Ask not for whom homophobia tolls

"Ask Not for Whom Homophobia Tolls" by Warren J. Blumenfeld is an excellent read. It puts the problem of increasing attacks on GLBTIQ people into amazing perspective. A few quotes:

"The poison that flows from diminishing gay and lesbian lives, as the president did again last week, sickens everyone in our society. It’s contingent upon all of us to join together to free our country from this evil."
...

"In the wake of these actions, I cannot help thinking about something Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave and abolitionist, once said when he described the dehumanizing effects of slavery not on slaves alone but also on white slave owners whose relationship to slavery corrupted their humanity. While the social conditions of Douglass’s time were very different from those today, nonetheless I believe his words hold meaning by analogy: “No [person] can put a chain about the ankle of [another person] without at last finding the other end fastened about his [or her] own neck.”"
...

"Ultimately, homophobia inhibits appreciation of other types of diversity, making it unsafe for everyone because each person has unique traits not considered mainstream or dominant. Therefore we are all diminished when any one of us is demeaned.

"The meaning is quite clear: When any group of people is scapegoated, it is ultimately everyone’s concern. Today lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are targeted; tomorrow, they may come for you. Everyone, therefore, has a self-interest in actively working to dismantle all the many forms of bigotry, including homophobia.

"I believe that we are all born into an environment polluted by homophobia (one among many forms of oppression), which falls on us like acid rain. For some people, spirits are tarnished to the core; others are marred on the surface; no one is completely protected. Therefore we all have a responsibility, indeed an opportunity, to join together as allies to construct protective shelters from the corrosive effects of bigotry while working to clean up the homophobic environment in which we live. Once sufficient steps are taken to reduce this pollution, we will all breathe a lot easier."

http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/932/932_blumenfeld.asp