Comments on: Lowenstein: NY Assembly vote leads to raucus debate

By: Robert, NYC

Robert, NYC — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:35:03 +0000

Douglas, most orthodox and conservative Jews think as Hikind does. They believe we choose our orientation and as such it was our own fault ending up in the gas chambers. 15,000 to them is a drop in the ocean and doesn’t count. We are less than they are based on their bigotry and obsession with Leviticus to justify it while ignoring other verses that would put them in a very uncomfortable situation, how convenient. I daresay they would treat their fellow Gay Jewish brothers and sisters the same way who also died in the holocaust.

By: Kathy Michaelsen

Kathy Michaelsen — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:16:01 +0000

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

and my paraphrasing of MLK
Injustice to anyone is a threat to justice for everyone.
May 15, 2009

By: TigerTzu

TigerTzu — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:48:16 +0000

To clarify my previous post. It is not my intent to point fingers at any group or community, but rather to remind us that those who forget the lessons of history, especially the history of their own community, are doomed to repeat the mistakes of their past.

By: TigerTzu

TigerTzu — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:41:59 +0000

“Any debate which attempts to compare or rank experiences of suffering is a distraction from the goal of ending suffering.”

I agree that the bigger picture, and issue, is and should be that the elimination needless suffering due to inequality of human rights should be what we are are working towards. Reality also seems to require that certain groups, on occasion, need to be reminded they have not been the only ones to have suffered, therefore they should be reluctant to practice intolerance themselves. Sad but true.

By: SteveMD2

SteveMD2 — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:24:57 +0000

To Dov whatever the f… his name is.

It is so interesting how the conservative people living in the dark ages of history, be they Jewish, Christian, Catholic, etc., continue to denigrate the humanity of gay people.

But you could do worse. You could join with the couple of Haridim members of the Knesset who said “gays were like bird flu” last fall. Of course this was nothing but a call or hope for the genocide of the very group of people whose ashes shared hitlers smokestacks with your family’s earlier generations.

So, my wife happens to be going to Israel soon for a visit, yes we are Jewish. But to go to an Israel that lets creeps like you have any power in their government – no way. Instead I thank you for insuring that the $4000 it would have cost for me to go with her is instead going to gay political causes.

I’m glad that Israel does recognize gay marriages done elsewhere, and perhaps Canada or some other gay marriage country will perform gay marriages at their embassies, which at least under our laws, are considered the territories of the embassies countries.

I won’t quite advocate the equivalent of what you advocate – that Allah may visit your sick head. And you have convinced me to join the Unitarian Universalist church to which my daughter belongs, and be glad my son is an atheist.

By: Matty

Matty — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:13:21 +0000

Not only were homosexuals sent to the concentration camps, but they were kept in them even after the camps were liberated! As homosexuals were universally treated like automatic criminals.

By: drewski

drewski — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:29:00 +0000

So it comes out. Hikind is busily demonstrating that anothe group of religious zealots is busy manipulating the system, constantly crying oppression, and holding hostage a larger population for their own bigoted goals. Hikind isn’t some redneck Baptist, but the intolerance is the same. He proves that yes, you can be a minority and still be utterly contemptuous of ANYONE else. It’s this element within Jewish America who’ve decided that they’ll clear Palestinians out of the West Bank because “g-d says it’s ours.” You do it to me, it’s wrong, I do it to you, it’s g-d’s will. I see.

Assemblyman Benjamin made a fool of himself, and his comments showed his real truth: if you’re black, then Benjamin would have it believed that you can’t be gay, or that gay is something not found in the oppressed African slave. Aside from the laughable idiocy of the claim (which is made with some regularity across Africa), it’s that same effort to use past wrongs to extort benefit in the present. The benefit that both Hikind and Benjamin seek is to make sur somebody else is there being actively stripped of their rights.

Gays don’t play this game. Good on the Asembly for seeing past this crap. Wrong isn’t a competition, and if you make it that, you’re not doing a damn thing to help yourself no matter where you are in life.

Now on to the Senate. The cave-dwelling GOP won’t be as much entertainment as the Dems who think the party line gives them room to be bigots. Will the state Dems demand a party-line vote? If they don’t, what consequences fall on the state party?

By: Billy

Billy — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:28:07 +0000

I don’t see Obama doing anything for us yet, what about “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” after 100 day’s not a thing for us

By: Greg McNeal-Smith

Greg McNeal-Smith — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:23:00 +0000

Jenna’s article offers such a clear and succinct analysis on the oppression of injustice that stabs at the core of the subject. How can any group who has not fully realized equal justice and protection under the law impugn another without cutting their own throat?

By: Shane

Shane — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:06:18 +0000

I have grown weary of debating over how human we are.

Even Nancy Pelosi has turned her back on us, as well as Obama.

So what are we to do next?