Some homosexual advocacy
groups agreed that either all groups should be recognized or none
should. "Gay pride" should be honored along with Black History Month,
Asian-American Heritage Month and others, they said.
"In a perfect Republican world, I think that government employees
ought to just go to work," said Mark Mead, director of public affairs
with the Log Cabin Republicans, a homosexual advocacy group within the
GOP.
"I could argue both cases, that government facilities ought to be
used for government purposes only. But since other people...have decided
that they're going to honor these groups, rightly or wrongly, then our
mantra has always been: 'We only want equal rights, not special rights.'
"So if a department were to say, 'We're not doing any of these for
anyone,' whether I thought that was right or wrong, that would be fair,"
Mead said.
However, Dr. Bill Maier, a resident psychologist with Focus on the
Family, said homosexuality should not be officially recognized in the
same way that black and Asian Americans are recognized. Homosexuality is
not an immutable characteristic, such as race or gender, he said.
Homosexual activist organizations want corporations, municipalities,
state governments and the federal government to grant special rights to
individuals based on their sexual behavior.
"They're effectively using misleading anti-discrimination language to
argue for these special rights. But in fact, the U.S. Supreme Court has
ruled that people who identify as homosexuals are not part of a
protected minority class because of their sexual orientation," Maier
said.
In order to qualify for a protected minority class, a group must
exhibit three elements: immutable characteristics, such as race or
gender; financial discrimination; and political weakness. In 1986, the
Court found that homosexuals as a group did not meet these criteria
because behavior or conduct is inconsequential in considering minority
class status.
Homosexual advocacy groups tend to be well funded, politically
connected and media savvy, Maier said. They also promulgate the position
that homosexuality is genetic, or grounded in biology, which is
disputed, even by "gay-friendly" researchers, he said.
"What ex-gays say distresses them most about the 'gay pride' month is
that the nation's gay activist organizations refuse to tell the truth
about homosexuality," Maier said.
