Within in minutes of posting my NOH8 photo to a social media site I received a negative comment. The author said, “I think that your cause would better served, by not labeling those who disagree with your position as haters, just saying.” In this person’s analogy, I won’t label folks that support segregation as racists. I obviously failed to recognize the new trend in combating social evil with the strategy of “coddling the oppressor.”
If you don’t think that the people that beat the Matthew Shepherd to death, punch people, spit on them and yell epithets don’t have hate in their heart, you are a seriously misguided individual. The NOH8 campaign grew out of the irrational and hysterical comments coming from supporters of the Proposition 8 which banned same-sex marriages.
Government “green lights” discrimination
Once bigotry and racism are codified in government code, it gives de facto approval to citizens to hate the people targeted by the legislation. If you don’t attend the school you are assigned based on color, report to the internment camp as told because of your ancestry or if you ask to vote when you are not the correct gender, defined by the law, you are deemed unpatriotic, agitator, deviant and hated.
Welcome Mr. Dictator
The mere suggestion that I should avoid terms of truth in deference for some antiquated notion of civility towards the oppressor and perpetrator reveals a privileged and insulated ignorance. Not to call out those seeking to deny same-sex couples the right to marry is similar to saying the genocide will stop when the oppressed stop referring to their oppressors as killers.
Harboring ignorance
Are all people that agree with Proposition 8 “haters”? No. But there are plenty of supporters that are motivated by hate and that can not be tolerated on any level. For its part, the NOH8 campaign is very positive and docile. I can think of far more militant and reactionary actions to take. The message of the NOH8 campaign is simple; harboring an irrational hatred and fear of people that pose no threat to your life and liberty is not an acceptable means of determining public policy that affects your neighbor.