On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 15:56:09 GMT, "Gary L. Drescher"
wrote:

The term "homophobe" has been usurped by
homosexual activists to refer to anyone who does not specifically support
the homosexual activist agenda;

"Usurped"? The word was coined by gay activists; it had no prior usage to
usurp.

Its original usage was to describe those people and groups who feared
a homosexual because of what he or she "is". The bitter hateful
criminals who murdered Matthew Shepard, for example, were "homophobes"
under that usage.

Today, however, (and I think this really began almost as soon as the
word was coined) one sees the label thrown out in order to stop
someone from taking a chance to reason about an issue involving
homosexuals, gay marriage, military service, or whatever happens to be
the issue of the day. No tolerance of that opposing viewpoint seems
acceptable among many gay activists, and among those people who agree
with them, all of whom would rather call you a "homophobe" than
respect the right you might have, for example, to assemble with
like-thinking people in a public place, to respect the right you might
have to *say* why you think a multimillenial and multicultural
institution should not be changed, or, most importantly, to actually
listen to your side of the issue.

It's happened to me once or twice, but thankfully not around here on
RAP. With a single unnamed exception I've only met reasonable people
here.

Rob, who thinks the "left-right" political division is a false and
damaging dichotomy