New York Times Editorial: Politically Crude/Washington Post Editorial: Politicians' intolerance help fuel climate of hate against gays and lesbians

New York Times Editorial: Politically Crude
Copyright by New York Times
Published: October 12, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/opinion/12tue2.html?th&emc=th


Carl Paladino’s bigoted remarks about gay people were bad enough by themselves — another dip in his low-road campaign for governor of New York. But when you consider his timing, they were shockingly irresponsible.

Mr. Paladino, the Republican nominee for governor, told a gathering in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Sunday that children should not be “brainwashed” into thinking that homosexuality is acceptable. He criticized his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, for marching in a gay pride parade earlier this year.

A week before Mr. Paladino’s comments, police say three men in the Bronx were tortured by a group of attackers who believed they were gay. On Oct. 1, Rutgers University held a memorial service for a student who killed himself after police said his sexual encounter with a man was broadcast over the Internet by two classmates.

For Mr. Paladino to choose this moment to make his utterly gratuitous remarks suggests at the very least an extraordinary level of insensitivity. On Monday, he tried to dig himself out of the mess he had created but succeeded only in looking more small-minded.

There is a debate over same-sex marriage, and animus does not driveeveryone who wants to deny marriage to gay men and lesbians. Mr. Paladino’s remarks were nothing but gay-bashing.

Mr. Paladino denies that he is a bigot, pointing to a sentence he cut from his text that called gay people “dysfunctional.” He should have omitted the entire speech.

Perhaps Mr. Paladino drew the message from this hate-filled campaign season that it is all right to voice any view, no matter how intolerant. After all, this is the year when some political leaders cheered on a preacher who wanted to burn Korans on Sept. 11.

In Ohio, a Republican candidate for Congress, Rich Iott, is flailing around trying to explain his membership in a group dedicated to celebrating the military record and “lifestyle” of an SS Panzer division that counted Josef Mengele among its veterans.

Mr. Iott says he is not a Nazi sympathizer. He just likes to dress up like a Nazi soldier and re-enact World War II battles. Mr. Paladino says he is not intolerant. He just thought it was funny to e-mail around racist jokes. Now he seems to think gay-bashing is good politics.

These messages are an insult to all Americans.



Washington Post Editorial: Politicians' intolerance help fuel climate of hate against gays and lesbians
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Copyright by The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/11/AR2010101105467.html


THE NEWS out of New York City this past weekend was horrifying. In what is being called the worst anti-gay violence in recent memory, two 17-year-old boys and a 30-year-old man were kidnapped and sexually tortured in the Bronx because they are gay. The nine thugs allegedly responsible for this atrocity are in custody.

According to Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, the alleged perpetrators have not expressed remorse. They deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he "was sickened by the brutal nature of these crimes and saddened by the anti-gay bias that contributed to them." Mr. Bloomberg was joined in his unequivocal outrage and condemnation by Gov. David Paterson, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of the New York Archdiocese.

And then there's Carl Paladino. In a stunning display of tone-deafness and bigotry, the Republican candidate for governor said this about homosexuality during a speech on Sunday: "That's not how God created us. . . . I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family, and I don't want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option -- it isn't."

The last two weeks have been ugly for gay men and lesbians -- and for America. In addition to the violence in the Bronx, there have been attacks on homosexuals in other parts of New York City and suicides of gay teenagers across the country who were literally bullied to death.

Where do bullies get their ammunition, the hurtful slurs that eat away at the self-esteem of those who are gay or lesbian? What makes someone feel it's okay to verbally and physically harass, maim or even kill?

One source is politicians such as Mr. Paladino who continue to espouse their belief that being gay is an immoral or unnatural "lifestyle" choice that can be changed at will. As long as such dehumanizing ignorance and intolerance go unchallenged, the horrors and suicides will continue.