Recently, a movie came out entitled "Milk." It told the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to a public office. He was a tireless advocate for gay rights and worked effortlessly to promote his cause even though many at the time were even less open to gay rights than they are today. During the 50s, 60s, and 70s it wasn't unusual for police to randomly break into gay bars and randomly arrest people and it wasn't unusual for crimes against gays to go unpunished. Just like the legal lynching of blacks in the post Civil War south, gays were the victims of unparalleled prejudice and hatred.

Hatred against homosexuality is nothing new. Up until the late 20th century, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder. And a lot of hate stems from religious and cultural traditions. In the time of the Puritains gay men were castrated while gay women had their noses cut off. Some were just executed. There are several passages in the bible, most notably in Leviticus, that condemn homosexuality as an abomination and one worthy of great sin. And even today in a country where secular law, not the bible, is the law of the land, people use this 2,000 year old book as an excuse to hate, persecute, and undermine and entire group of people.

In the movie "Milk" many old broadcasts of religious figures at the time were shown decrying homosexuality, calling it a threat to the American family and a threat to morality in general. But homosexuality has been around since the beginning of civilization and will continue to be for a long time. The family has never been destroyed and seems to continue despite the presence of gays and lesbians. Yet they keep lamenting and stoking fear into the masses, saying god will kill them all and it is up to them to inflict his wrath. Such arrogance, conceit, and hatred is only paralleled by that of the Nazi's, who executed homosexuals just as they did the jews.

The message of Harvey Milk is simple. If you can take away the rights of one group of people you can take away the rights of any group of people. You cease to live in a free society and are at the mercy of the tyranny of the majority. Recently, a right was taken away from homosexuals in California. Prop 8 banned them from being able to form marital unions, a right that heterosexual couples have. It wasn't imposing the union on anybody, it was just giving the gay community a basic right that other groups have. But in a decision that can only be described as a crime against human rights, that right was stripped away. And it's not just California. In Arkansas, a measure passed banning unwed couples from adopting children. But even the makers of the bill flat out admitted it was just a measure to keep gays from adopting. That's another basic right taken away from a group of people.

There is no excuse. Taking away the rights of a group of people is a violation of the very principles of the American Republic. The free society guarentees that all citizens have equal rights and protections under the law. And yet gays are being denied those rights. It is tyranny, plain and simple, motivated by bigotry and prejudice. If you can do this to gays, you can do this to anybody. Today it's gays, but one day it may be another groups. Jews and muslims might start getting marginalized. Or maybe atheists, a group I belong to, will start getting denied basic rights. Or maybe another group will emerge that the majority decides they don't like and start oppressing. And history shows that whenever a group is oppressed, it creates conflict and hurts all sides.

Some say opposing gay rights is a moral imperitive. But the greatest atrocities in the history of mankind all started off as moral imperatives. The holocaust was seen by the Nazi's as a moral imperative. Genocide in Amenia and Sudan was seen as a moral imperative by the instigators. Any atrocity can start off as good intentions, but when one steps back to look at just what is being done it should be clear. Atrocities are never moral and the atrocities committed against the gay community are without justification.

On a personal matter, after having seen the movie "Milk" I was so disgusted with the hatred displayed in that movie that I was sickened. As an atheist, it did affect me because I have been condemned for my beliefs, sometimes by my own family. I have always maintained a respect for people of faith, but for those devout Christians who simply decry homosexuality because the bible says so I have no respect. Tolerance should not tolerate such intolerance. If someone doesn't like something, that's okay. But when they start actively working to take away the rights of an entire group of people, they become tyrants and they have no place in a free society.

The American Republic was founded on the principles of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness guarenteed to all men and women. Harvey Milk spent his life trying to convey a message that all people deserve to be protected from having these rights stripped away. And he lost his life in the process. Nobody, conservative or liberal, can justify taking away someone else's rights. It is a front to the free society and everybody, regardless of religious or political affiliations, has an obligation to defend the principles of freedom.