Here's what I need to have explained to me: what, precisely, goes wrong in the minds of certain people that leads them to think it's a great idea to beat up a total stranger?
And yes, I feel confident saying these were total strangers, because the man who was most recently attacked, C, is a friend of my family. He is one of the sweetest, gentlest people you'd ever have the pleasure to meet; there's not a mean bone in his body. To know him, truly, is to love him. No one who knew C even casually would ever be tempted to do him physical harm. So these had to be strangers.
C is also having difficulty trying to understand what went wrong in the minds of the attackers who beat him and broke his nose. "They must have some real issues they're dealing with. I feel sorry for them," he is reported to have commented to his boss.
You know what? I believe people can have legitimate differences of opinion regarding issues of moral behavior as applied to human sexual expression, because there are numerous ideas about what constitutes moral sexual behavior. But I don't think anyone is ever justified in beating up another human being because of his or her sexual orientation. That is one idea I don't have any trouble labeling as categorically wrong. (Call me judgmental, if you must. I don't care.)
That's terrible! It's so heartbreaking to hear of such base acts of hate.
ReplyDeleteI like the following quote from the news article you linked to:
"Burbank said people should be outraged about the recent beatings, but not because the victims were gay. People should be outraged because there was violence committed against a member of the community."