He just couldn’t mind his own business.
A bigot on an Amtrak train decided to lecture the 6-year-old son of a gay couple. “Remember what I told you! Marriage is between a man and a woman. They stole you, and they’re pedophiles.”
The couple notified Amtrak staff, and the train’s conductor told the man to leave the train, NBC News says, but he refused. “Amtrak officials then called the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office for backup” and cops “escorted the man … off the train.” The story (here) doesn’t say whether he went kicking and screaming.
Amtrak officials are calling it a “hate incident” and “looking into” banning him from riding on Amtrak. They ought to.
The NBC News article pointed out that Republican politicians and conservative media, specifically mentioning Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Fox News, have been gay-bashing lately. I’m also picking up from other sources that the GOP apparently plans to emphasize its anti-gay stance as its central platform in the 2022 midterm elections.
Conservatives, and especially evangelicals, seem to believe that homosexuality is a behavior, not a biological condition. They’re wrong. No one chooses to be gay. (I’m not gay, but I’ve known some gays, all good people.)
Moreover, the claim that gays are more likely to molest children — a central tenet of gay-bashers — has been refuted by science (see Snopes article here); that makes it a smear, slander, and vicious lie, which continues to be promoted by rightwingers, who often claim they’re protecting children. They’re not.
“I’m done letting these people pretend that they care about protecting children or not harming them, because this rhetoric is directly harming my children,” one of the Amtrak couple said. “So, if you want to talk about who’s endangering children, it’s anybody who’s sharing these lies.”
My writings on this blog, and elsewhere, are based on facts and reason. That’s how scientists, business managers, doctors, lawyers, and virtually all professionals operate. As a journalist and lawyer, I’ve spent my life immersed in public issues and debate, and I know bad politics when I see it. Going after people who’ve harmed no one because of who they are is profoundly cynical, morally wrong, and not something I will ever support. And lying is a sin.
The Republican Party is a mess. Fox News is a mess. I can’t support either of them until they clean up their acts.
As for the bigot kicked off the train, I hope he enjoyed walking home. He had it coming. Stupidity is no excuse for his behavior. Even stupid people know better than pick on people through their children, or in front of their children. That puts him on the same level as drug dealers who sell to kids.