Reply #8: Straight female here, with a gay daughter, [View All]

[murielm99]

and a gay sibling.

I have some investment. If anyone hurt my kid, they better hope that the courts take care of punishing them, instead of me.

That said, GLBT people and their allies have to guard against vigilantism and militia-like behavior. It is too dangerous. It could lead to some gang of homophobes coming to the neighborhood and cleaning out the gay militia. They would get away with it, too. We don't need street wars.

It would be better if each gay person knew how to defend themself, and knew how to use a weapon of some kind.

But what I would really like to see are some lawsuits. If some fool of a fundie preacher incited his flock against gays, and some of them beat up or killed a gay person, sue the preacher. Sue Jimmy Swaggart for suggesting that it is all right to kill a gay man, and then making a lukewarm apology for his remarks. Sue Falwell and Robertson. Even if the lawsuits were unsuccessful, they would draw some attention to the hate speech. It might make some people change their thinking.