Blogwar!

How I got here mystifies me, but it seems that I am presently engaged in what is known as a blogwar.

To wit, I engaged some time ago in a conversation with another blogger about the legal specifics of a California discrimination case.

Now, some people, especially ideologues - left and right, this is an affliction common to both sides - don't know how to handle disagreement. Some people say, with a certain amount of justification, that I fall into that category. I like to flatter myself that I can remain civil under most circumstances, unless I'm confronted repeatedly with rank stupidity.

Specifically, I told this blogger that her argument was at odds with my understanding. Oh boy - bad move. Apparently, this woman's assertions have the quality of papal dogma.

It got worse when I compared the current struggle for LGBT rights to the previous such struggles, specifically the fight for women's and for black equality. No comparison, said she, because gays aren't a minority. Hey, they're white, rich, and bitchy - everyone should feel free to discriminate against them.

Someone should tell that to Coretta Scott King.

Coretta Scott King, speaking four days before the 30th anniversary of her husband's assassination, said Tuesday the civil rights leader's memory demanded a strong stand for gay and lesbian rights. "I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice," she said. "But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'" "I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people," she said. - Reuters, March 31, 1998.

Then of course, I made the crucial mistake that sent this woman into meltdown. I pointed out that the black community is not very accepting of gays, black or white, and that I see this as being decades behind the rest of society in terms of acceptance of gays and lesbians.

What I didn't take into account was that a conservative might not see the societal acceptance of the LGBT community as a positive trend in which time is a factor, which led her to understand this simple statement of fact as a racial slur.

Hence, I am now a hellbound, hate-filled, communazi racist sockpuppet. She has tracked me across various blogs where I post, re-configured her own blog - it now forbids 'commies and shills' - and said some rather choice things about me, which I read with a certain amused mortification.

Now, I'll freely admit that I can be sharp, as I was with Mahndisa. I like to think that I'm not abusive - as she is. One thing I will never do, however, is condone someone else's arguments because it might hurt their feelings to disagree with them.

I'm also not going to buy into the PC bullshit that all arguments are equally valid - they're not. The idea that gays are not a minority is just that - sparkling pure bullshit.

As far as racism is concerned, I do not consider that one of my failings - and I know, because I've campaigned with and for black candidates in several states and boroughs, in inner cities and suburbs, because I've raised money for the NAACP, because I've given money to a black church, because I get phone calls at home from black ministers and congressmen, because I have black people in my family, and lastly, because I view distinctions of race as just as odious as are distinctoions based on anything. Any discrimination based on inherent status is wrong - be it race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, you name it, it's wrong.

So please, and I'll say this with all the politeness I can muster after your tirades, Mahndisa: take your accusations of racism and shove them up your bigoted, smug, self-righteous ass. While you're down there, find some space for the trolls you're sending my way.

Thank you.