Comments on: Homosexual activists target, expose pro-family voters http://thomascwaters.com/2009/05/02/homosexual-activists-target-expose-pro-family-voters/ The Source for Queer News, Info, and Commentary in Pennsylvania Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:17 +0000 hourly 1 By: admin http://thomascwaters.com/2009/05/02/homosexual-activists-target-expose-pro-family-voters/comment-page-1/#comment-941 admin Tue, 05 May 2009 12:00:35 +0000 http://thomascwaters.com/?p=1397#comment-941 Rob, I can tell you exactly how I would feel if Focus on the Family published a list of names of people who signed a public petition. I'd be fine with it. Part of why I can say that is that I have been the recipient of hate mail and death threats simply for being who I am. That was almost 15 years ago. But I learned a valuable lesson through that experience, and here I am today writing a public blog. Your story about firefighters is very strong support for why laws need to be changed to provide full protection for GLBTQ people. Why the names of people who place the security of their personal feelings and prejudices above the health, safety, and well being of others must be challenged. Rob,
I can tell you exactly how I would feel if Focus on the Family published a list of names of people who signed a public petition. I’d be fine with it. Part of why I can say that is that I have been the recipient of hate mail and death threats simply for being who I am. That was almost 15 years ago. But I learned a valuable lesson through that experience, and here I am today writing a public blog.

Your story about firefighters is very strong support for why laws need to be changed to provide full protection for GLBTQ people. Why the names of people who place the security of their personal feelings and prejudices above the health, safety, and well being of others must be challenged.

]]> By: Rob http://thomascwaters.com/2009/05/02/homosexual-activists-target-expose-pro-family-voters/comment-page-1/#comment-927 Rob Sun, 03 May 2009 00:22:16 +0000 http://thomascwaters.com/?p=1397#comment-927 "As free speech, one loses the right to hide one’s identity surrounding that speech given that the document is a public document." Bzzzzz! Wrong! Now, ok, on a petition, yes--it doesn't make any sense any other way than the name being known. But free speech itsef does not mean you lose the ability to stay anonymous. There are any number of court cases that say that--a lot of them involving bloggers. If you'd phrased it differently-- signing a petition causes you to lose anonymity--then I would agree with you. To a point. Reading the actual article, I'm reminded of the extreme pro-lifers who put the names of doctors and nurses who perform abortions on the Internet. The point of putting the names up on the Internet smells like an invitation to any nutcase to go after these people with an assault rifle or home-improvised explosive device. I was on the wrong end of this once. Firefighters in the station our ambulance was based at were harassing my crew because they were female and some of them were black and some of them were lesbian and some of them may or may not have been lesbian. Unable to get the firefighters to stop the harassment, I went through the chain of command trying to get help. One guy, more interested in whether one person was a lesbian or not than in stopping the harassment informed the fire department who it was that was complaining. I was doing search and rescue in a house on fire and my partner disappeared. He realized the firefighters doing fire suppression were the ones who knew I was complaining about them. That's pretty much the day I decided to get out of that line of work. Technically, my complaints were public. The public nature was "emphasized" as a way to try to get me to stop complaining and permit the sexual, sexual orientation and racial harassment to continue. I wouldn't back down. I wanted to, believe me, but Jesus said that what I did for others was what I did--or didn't do for Him. I was forced to quit a job I loved for my own safety, but I never backed down from testifying. Had I not been willing to testify, the case never would have gone to the Pittsburgh Human Relations Commission. We won. But... Everyone knew what it cost me for us to win. The next crew chief whose crew got harassed--what do you think he or she did? So maybe I've got some horses in this race. But ask yourself how you'd feel about Focus on the Family pulling this stunt against people who were signing petitions in favor of gay marriage and/or adoption? “As free speech, one loses the right to hide one’s identity surrounding that speech given that the document is a public document.”

Bzzzzz! Wrong! Now, ok, on a petition, yes–it doesn’t make any sense any other way than the name being known. But free speech itsef does not mean you lose the ability to stay anonymous. There are any number of court cases that say that–a lot of them involving bloggers. If you’d phrased it differently– signing a petition causes you to lose anonymity–then I would agree with you.

To a point. Reading the actual article, I’m reminded of the extreme pro-lifers who put the names of doctors and nurses who perform abortions on the Internet. The point of putting the names up on the Internet smells like an invitation to any nutcase to go after these people with an assault rifle or home-improvised explosive device.

I was on the wrong end of this once. Firefighters in the station our ambulance was based at were harassing my crew because they were female and some of them were black and some of them were lesbian and some of them may or may not have been lesbian. Unable to get the firefighters to stop the harassment, I went through the chain of command trying to get help. One guy, more interested in whether one person was a lesbian or not than in stopping the harassment informed the fire department who it was that was complaining.

I was doing search and rescue in a house on fire and my partner disappeared. He realized the firefighters doing fire suppression were the ones who knew I was complaining about them. That’s pretty much the day I decided to get out of that line of work.

Technically, my complaints were public. The public nature was “emphasized” as a way to try to get me to stop complaining and permit the sexual, sexual orientation and racial harassment to continue.

I wouldn’t back down. I wanted to, believe me, but Jesus said that what I did for others was what I did–or didn’t do for Him. I was forced to quit a job I loved for my own safety, but I never backed down from testifying. Had I not been willing to testify, the case never would have gone to the Pittsburgh Human Relations Commission.

We won. But…

Everyone knew what it cost me for us to win. The next crew chief whose crew got harassed–what do you think he or she did?

So maybe I’ve got some horses in this race. But ask yourself how you’d feel about Focus on the Family pulling this stunt against people who were signing petitions in favor of gay marriage and/or adoption?

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