I heard some positive things that the army is going to back down, now only if the rest of the armed services will follow quickly.

For the record I do not think he will be able to deliver on the marriage issue (I hope I am wrong but do not think so).

Whatever gave you that idea? No, I’m not anti-discrimination. In some cases I am, in fact, pro-discrimination. I believe in discriminating against pedophiles. I believe in discriminating against terrorists. I believe in discriminating against anyone who tramples on the human rights of others without a damn good reason – and their personal religious beliefs do not, in my book constitute such a reason.

No – I believe in discrimination where there is a sensible and rational reason to discriminate. I believe it is entirely appropriate to take active steps to undermine those who spread hatred and incite violence against others. I believe that when a religious group incites hatred and incites violence they are no better than terrorists. I am not naive enough to think that there is any real possibility that the United States will mobilize to crush these “terrorists”, but I do believe it is entirely appropriate to undermine their hateful messages with education and propaganda designed to create a more tolerant and peaceful society.

I’m sorry you don’t find it plausible that such methods could help contribute to a better society for everyone, but hatred doesn’t simply spontaneously appear. It is born of indoctrination, misinformation and fear-mongering. It cannot be eradicated entirely by projects designed to promote education and understanding, but such projects have, in the past, proven very successful at making a sizable dent. Certainly they will accomplish more than hate crime legislation ever will.

As for not believing my solution could be put into practice – it already has been. Admittedly there are small scale examples, often funded by non-profit organizations in cities around the country, but projects aimed at promoting tolerance and understanding have helped reduce crime motivated by hatred in the past. The majority of examples tend to lean towards racial tolerance and understanding, but there is absolutely no reason why the same could not be accomplished for the gay community.

Indeed, I have heard plenty of stories from people involved with various GSA groups who have encountered bigots, and who have helped those bigots move towards a more tolerant viewpoint. Now, I’m not claiming that I have a magic pill that is going to solve all our problems, but when you hear about the real achievements of such projects you have to wonder why so many struggle to find the money they need to continue their good works.

Perhaps it is because time, effort and funds are being diverted to ensure the passage of hate crime legislation that will ultimately accomplish far less.

And for the record, sweetie, the Constitution DOESN’T actually protect your right to believe whatever you want. It provides you with limited freedom of religion, speech and expression, but there are numerous laws curbing those particular rights. I’m afraid the idea of “freedom” is a myth. You only have as much freedom as your Government allows you to have, and if that same Government is perfectly happy to wage war against foreign terrorists, it can damn well take action against the domestic terror groups that operate under the guise of religion spreading hatred, inciting violence and abusing their own “Constitutional rights” to the detriment of ours. The fact that the Government chooses not to act does not mean that it is unable to do so.

In a six months, democrats are not going to want to repeal the laws because it will be too close to the 2012 midterm elections, and they won’t want to work on the repeals until after they are re-elected to control both houses of congress in 2012. But what if the democrats lose control of the senate? Then we won’t have a chance of repealing DADT and DOMA. Don’t assume democrats are going to be there forever. So people demanding action now are not being impatient, they are being practical. And democrats now are the government, so we need to be critical of the government.

But more importantly, gays should not be happy to go to the back of the line for two simple repeals. Our civil rights are not less important than other issues.

“I’m sorry, but positive discrimination is still discrimination in my book” -Isaac

Indeed.

And sometimes positive discrimination is an attempt to make those on the lower end of the ladder in society, just because of an inherent characteristic in their design that they didn’t choose, feel like they’re part of this great civilization. That they shouldn’t fear living their lives however they see fit.
Such as expressed by one of the great founders of this nation,
“We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. -Thomas Jefferson

And that includes freedom to believe in whatever. It also allows me the freedom if I so choose, to believe in the Easter Bunny. And I’m glad that we have a system in place to make that possible for those who want to.

Disclaimer: I do not believe/ Worship any of the following the Easter Bunny, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Santa Claus, the axis of evil, the bermuda triangle, Satan, Tom Cruise, Oprah, God, Jehovah, Elo Heim, The Alpha and the Omega, Suri Cruise, The Tooth Fairyetc, etc, etc, etc……

That even if my personal views, and yours don’t mesh well together, the gov’t cannot dictate what we ought to believe as was the main goal of the founders of this country.
Read Constitution.

So in conclusion, though I may agree with you on the root cause of this widespread that exist in our society. I do not believe your suggested solution could be put into practice. Simply put, Good Luck with that chief:)

“I want everything and I want it now! If I don’t get everything I want right now, I’m going to throw a hissy fit!”

Grow up and be an adult and take some responsibility. He doesn’t write them, they come to him. Why don’t you get your congressmen to deliver the bills and he will sign them.

We are in the middle of the great recession, massive health care reform that effects the majority of Americans and two wars. He has only been in office 9 months and many post here sound like a bunch of self-centered impatient children who only care about themselves.

Remember, HRC preident Joe Somomonese said don’t judge Obama until January of 2017. That came from a top of the gay power elite! They only want to you write letters to congress, and fall in line. Well, don’t fall in line, start asking why gays went to the end of the line. We have Federal hate legislation on the books. This is America, so they must come off the books NOW. Obama does not have to conjure anything so wondrous and healing for millions or a trillion dollars, he just have to drop two hate laws.

When Obama wanted highly complex legislation — trillion dollar bank bailout? — it appeared on his desk — almost as though be magic? People, please just think — where is that magic for us? Bankers didn’t have to go take a civics class on the legislative process; they got magic.

What if the reason that we get no magic, is because gays and lesbians have such low expectaions of the governemnt, that they have stopped believing that they can make a difference?

Complain about Obama. He has a direct line to Congress, don’t worry. He will get to them much faster than you can. How do I know that? I didn’t learn it in civics, I saw it on the news when he seems to get everything done in months that he WANTS done. Obama can achieve much more difficult tasks than two repeals when he wants to wave his magic want — reorganization of the health care sector? So start asking tough questions, and start using cirical thinking, instead of buying everything the HRC and Obama tell you. They have sold us down the river for now for other parts of the governemnt’s agenda. But they may lose the midterms, and then DADT and DOMA will never be repealed. So keep asking hard questions.

And I would like to believe in the Easter Bunny, but I’ve never seen the little f*cker.

Sorry, but hate crime legislation was most certainly not born of the idea that all Americans are equal. I’m sure there are very few people in this world who operate under that delusion. Hate crime legislation was created because while America (and indeed other countries where such legislation has been implemented, including the nation where the concept originated) embraces its prejudices, embraces the inequality in society its laws encourage, embraces the hatred its major religions spread, it really doesn’t like it when that hatred manifests, because then it finds it is forced to take a good long look in the mirror.

Solution? Instead of acknowledging that there is something inherently wrong with one’s society and attempting to tackle the widespread hatred and prejudice, it’s much easier to introduce laws so when the hatred and prejudice society and the government both encourage and embrace manifests in violent action, it’s so much easier to avoid looking into that mirror. After all, you have strict laws to punish the perpetrators – what else do you need to do?

Sorry, but as I’ve said elsewhere hate crime legislation is a band aid on a gaping wound, and I would much rather see money spent attempting to tackle the causes of hatred, attempting to undermine those religious groups who insist on spreading prejudice, attempting to educate young people so that we can slowly work towards a society where hate crime legislation is entirely unnecessary, than waste money on laws that allow closeted bigots to look at themselves in the mirror and create an illusion of safety for people who are no less vulnerable today than they were yesterday.