Tolerance, Inclusion and Equality

Here's a blog I just discovered from a comment to a post by Jonathan Rowe at Positive Liberty about the infamous "gay agenda."

Both in the comment and at a similar post at the blog, the author explains that the true gay agenda consists of these items: 1) tolerance, 2) inclusion and 3) equality. He goes on to say:

Now, mind you, tolerance, inclusion, and equality are "Enlightenment" concepts, concepts developed in the course of "human events" and history that argued such fundamental concepts are intrinsic to any pluralistic liberal democracy, like the one our Founders tried to create. Yes, the United States was founded on principles of the European Enlightenment by such disparate writers like Hobbes, Rousseau, Hume, Locke, Milton, and even Kant. It may seem strange in today's environment that the concepts of tolerance, inclusion, and equality have not always been the case. Why did it take 2,500 years of Western Civilization to alight onto to these ideas; weren't they "obvious" to everyone?

Well, no, this wasn't at all obvious, he explains. Religious tradition, the divine right of kings, lots of cultural history stood in the way. Then a "miracle" happened:

Highly unironically, Christianity's own Protestant Reformation was the impetus. People were encouraged to "think" and "believe" for themselves, and now that Guttenburg had discovered moveable type, everyman could have access to God's revelation, and everyman could think and believe for himself. Several major thinkers and writers dared even to think "outside" the Bible and came up with ideas that seemed natural, intrinsic, rational, and divinely-instituted. Well that kind of thought changed the world forever.

There's lots more detailing about how our country was founded on the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, even though these didn't apply to everyone at first. Over the years, though, rights were granted to those who were originally excluded as we come ever closer to this ideal. Now, he concludes, it's time for tolerance, inclusion and equality to be extended to our lesbian and gay citizens:

This country, amazingly, got off on the right foot with good intentions (not dealing with slavery and women's suffrages are two enormous strikes against the Founders). And like slavery and women's suffrage that had to fight against the biblical yoke that has held each of them back, so now homosexuals are making the next fight in America's evolution to obtain America's promise. All that the "homosexual agenda" asks is that they receive equal treatment under the law. That the Enlightenment principle of tolerance for differences be restored. And, that equality is true of everyone, or it is true for no one. That seems to have been America's agenda at one time; it's now needed more than ever to restore American self-worth, dignity, and enterprise to ALL its citizens, not just those who claim Yahweh's special dispensations.

I can only add that when our Pledge of Allegiance ends "with liberty and justice for all" that this applies equally to our gay and lesbian citizens.