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ok man... well, to be honest I dont think you'll ever convince me that arming people is a good idea, and I guess I'm not going to convince you that it is a bad idea... Im very willing to have the argument, but this thread is about something else, and Im not going to get into who started this distraction.. but lets get back to the point of this argument - which I dont think gun ownership has a geninely specific relationship to.
I know for a fact gay people do face a lot of problems and a lot of prejudice, that there are still incidents of homophobic violence that sometimes have fatal results, but for most homosexuals, they will experience bullying, isolating, censorship and enforced self-censorship; that the educational and media systems contain institutional prejudice against gay people, thay gay couples do not have equal human rights... these are things that must be addressed and that society cannot advance while such conditions exist.
I just am not sure that the refusal to speak is an appropriate gesture. I agree with other posters, that what is needed is communication, to reach out... to proclaim silence, on a personal level and if it occurs at a societal level, is an extremely strong statement... it is the same as declaring a state of mourning to me.... to refuse to speak is to on some level declare your opponents or the people you target as no longer fully alive (in a real or symbolic sense) - and again, I would call upon the gay community to open dialouge, not close it, to ask for acceptance, not to reject society (although when one feels rejected I can understand the logic of rejection)
As a society, the conditions that allow same sex relationships are not afforded the same legal or moral digtnity as different sex relationships is unacceptable. Such sentiments shall not be tolerated and must be ceaselessly berated and attacked.
The conditions that create bullying in the school and workplace of gay people must be attacked - and by the majority who stay silent but disapprove, they must be attacked.
But you do not change society by becoming separate from it... and in small sense, I think this is what the "day of silence" aims at... and I hope and believe, that the general society can be reformed, and must not be rejected.
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"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."
The Gospel of Thomas
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