srparedon – editorials (archive)

June 2007

On May 3, the US House voted to extend existing federal hate-crime law to include crimes committed because of a victim’s gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

Predictably, many gay groups lauded the vote, and are rallying to advance companion legislation in the Senate.

Such enthusiasm is woefully misplaced. While hate-crime laws may provide an irresistible organizing tool (for who wants to be positioned as being “for” hate?), they are a civil liberties disaster. The rights of the gay community, of all Americans, are better served by vigorous opposition to hate-crime laws and… Continue reading →

May 2007

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales personifies the incompetence, thuggery, and proto-fascistic tendencies that will mark the current administration as the worst-yet in American history. Sworn in to uphold the Constitution, Gonzales has instead dedicated himself to furthering the political interests of the Cheney/Bush cabal at the expense of both domestic and international law. He must go. If Gonzales will not resign, the Congress should impeach and convict him for abuse of power and gross incompetence.

When the then-Republican Senate approved Gonzales’s nomination in February of 2005, they did so knowing he favored abrogation of the Geneva… Continue reading →

April 2007

Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union trumpeted its victory in a New Jersey courtroom. The ACLU had asked the state's Supreme Court to rule that existing anti-discrimination laws outlawed "biased-based" bullying or harassment of students. In a decision hailed by many gay groups, the Court agreed, and issued a ruling intended "to reinforce the basic principle that student-on-student sexual harassment is unacceptable."

It is easy to be sympathetic with the plaintiff, identified only as "L.W." Taunted relentlessly as early as the fourth grade with epithets such as "gay," "homo," and "fag," L.W.'s junior high and high school experience… Continue reading →

March 2007

Often, presidential bellicosity and mendacity go unchecked. Both Congress and the American public all-too-dutifully fall in line behind their commander-in-chief when sabers are rattled and the supposed atrocities of "the enemy" trumpeted. Banking on this deference to the executive, the Bush/Cheney administration launched the Iraq War, the centerpiece of their "perpetual" war on terror, with an orchestrated barrage of deceitful propaganda calculated to inflame the populace. Aided by a domestic press both complacent and complicit, Americans were fed a litany of concocted excuses as to why people needed to die and a trillion dollars be wasted. And fear was… Continue reading →

February 2007

Last month, police in Knoxville, Tennessee, arrested 15 men after an undercover sting operation in a park popular with cruisers. Most of those arrested were charged with "indecent exposure." Local media reported the names and ages of those arrested, and Knoxville politicians pontificated about the need to make city parks "safe for families." Those arrested face hefty fines and legal fees as well as possible jail time and lifelong registration as "sexually dangerous persons."

Careful consideration of police actions, media coverage, and community response to the cruising crackdown reveals that much work remains in the struggle for gay liberation.… Continue reading →

January 2007

The opening years of the 21st century demonstrate how Enlightenment ideals of tolerance and personal autonomy cannot be taken for granted. Fundamentalists are resurgent in the Muslim world, while evangelical Christians now pull the levers of superpower in Washington, DC.

Whenever factions imagine themselves in possession of absolute truth or the one and only way to please God, the resulting intolerance is sure to bring oppression. That is why the American Founders sought to keep religious certitudes out of necessarily uncertain, ever-compromising secular government. People should be free to run their own lives with whatever… Continue reading →