-Homosexual "parades" featuring illegal activity, like public sex acts, should be shut down by law enforcement. These kinds of "parades" are also seriously counterproductive and I think gay activists are stupid to support them.
-ANYONE who tries to use the government to suppress speech they don't like is a loser, whether they are straight Muscovites or gay San Franciscans.
-Everyone has the right to peacefully express their disapproval of homosexuality. What's more, private individuals and businesses should be able to discriminate against homosexuals as much as they'd like.
I think we also agree that the response to the Moscow gay parade was out of line and heavy handed. We agree that there's nothing we can really do about it since this all went down in Russia.
The only point I'm trying to make is that it's wrong for FReepers to applaud government abuse simply because that abuse is directed against a group we don't like. I don't expect any FReepers to fly over to Moscow to join a demonstration; I don't expect them to even criticize the Moscow authorities. I just think they should have sense enough not to cheerlead police-state methods.
Do we really disagree on anything of substance at this point?
We agree on all those points.
You can tell the FReepers what they should think and say, but don’t expect them to listen to you. As I said to tlb, a lot of us are fed up.