California state senator Pete Knight, who wrote California’s anti-SSM law, who tried to stop CA’s domestic partnership law, who (among others) sued the state to stop SF from issuing marriage licenses and who generally had a long and nasty anti-gay political career, has died.
Good.
Sorry if his death causes pain to his family and friends, but too bad it didn’t happen sooner. People like Knight make me wish I believed in Hell so I knew he’d spend some time there for what he’s done.
The man had a brother and a son who were gay … and still didn’t get the message.
I feel for his son, who likely never found acceptance (if he sought any out) from his father, and the man’s own brother who doubtless felt scorned.
Call me sappy, but I’d rather wish that these sorts of people all could live long enough to see their intolerance rejected by society once and for all.
Call me sappy, but I wish that these sorts of people all could live long enough to be set on fire, have their intestines torn out by vultures, and then by summarily rolled down a hill covered in glass and finally fall into a pit of rusty nails. But you know me, I’m just an old-fashioned sentimentalist. 
This thread is distasteful beyond belief.
Lib, I have always mostly supported you in your beliefs, but lately, YOU’VE BEEN SIMPLY BUGSHIT CRAZY(capitolized for effect). Talk to me, what’s wrong? My email is in my profile, you’re not yourself lately. Talk. I am here to listen. I have two ears and nothing inbetween, I’m real good at listening. I’d like to help, take me up on it, please.
Damn, Otto.
Just … wow.
Not that I’m surprised but shit.
At least let them get him in the ground before you piss on his grave, wouldya?
What’s wrong with me? The guy who thinks it’s distasteful to celebrate that someone has died excrutiatingly of cancer? Holy fucking cow.
Aw, bullshit. Cancer sucks.
This guy was cancer. A little piece of the Dark Ages that somehow persisted into the 21[sup]st[/sup] century.
You can’t excuse him as simply ignorant. He had a gay brother and a gay son. He had every opportunity to observe that gay people simply are, and still chose his fucked up, bigoted, and antiquated beliefs over people who he ought to have loved.
The world is a better place without him. The coming generation will be better-prepared to deal with humanity in all its rich variety.
Good.
Guess what? I can’t wait for Kurt Waldheim to die, either. Why? Because he’s a piece of shit who doesn’t deserve another breath.
Same story.
I hope that I can express this well.
Libertarian, First, from the Ops point if view, I can understand and relate to relief at the passing of a person that demonizes people for simply being who they are. When you are a part of a group that is, for lack of a better term, under siege, any fallen foe is cause for celebration. There is room in my heart for this.
From your point of view, given what I have come to understand, I think that I would be correct in saying that the subject of the OP’s ire is not truly “dead” in that you believe in an immortal soul.
So, all of that being said, I am not sure why you are peeved. A man that has aided in the oppression of others is no longer able to do so. While his passing may have been terrible from the meat world perspective, presumably that means nothing spiritually.
I am not the only one to have noticed a change in the tone of your posts of late. It seems that you are battling some demons yourself right now. My email is also in my profile, should you wish to talk
I am as pro-gay right as they come, and I think this is horribly distasteful. Mr Knight, while I disagreed with a lot of what he said, at least AFAIK did not argue that gays were going to hell or suggest violence against them.
Think of his son.
Lib, what’s wrong is that your sense of humor is completely MIA. I know nothing about this guy; I made my post as intentionally over-the-top ridiculous as I possibly could because this IS pretty tacky. Don’t have a cow over it.
You’ve been here longer than me, but my experience is that if you’re going to take absurd statements seriously, coming into the Pit is a bad idea.
Just so we’re clear, I did not express gladness that Knight suffered any pain on his way to death. I did express my sympathy to any family and friends he may have had, including the gay son he metaphorically spat upon on a daily basis.
As far as waiting until he’s buried before calling him a bastard, fuck that nonsense. I called him a bastard when he was alive and I’ll call him one now whether he’s in the ground or not.
Thanks for making my week. Pete Knight is no longer with us? Schweet.
He died of cancer? Even better. My grandpa died of cancer, and I can assure you that it’s no fun at all. You say Knight shouldn’t have suffered any pain on his way out? Think of all the suffering that GLBT people went through from his twisted theology, then tell me again that he suffered too much! Karma’s a bitch, baby.
I’m not sure why you think I’m peeved. I said it was extremely distasteful. I don’t think that Otto is a bad person. I just think this was a bad decision. I read his link. I did further research and, although I see that he opposed gay marriage and was in general rather mainstream Fundamentalist in his views toward homosexuality, I do not see where he “demonized” gays. In fact, he was a decorated Air Force test pilot who set records and served honorably. It looks to me like at least some of the demonizing is going the other way. But even if he were everything you say he is, celebrating this death is macabre and goonish. I’ve heard gays say that Christians just pay lip service with their hate the sin love the sinner line, and that’s possibly true. But I feel sorry for his family and I will now celebrate his death sounds just the same to me. Despite whatever you might think, none of this means that I’m pissed, crazy, or can’t take a joke.
And what exactly had you done to deserve your karma?
The city’s issuance of marriage licenses was illegal, and persons charged with upholding and defending the constitution of California were duty-bound to seek to stop it.
I assume my eventual death will not be met by similar celebration, Otto?
Ya wanna know how he demonized the GLBT community? You did your research and you still gotta ask? :rolleyes:
Denying people equality under law is demonization. Why can’t Adam marry Steve, or Amy marry Eve? Simply because they’re the same gender? Ludicrous objection. If you oppose adding sexual orientation to nondiscrimination law, as Knight himself probably did, you’re saying that you’d stand idly by and watch as gay people are denied their right to make a living because of their sexuality. At that point, you’ve lost any legit claim to respect gays as people. Don’t even bother telling me you aren’t antigay when you’d deny them equal justice under law because of their orientation. That’s like saying “I respect you as a person, but I also believe you should be unemployed because you’re gay”. Bullshit.
Knight was a lying fundie asshat. Fundies (not Christians in general, just one specific branch of Christendom) lie, cheat and steal to get what they want. Do your research on “Save Miami-Dade” and the Nixonesque tactics they used to repeal the gay rights law in Miami some months ago. So you say ya want a link? Click this and STFU already. So Knight was a decorated test pilot? John Kerry is a Silver Star recipient, yet he’s on our side. So is Bob Kerrey, a Navy SEAL in Vietnam and one of only three SEALs to get the CMH. Lots of folks did a helluva lot more than Knight.
Libertarian, stop being such a kissass. I’m not the only one who noticed. Not trying to be mean, but seek therapy already. You need it.
I despised Pete Knight for his anti-gay lobbying, but I feel bad for his son, who will go through the rest of his life never having reconciled with his dad.
And Lib, you really need to think before you post. Pete Knight’s military record does nothing to absolve him of his guilt for working to strip gay citizens of their rights under the Constitution.
I take it that you repent of demonizing President Andrew Jackson, then? After all, he served honorably in the War of 1812 and heroically won the Battle of New Orleans, decisively winning the day against the British (although the recently-signed Treaty of Ghent had the results moot).
For the love of Jeebus, haven’t we had this same fucking argument before?
Lib may be loopy from time to time, but he’s right in this instance. Tap-dancing on someone’s grave – even one who held evil views – tells us more about the tap-dancer than it does about the deceased. It puts them in the same class as the yokels who show up outside of prisons on execution nights to celebrate like drunken frat boys.
But this par for the course for Otto and others on these boards. Words like “class,” “dignity” and “decorum” mean very little to him.