Somehow, when I read about the likes of Proposition 8 supporters and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wringing their hands publicly about democracy being destroyed by political advocates forced to live in fear, I can't help feeling that there's only one side of the divide that they're worried about. I have no doubt that advocates of Proposition 8, the initiative that banned gay marriage in California, have been subject to verbal and physical harassment--or worse. I yield to no one in categorically condemning such acts.
However, part of the reason I feel that way is that I have seen verbal and physical harassment--or worse--directed at gays and lesbians, as well as their supporters in the straight community (disclosure: one of my relatives lives an openly lesbian lifestyle). And, try though I may, I have yet to hear the condemnation of that harassment from Justice Scalia and the Proposition 8 crowd.
Democracy is for everyone, or it is for no one. And the measure of your love of freedom is your willingness to stand up for the freedom of others, not your own. If you are going to pride yourself on your toughness in the meantime, you should be fully prepared to receive whatever you dish out. Otherwise, you leave yourself open to the judgment contained in this post's title.
That doesn't make me a hypocrite, folks. It just makes me someone yearning for more people who, like Voltaire, will disagree with what I say, but will defend to the death my right to say it.
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