THE HATRED INSIDE TIM HARDAWAY

The former NBA player decided to let his freak flag fly this week when he said, during a radio interview:

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

Some bloggers are using Hardaway to pass through the eye of the needle -- they say they abhor Hardaway's words, but they continue to cling to their dislike of what they call the "gay-rights agenda."

(You know, the old "hate the sin, love the sinner" argument. Is it ever used to defend any other kind of bigotry? Does anyone ever say, "You know, Bob hates blacks and thinks they shouldn't exist, but even though I disagree with his hatred, I still love the old cuss"?)

Yeah yeah, here comes the response: There's a difference between being black and being gay. We're sure there are cases where people practice homosexuality without being gay; there are a few black people who try to pass as white, and a larger number of white kids who want to be perceived as black. Doesn't mean they are. Doesn't make it so.

Most gay people were born gay. To claim homosexuality is strictly a learned behavior is to ignore all evidence that homosexuality exists among animals. And if it's not all nurture, then nature plays a part. Rail against nature all you want. Refuse to "accept" it. It's a losing battle.

Many people who say they love gays but hate their behavior are focused only on sex (as if gays are simply rutting machines, capable of nothing else). They say if they don't speak out against the "gay-rights agenda," future generations are doomed to live under the rainbow flag and will be forced to wear uncomfortable leather and accept things like bestiality. Such hyperbole would be gut-busting funny, if it wasn't believed by so many otherwise intelligent people.

Check out this Free Republic thread. These are people who claim to be conservative Christians. This is the ugly mindset behind the anti-gay movement in America. Their hypocrisy is startling; their hatred is breathtaking. Do all Christian conservatives feel this way? No. But too many do.