Of course, this article is written in 2007, but I feel it addresses the fear I still see perpetuated about the recent Hate
Crimes legislation that was signed by our President.

We still have a long way to go as a society and I want to thank every person on CM who speaks out against hate.

I believe the source of the hate is the "Big Three," Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Each one of these religions equates homosexuality with sinning and evil in the eyes of god. Therefore, to avoid sin and being punished by god, avoid being homosexual. Now enter the picture "varying degrees of bisexuality." There are people, in these religions, who are more or less attract to members of their own sex, this is natural, and it is these people that then overcompensate and avoid "sin" by spewing hate.

In this society, heterosexual gender orientation is often presented as the only acceptable outcome and those who are different often struggle to fit in.

So, education and acceptance of the differences in other's are very important as society is often slow to change.

Agreed. The problem, in my mind, seems to be that these religions claim to be the ONLY true religion and therefore, all others are viewed as false and so, go against god's wishes. The education we have to promote is that no one person, group, or religion has a lock on "truth." It is only by learning to accept the differences in one another, as natural, that we will ever get to a place where we can live in peace and "live and let live."