idiots chasing their own tails. I'll go with the latter.
"It's not a big deal if people have wrong opinions, for instance, it doesn't matter much if someone believes that gay people can choose not to be gay. They'd be wrong, but it's just like a lot of opinions, as long as you keep it to yourself it doesn't"
The interesting thing about this post is that it claims there is no discrimination against ex-gays but then discriminates against them. According to the intellectually challenged individual who wrote this article, if you were once gay but now have changed, you are obnoxious if you tell people your story.
Of course, no other group is being told they can't share their experience. Gay teacher who has a history of mental instability and couldn't succeed at reparative therapy. Eye surgeon who after two marriages decides he wants to change genders. Any experience that reinforces tha gay agenda is fine but any suggestion that one can recover from homosexuality is repressed.
Is it any wonder that this field is so difficult to conduct valid, replicable research on? Gay advocates are actively trying to skew the results by repressing speech.
Anon, there is a major difference between saying that someone is wrong and discriminating against them.
Further, if a straight person said in a conversation that they used to be gay, nobody would mind. When they spend their day trying to get gay people to stop being gay, and trying to spread the lie that sexual orientation is a choice, then they are simply being obnoxious. It doesn't matter what "agenda" someone is supporting, if somebody went around telling straight people they should try being gay, they'd be obnoxious. If a transgender person went around telling everybody else that "change is possible" and they should change their gender, they'd be obnoxious. "Ex-gays" who accept others are fine, nobody has a problem with that. "Ex-gays" who claim that other gay people can and should change are obnoxious, and if they are discriminated against it's for that, not for their changed sexual orientation.
JimK
Anonymous in one post manages to personally insult both me and Dana.
I bet he has really bad hair.
rrjr
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