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Actually, the point was not that the coiner of the term was gay, but that his taking up the fight against the Confederate flag had a motivation other than logic. Plus the fact that his scholarship on the subject was more emotional than logical based on his incessant conspiracy theorizing (and bizarre conspiracy theorizing I might add). This person is someone that journalists have gone to as an "expert" source. Very sloppy journalism because this guy is no James McPherson.

I don't expect, or ask, opponents to love the Confederate flag. I don't consider them as slime because they don't love the Confederate flag. All I ask is that the meaning it has for me, which has nothing to do with hate and a lot to do with family, be tolerated.

The opponents to the flag are unwilling to accept even this minimum and insist that anyone that has any respect for the flag is a hater and racist. That's intolerance and its also stereotyping.

The article you posted was interesting. I would like to point out that he mentions that most blacks are opposed to the flag. This is not the case as polls, depending how they are worded, show some level of ambivalence. As a Confederate reenactor we often have African-Americans attend our events and their questions and attitudes are indistingishable from those of caucasians. A couple of years ago we buried a Texas soldier whose bones were found in the woods. We had 5 African-American men who walked-in and were very respectful. We had several who attended an N.B. Forrest Memorial service and were respectful and treated respectfully.

This is not that complicated an issue. When you see someone with a Confederate flag yelling, wearing white hoods, or generally behaving evilly chances are they are racists and white supremacists. If the flag is on a soldiers memorial its there as a memorial to soldiers. If you see someone with a Confederate flag sticker on their car they are most likely just indicating a healthy dose of generalized rebellion against authority with no historical or racist conotations.

The flag has absolutely no meaning without context. Its meaning is determined by the minds of those displaying it. Offensiveness is established by the one carrying the flag, not the one viewing it.

I haven't commented much on the Confederate flag lately because I am more concerned with the American flag at the moment. But I have noticed that those people who have squirmed against the patriotic displays of the US flag following Sept. 11 are the same people who spit at me for display of the Confederate flag. The same rules designed to ban the Confederate flag from public places originally have been used to prevent display of the US flag at those same places (the business in Florida for example).