Why a 'Gay' Activist Columnist at The Washington Times?

Culture & Family Institute of CWA ^ | 12/18/2002 | Peter LaBarbera

[RAT Patrol]

Oh chill, will you? I said they had the right to carry him. I'm not asking for gov't mandates on the issue. But I'm entitled to pick and choose what I support. It's a big issue to me. As are taxes, abortion, guns, etc...

How about a gay publication that carried Jerry Falwell? Would you subscribe? The WTimes is not balanced on any other issue; why this one? I will not help anyone promote this immorality. It is a matter of conscience to me.

[Howlin]

Charming.

[Remedy]

when and where have these laws been enforced?

Homosexuals Demand Legalization of Sex With Strangers in Public Parks

[eno_]

It is your absolute right to disagree and cancel your subscription. But maybe you should take the time to see if this is some "endorsement" of a "gay lifestyle" or if Andrew Sullivan is a conservative who has made different life choices from your's. There is a big difference.

[Remedy]

when and where have these laws been enforced?

Supreme Court Of The United States,No. 99-699 Boy Scouts Of America And Monmouth Council, Et Al., Petitioners V.James Dale

[LO_IQ]

The Wash Times is a conspiracy by the Moonies to destroy America < /sarcasm>

[gcruse]

working day and night to impose your "values" on everyone else by force of law.

You mean like the Religious Right, as exemplified by TVC,
drugwarriors, 'there is no freedom from [my] religion,' etc. etc.  etc?

[Remedy]

when and where have these laws been enforced?

Hundreds rally for '10 Commandments judge'

"They have objected to my behavior as a judge because I reference the moral foundation of the law when we talked about sodomy, when we talked about adultery, when we talked about separation of church and state. I go back to the legal history that we have here in Alabama, our court case precedents, and the foundations of law to show that these things comport with the Scriptures from which we get our moral foundation."

Gay rights organizations in Alabama and Washington, including Equality Begins at Home of Central Alabama, are calling for Moore's resignation, accusing him of using "right-wing rhetoric and far right religious dogma to justify homophobia and execution of homosexuals."

The effort is in response to the Alabama high court's unanimous decision to reject a lesbian mother's child custody petition. Moore wrote a separate concurring opinion, repudiating homosexuality on religious grounds, calling it "abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature and of nature's God."

[Remedy]

when and where have these laws been enforced?

Because of the nature of the crime, the penalties for the act of sodomy were often severe. For example, Thomas Jefferson indicated that in his home state of Virginia, "dismemberment" of the offensive organ was the penalty for sodomy. ⁷ In fact, Jefferson himself authored a bill penalizing sodomy by castration. ⁸ The laws of the other states showed similar or even more severe penalties:

That the detestable and abominable vice of buggery [sodomy] . . . shall be from henceforth adjudged felony . . . and that every person being thereof convicted by verdict, confession, or outlawry [unlawful flight to avoid prosecution], shall be hanged by the neck until he or she shall be dead. ⁹ NEW YORK

That if any man shall lie with mankind as he lieth with womankind, both of them have committed abomination; they both shall be put to death. ¹⁰ CONNECTICUT

Sodomy . . . shall be punished by imprisonment at hard labour in the penitentiary during the natural life or lives of the person or persons convicted of th[is] detestable crime. ¹¹ GEORGIA

That if any man shall commit the crime against nature with a man or male child . . . every such offender, being duly convicted thereof in the Supreme Judicial Court, shall be punished by solitary imprisonment for such term not exceeding one year and by confinement afterwards to hard labor for such term not exceeding ten years. ¹² MAINE

That if any person or persons shall commit sodomy . . . he or they so offending or committing any of the said crimes within this province, their counsellors, aiders, comforters, and abettors, being convicted thereof as above said, shall suffer as felons. ¹³ [And] shall forfeit to the Commonwealth all and singular the lands and tenements, goods and chattels, whereof he or she was seized or possessed at the time . . . at the discretion of the court passing the sentence, not exceeding ten years, in the public gaol or house of correction of the county or city in which the offence shall have been committed and be kept at such labor. ¹⁴ PENNSYLVANIA

[T]he detestable and abominable vice of buggery [sodomy] . . . be from henceforth adjudged felony . . . and that the offenders being hereof convicted by verdict, confession, or outlawry [unlawful flight to avoid prosecution], shall suffer such pains of death and losses and penalties of their goods. ¹⁵ SOUTH CAROLINA

That if any man lieth with mankind as he lieth with a woman, they both shall suffer death. ¹⁶ VERMONT

8. Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew A. Lipscomb, editor (Washington, D. C.: Thomas Jefferson M emorial Association, 1904), Vol. I, pp. 226-227, from Jefferson's "For Proportioning Crimes and Punishments."
9. Laws of the State of New-York . . . Since the Revolution (New York: Thomas Greenleaf, 1798), Vol. I, p. 336.
10. The Public Statute Laws of the State of Connecticut (Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, 1808), Book I, p. 295.
11. A Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia (Milledgeville: Grantland & Orme, 1822), p. 350.
12. Laws of the State of Maine (Hallowell: Goodale, Glazier & Co., 1822), p. 58.
13. Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: John Bioren, 1810), Vol. I, p. 113.
14. Collinson Read, An Abridgment of the Laws of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1801), p. 279.
15. Alphabetical Digest of the Public Statute Laws of South-Carolina (Charleston: John Hoff, 1814), Vol. I, p. 99.
16. Statutes of the State of Vermont (Bennington, 1791), p. 74.

[RAT Patrol]

I've read enough of Sullivan to know he's not all THAT conservative on issues that matter to me. I'd rather not know about his sex life to tell you the truth. He has made it my business so I'm just saying I do not support the gay agenda in any way, shape, or form. Period. Forever and ever.

[sonofatpatcher2]

Re: Why a 'Gay' Activist Columnist at The Washington Times?

Well, it is the Season to don our gay apparel...

[JonH]

I got the message that you feel strongly about this issue and have gathered a lot of data on the subject. I am not pro-gay, nor do I support the gay community's efforts to impose their life style on others. Regardless, I have a question. How is this rant different than the gay's effort to keep Dr. Laura off TV. Were we against the program to silence that voice?

[shrinkermd]

"The penalties for violating sodomy laws in the USA:Idaho, 5 years to life;Oklahoma, 20 years;Michigan, 15 years;Mississippi, 10 years;Puerto Rico, 8 - 20 years;Louisiana, 5 years/$2000;South Carolina, 5 years/$500; North Carolina, 3 years;Virginia, 1-5 years;Alabama, 1 year/$2000;Missouri, 1 year/$1000;Kansas, 6 months/$1000;Utah, 6 months/$299;Florida, 60 days/$500;Texas, $500

Which of these states has imposed these draconian penalties and when? That is the question. Your personal views are important but they aren't the law of the land.

[cruiserman]

It's a sad commentary on our times that today a person is probably more likely to be fired or disciplined at his job for opposing homosexuality than for being homosexual.

Seems more like a way of increasing the Times's circulation by appealing to gay readers.

[ken5050]

Every Thursday morning when I open my Wall Street Journal, I neatly cut out Al Hunt's column, crumple it up, and flush it down the john...without reading it.....been doing it for years...it's very theraputic..

[Remedy]

How is this rant different than the gay's effort to keep Dr. Laura off TV.

Compassionate Society Should Discourage Deadly Homosexual Behavior

[VRW Conspirator]

I believe in live and let live. I think that most Americans do, also. The hang ups I have with the gay activists is their political agenda and their deafing silence on child predators. A sizeable number of molestations are by gay men. There are even gay activists who are pushing for more than just tolerance, they are advocating acceptance to the point of special minority status. Some gay activists are even driving the agenda of lowering the age of consent.

All in all, the gay activists are largely anti-Christianity. Having a half a dozen or so verses in the Bible that speak against homosexuality is the primary reason. The agenda by these gay acivists here is to neutralize Christian belief and moral implementation. The Christian ethic is the biggest single factor for America being Great and that is what they are attacking.

[Remedy]

Which of these states has imposed these draconian penalties and when?

Lawrence v. Texas, 41 SW.3d 349 (2001)

[JonH]

Sorry...your canned link response does not support a case for censorship for either side of the issue. Trying to silence a voice has almost nothing to do with discouraging behavior whether deadly or just disagreeable.

[Remedy]

The Christian ethic is the biggest single factor for America being Great and that is what they are attacking.

Sept. 2, 2000 ,Volume 15, Number 34 WORLD ON THE WEB, Marvin Olasky

...For example, the word homophobia smogged up the air over the Democratic convention in Los Angeles last week, as we learned once again that a man who criticizes homosexuality on biblical grounds is trying to repress his true desire to plant a big sloppy kiss on the dude next door.

...That's why Rabbi Lapin's fearless statement makes sense: "Those of us who venerate freedom, be we Jewish or Christian, be we religious or secularized, have no option but to pray for the health of Christianity in America. No other group possesses both the faith and the numbers sufficient to hold back the ever-encroaching, sometimes sinister, power of the state."