Sen. Robert Byrd on Homosexuality...

Former President Clinton's new memoir says the contentious debate over gays in the military included a closed-door meeting in which Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., made an emotional case that homosexuality is a sin and that it brought down the Romans.

Clinton wrote, "He believed homosexuality was a sin; said he would never let his grandson, whom he adored, join a military that admitted gays; and asserted that one reason the Roman Empire fell was the acceptance of pervasive homosexual conduct from Julius Caesar on down."


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Good vibes to his family, but please don't make the man out to be more than he really was.

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If people don't have a problem with hyping Nixon, why shouldn't Byrd who has served in the Democratic Party for decades be hyped?

His position on homosexuality is a atrocious and there are other Democrats who hold horrible views.

I agree with Ian David in another thread: I hope he recovers and retires to private life and lives an incredibly long life. One less anti choice and anti GLBT rights in the Senate.

eek

They truly freaking are evil words.

However, I blame the religion more than the person.

Can we blame the religion all the time, in all cases of hatred, and let the person off the hook?

Not one bit. I was raised by people who hold similar views on homosexuality, and are way more racist than Senator Byrd ever was. For the most part, it's just because of the way they were raised. You can't say that religion has no part in homophobia. I bet most homophobics wouldn't have a reason to hate gays without their god.

When I respect or care for someone who hold less than honerable views, I don't just give up and say to hell with them, they're evil. Instead, we can hope for their enlightenment. Senator Byrd has already made amends to the black community. Perhaps if he lives long enough he will do so with the gay community.

be protected. He has that going for him.

Two years after he voted against it.

I know his record is bad, but I believe that shows improvement.

As for dogs, I don't know why you would even bring this up. It's just one issue he took up in a lifetime of being a politician. It's not like it's gay rights vs. animal rights. I personally, support both causes.

:eyes:

It is an evil thing to say, but I don't think it makes the person evil. The only thing different about a republican is that I think they're less likely to change their minds. Of course it can be done, even Dick Cheney has stated support for gay rights.

Anyway, It's not like he was throwing around derrogitory words. It was Jesus this and God that. Blah blah blah. That shit is the true evil. You think he, or half the country would hold the same opinion if some dumb ass in frock didn't say that's the way it had to be.

Maybe it's just my anti-religious nature showing here, but I'm very much convinced the true problem lies in the church. Actually, I think that's where a lot of our problems come from in this country.

a more enlightened, tolerant, and progressive generation.

the DLC isn't going to give up control of the party willingly.

To support each other's causes.

Make diversity our strength.

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Thank you for reminding me to recommend.

are despicable comments.

And... good and evil can exist within the same person. Byrd's a case study.

the Senator -- good, bad and ugly and he certainly has all three.

Rated 22% by the HRC, indicating a mixed record on gay rights.
http://www.hrc.org/laws_and_elections/your_elected_officials.asp?state=WV&x=13&y=5&view=myofficials&zip=

I won't miss him.

He should have gotten out of the way of progress and Civil Rights a long time ago.

I would have preferred for him to leave under different circumstances. Say, sometime before 2004 when Barbara Boxer stood ALONE in the senate to defend our Democracy.

I have little use for any Senator besides Barbara Boxer who was elected before 2004, and I have even less use for Byrd.

I hope he pulls through and makes a full recovery and then retires to private life.

retired a long time ago. Politicians never seem to know when it's time to go.

He is REALLY anti Gay and almost as anti-choice.

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**** reason I think it will be deleted: the word "bitch" is sexist, even though I know you didn't mean it that way.

Anyone who looks at my post and thinks my use of the word "bitch" is sexist here shouldn't be a mod anyway. Otherwise, we'd have to delete posts which use the word as a verb too, right?

Of course, if that post gets deleted, so will this one, I'm sure.

Thanks again :hi:

Although some people see this as him voting for GLBT rights. It isn't that at all. He's an out and proud homophobe. Why are posters defending what Senator Byrd himself admists and is proud of?

That, coupled with his "white n****r" comment of a few years ago, is a but upsetting.

change that fact. I'm not some machine Bluedog from another centruy, in what was once another nation, and I have no idea what he's doing in my Party as a Senator or anything else. He wore the sheet.
He is what he always was. And it is not a pretty thing.

Bigotry against people for inherent traits is irrational. There isn't any nuanced position of bigotry.

His behavior in regards to AIDS funding, as chair of appropriations, was outright despicable. He said at the time that he opposed funding for AIDS because there were no gay people in West Virginia.

thanks for posting.

This has greatly tempered my feelings for him.

I hate bigots.