Dear AlGoreisRich,

In Christ's name I lay before you the memory of teenager Billy Lucas who hung himself a couple of months ago because of bullying from his classmates who thought he was gay.

In Christ's name I lay before you the memory of 13 year old Asher Brown who, soon after Billy, shot himself after severe bullying from his classmates. Asher had only recently told his parents he was gay.

In Christ's name I lay before you the memory of another 13 year old, Seth Watson, a gay lad who, after merciless bullying at school, killed himself a few days after Asher.

In Christ's name I lay before you the memory of Eric Mohah, a teen who killed himself after being relentlessly called a 'gay', 'fag', 'homo' by his schoolmates.

In Christ's name I lay before you the memory of Meredith Rezak, from the same school, who killed herself after coming out as gay and being subsequently tormented by her peers. She attended the same school as Eric.

It is surely already extremely hard for gay teenagers having to deal with homophobic attitudes all around them, imagine attempting it without the support of parents, in this case adoptive ones.

The fundamentalist Christian right in the US is dead against anti-bullying legislation proposed by Senator Bob Casey and Congresswoman Linda Sanchez designed in part to stop the type of religiously fuelled, violent homophobia that has claimed these and so many other young lives.

The Safe Schools Improvement Act would force federally funded schools to implement specific policies prohibiting bullying based on; “student’s actual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion”.

Fundamentalist religious groups led by Focus on the Family want sexual orientation and gender identity excluded as it “would lay the foundation for codifying sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes” and “open the door to teaching about homosexuality as early as kindergarten.”.

You sir are a committed instigator, perpetrator and admirer of this profanity. In Christ's name I would ask you to stop.

Proxy,

Your twisted logic in comparing incest and paedophilia with homosexuality is flawed in so many ways.

A century ago, interracial marriage was illegal, also shooting aborigines was not punishable, and recently it was OK to remove children based on race, and women were barred from most employment.

Do you still support these laws? You can't have it both ways.

There is a need to get rid of bias in law based on race, religion and gender. Laws based on preventing harm to individuals, such as theft, murder, paedophilia, and incest are fundamentally different, and are unlikely ever to be reviewed.

One more for your list, Shadow Minister.

>>A century ago, interracial marriage was illegal, also shooting aborigines was not punishable, and recently it was OK to remove children based on race, and women were barred from most employment.<<

A century before that, you could be hanged in London for stealing a loaf of bread. When they decided to create convict settlements instead, Australia was born.

Dear CSteele...

In Christs name...I rebuke and pronounce a "WOE UNTO" those who BULLY!

All of the incidents you mentioned resulted from "bullying". I don't see what that has to do with the issue of a progressive "Let's GET all those Christians" which is emerging as a clearly identifiable pattern in U.K. LAW. (did you listen to the lecture I linked to?)

You seem to be trying to use a red herring and subjective emotion to be persuasive?

Sorry.. when was the last time a Gay Club manager was fined GBP$47,000 just for refusing to employ a heterosexual doorman?

I can show you EXACTLY when a Christian bishop was fined that much for simply stating his convictions and following due process in the refusal of employment to a gay man as a youth worker.

If you have issues with Gays being bullied....ATTACK BULLYING as an issue... please don't try to derail the discussion by emotive anecdotes. (we can both play that game as you see above)

PERICLES... to the rescue :)

Those issues demonstrate the need to clearly identify which is truly Biblical and Christian and what is not. *Thanx*

Proxy... yes the mind truly boggles.

SM "Incest/Paedophilia/Homosexuality" (Let's not forget 'Bestiality')

"Twisted Logic?" you're not serious...are you ? Perhaps you are insane? ('that' is how 'Liberal/progressives' described the NeoCons when they (Neocons) as liberals realized where progressivism was heading and got OUT FASSST)
Calling Proxie's logic 'twisted' is tantamount to such an accusation.

I'm afraid your usually astute political analysis has not translated into the area of morality and specially the need for a moral anchor for human behavior. Those things have been recognized as socially/morally harmful from the days of Noah. They were then..they are now..and will be for eternity.

Your wife sounds lovely Philo; this does not mean she ever worked within a system that did anything other than profit from the children she cared for.

http://newmatilda.com/2009/07/13/child-abuse-australia-different

http://www.forgottenaustralians.org.au/aboutFas.htm

http://www.bensoc.org.au/uploads/documents/living-at-scarba-may2006.pdf

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/kevin-rudd-defends-handling-of-child-abuse/story-fn6rcok7-1225939943110

http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/victims-demand-full-inquiry-on-abuse-by-churches-charities/story-e6frg6nf-1225954629242

http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/minilist.htm

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/malcolm-turnbull-apology-to-forgotten-australians/story-e6frgczf-1225798266117

http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/clac_ctte/completed_inquiries/1999-02/child_migrat/report/index.htm

http://www.clan.org.au/news_details.php?newsID=342

http://www.cis.org.au/media-information/opinion-pieces/article/2181-child-protection-underbelly-sells-out-at-risk-kids

http://www.ncoss.org.au/resources/100817-CCC%20Flyer-(updated).pdf
(not sure why this ones needs to be cut and pasted to work)

A “child” is a young person from 0 – 18 in every state but Victoria (I think) where they are 0 – 17. Gay couples foster straight children, straight couples foster gay ones, Christians foster Muslims, any way round you want to put it is the way it happens here.

But individual families are a whole different thing from the giant Religo Companies controlling foster care aren’t they?

<<The Safe Schools Improvement Act>> is an initiative of Obama's Safe Schools czar and radical homosexual activist Kevin Jennings.

Here's what the Washington Times said about him:

"Mr. Jennings brings all the sleaze of Mr. Foley. Sex and the underaged? Check. An older man? Check. Potential misbehavior by a government official? Check.
And the Jennings case brings a lot more: A "safe schools czar" who failed to report a statutory rape? An education leader who encouraged a 15-year-old student to be comfortable with sexual abuse? A federal official who ignored a law requiring him to report even the possibility of a crime?"
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/29/sex-scandal-double-standard/

"Jennings told the student to make sure "to use a condom" in his activities"
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=111347

Somehow the links between homosexual activism and paedophilia always float to the surface, like scum in a cesspit.

"Jennings, the founder of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), presided over the 2000 Boston “Fistgate” scandal in which homosexual adults – at a GLSEN-sponsored youth workshop on “Queer Sex & Sexuality” — guided young teenagers on how to engage in perversions including the horrifying “gay” fetish known as “fisting,” in which a man inserts his arm up the anal cavity of another man.
GLSEN and Jennings never issued an apology for “Fistgate,” but instead criticized Scott Whiteman, the parent who secretly taped it, for violating the students’ privacy."

"In 1995, he gave a speech in which he described how he has used the concept of "safety" in schools to promote homosexual advocacy in public schools in Massachusetts....In the speech, Jennings described how he was concerned about being described as promoting homosexuality, so he chose to campaign on the idea of "safety" instead."
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=109556

Pretending to be concerned about child safety while actually promoting homosexuality.
Who would have thought?