Tuesday, January 17, 2006

What's moral about keeping your neighbors from working?

The good moral folks of this nation are once more being called upon to stop one group of their neighbors from getting jobs or housing.

Yahoo news reports:

The Rev. Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, called for a boycott of several corporations and dubbed it a “moral” matter.
"We're tired of sitting around thinking that morals can be ignored in our country," he said. "This is not a threat, this is a promise. Check out the past presidential election. We made the moral issue the No. 1 issue."

Last week, several companies, including Microsoft Corp., Boeing Co., Hewlett Packard Co., and Nike Inc. signed a letter urging passage of the measure, which would add "sexual orientation" to a state law that already bans discrimination in housing, employment and insurance based on race, gender, age, disability, religion, marital status and other factors.

Well OK, I won’t ignore your “morals,” Rev. Hutcherson, but I’m finding it hard to figure out what they are. What is so “moral” about opposing a bill that does nothing more than give all Americans the right to get a job or find a place to live?

I have to admit that I haven’t read the bill in question yet, but I seriously doubt if it includes a line that says anything like: “Wahoo, this law means everyone should go out and be gay, and oh yes, go see Brokeback Mountain while you’re at it.”

All an anti-discrimination law does is to declare that employers can’t refuse to hire or can’t fire you (and that includes you Mr. and Ms. Heterosexual) for no other reason than the fact that they think you are gay.

There’s nothing terribly evil there, just an attempt to impose the Golden Rule on our legal system. Is it really that revolutionary to even consider treating our neighbors as we would like to be treated?

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