One reporter reacts to JKR's revelations

[Carol]

Del wrote:
> Let me be clear: many (most?) people who have a problem of any kind
with homosexuality do NOT condone or support harrassing, attacking, 
or in any other way actively victimising gays. Saying "they have a
problem with homosexuality, so they belong in the same category as
those who would have all gays killed or who think that God hates gays"
is WRONG, and yes, bigoted and prejudiced IMO.

Carol responds:
Exactly. Thinking that something is wrong for whatever reason (and the
reasons aren't always related to religion--I suspect that the
prevalence of AIDS among male homosexuals is another such reason, or
perhaps the belief that same-sex love is one thing and same-sex sexual
activity another) is not at all the same thing as hating and attacking
homosexual men or lesbians. It's like saying that all of the millions
of fundamentalist Christians and other moral conservatives who oppose
abortion bomb abortion clinics. Only a tiny minority of those who
believe that abortion is wrong would resort to murder to punish the
"sinners" who perform or receive abortions. Even if abortion is murder
(and I'm not expressing my own beliefs here), committing additional
murders is not the way to stop it. Two wrongs (in the case of bombing
abortion clinics, a grievous wrong) don't make a right. But
*believing* that abortion or homosexuality or the death penalty or
whatever is wrong is a matter of opinion. And we all have the right to
hold and to express our opinions, so long as we don't engage in
insults or namecalling. We can't force others to share our views by
labeling other people's views as wrong or bigoted or intolerant or
immoral. Neither side will persuade the other by hurting the others'
feelings.

I caught a bit of a news report the other day about people objecting
to a guest speaker who claimed to have been "cured" of homosexuality.
I didn't catch the whole story or the man's name so I can't provide
any details, but surely that man has the right to speak and be
listened to even by people who think that homosexuality is inborn, so
the man must be "wrong" about his own experiences? Whatever happened
to freedom of speech or to true tolerance, the willingness to listen
to ideas we find repugnant (and I'm not talking about proposals to
murder those we disagree with or bring down governments we oppose,
only beliefs and opinions that conflict with our own)?

And to Susan: No one on this list has said that you don't have every
right to love your partner. Of course you do. From a Christian
perspective (and I'm only an ex-Episcopalian, so I'm not speaking for
myself exactly), we should all love one another, including those we
disagree with.

Carol, trying to play peacemaker and understanding why her mother used
to tell her never to talk about sex, religion, or politics (a rule my
mother now breaks rather frequently herself with regard to the latter
two items) :-)