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Monday, October 28, 2002 @ 10:37 PM
Tonight, I went to the Bloomington City Council meeting. Because the town of Bloomington tonight considered whether or not to amend the town human rights ordinance to include protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation. It was an educational experience. There was nothing new about the arguments laid out by Jyl (yay David's mom!) and the rest of the pro-ordinance speakers. I'm relatively familiar with the pro-human rights platform. What was eye opening was to hear the arguments against the ordinance - in other words, to see with my own eyes the living breathing reasons that the community needs this legislation. The opposing arguments never moved beyond the Helen Lovejoy Fallacy ("Won't somebody please think of the children?") and backlash (thank you Reagan). I don't think that hate was even a factor for the people who spoke. But the opposite of love isn't hate, it's fear. The opposite of respect isn't contempt, it's ignorance. If the opposing side had truly understood what was being debated, I think they would have found themselves on the winning side (aka OURS).
Tonight illustrated a fundamental truth which I think people sometimes forget, namely: there's a difference between radical and extreme.
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