http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060720/us_nm/rights_gays_dc

Quote :

"PROVINCETOWN, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Provincetown, New England's summer gay capital, is facing a rise in harassment and discrimination. But this time it's straight people who say they are being ridiculed as "breeders" and "baby makers." ADVERTISEMENT Less than a decade after a successful campaign to end violent paroxysms of "gay bashing" in the beach town at the tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, police and town officials report a resurgence in tension between gays and straight people. Police Chief Ted Meyer said straight people complained of being called "breeders" over the July Fourth holiday weekend, and that in one serious incident a man was charged with assaulting a woman who signed a petition to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, the only state where it is legal. Equally troubling, he said, Jamaican workers in Provincetown say they have been the target of racial slurs. "It's been a series of issues," Meyer said. The flare-ups in a town that overflows in summer with a colorful mix of gay couples often openly holding hands or kissing, cross-dressers and flocks of curious tourists coincide with a planned vote this year in the state Legislature on an amendment to ban gay marriage -- a measure that has rallied activists on both sides of the issue. Gay-marriage advocates have set up a Web site -- http://www.knowthyneighbor.org -- that publishes the names of people who have signed the petition, including at least two locals in Provincetown who say they have been singled out and verbally abused by gays since their names appeared on the Web site. Town officials said the town is struggling to strike a balance between protecting the right to freedom of expression for petition signers, and ensuring its gay majority contain their anger at what many see as an assault on their hard-won right to marriage. Police would not classify the slurs and name-calling as "hate crimes." But a town meeting was called last Friday to discuss whether social attitudes were changing in the gay resort village with a population of 3,431 that swells to 60,000 in summer and includes a large number of Jamaicans. 'HELLO, YOU'RE IN OUR TOWN' "We have business that we haven't talked about as a family," Town Manager Keith Bergman said. "The impact of the same sex marriage petition is high on that list." Some gays expressed shock at being accused of discrimination after years of suffering harassment. "There are still a lot of straight people who treat gays badly," said Steve Bowersock, 35, an artist who owns the Bowersock Gallery on the town's main Commercial Street. Bowersock, who was once married to a woman, said he moved to Provincetown in 2004 with his partner because it gives gays a political voice. He admits he sometimes discriminates against straight people he finds offensive "If there's a straight couple and I hear them in the background going 'oh fags', I'm like 'hello, where the hell do you think you are?' So in turn I get mad," he said. "If I see someone nervous like a big butch guy, and you can just tell he's a redneck, I'll grab my partner and I'll kiss him. It's not being mean, but 'hello you're in our town'." The Rev. Henry J. Dahl, pastor at St. Peter's Church, said several of his parishioners had complained to him of being singled out and verbally abused after signing the petition. "I don't think it's totally unexpected that there would be some reaction to people who signed the petition," he said. "Let's just hope we can have civil discourse." Joe Solmonese, president of gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, said the petition signers invited trouble by taking a position that says "loud and clear that you believe that gays and lesbians should be treated as second class citizens." "

7/20/2006 8:12:58 PM

god damn i hate people a little more each day

7/20/2006 8:16:24 PM

Quote :

"Police would not classify the slurs and name-calling as "hate crimes.""

wait. so I call someone a fag and it's a hate crime. someone calls me a breeder, and it's not? hmmm...

7/20/2006 8:29:31 PM

They're homos

are you really scared of a little girly man calling you names?

7/20/2006 8:36:58 PM

How is this news/postworthy?

In the gay vacation spot of the US, homos and heteros get into arguments



[Edited on July 20, 2006 at 9:04 PM. Reason : o rly?]

7/20/2006 8:54:44 PM

you can't swing a dead cat in Ptown without hitting a faggot

i don't know why straight couples would even want to go there when there's plenty of other places to go on the cape

i think it's funny that they feel harassed and intimidated by a bunch of sassy homosexuals

7/20/2006 9:17:08 PM

I think what's postworthy is the hypocrisy involved. Fighting for your rights and against discrimination, and then doing the same damn thing is pretty shitty of them

7/20/2006 9:18:45 PM

Quote :

"i think it's funny that they feel harassed and intimidated by a bunch of sassy homosexuals"

Ahahaha, exactly.

BREAKING NEWS: GAYS TEND TO BE SASSY, STRAIGHT PEOPLE FEEL THREATENED. DEVELOPING...




[Edited on July 20, 2006 at 9:27 PM. Reason : .]

7/20/2006 9:23:44 PM

So evidently being gay doesn't stop you from being racist, funny

7/20/2006 9:23:53 PM

Quote :

"wait. so I call someone a fag and it's a hate crime. someone calls me a breeder, and it's not? hmmm..."

I'm not saying it's never happened, because I don't know, but can you find a single case where a person has been convicted of a hate crime for calling somebody a faggot?

7/20/2006 9:24:14 PM

Its usually in addition to beating the shit out of them...so you may be right on that

But even without the hate crime issue, I'd bet if you called someone a fag who called you a breeder, you'd get labeled as the bigot.

7/20/2006 9:25:16 PM

did you even read the article?

Quote :

""If there's a straight couple and I hear them in the background going 'oh fags', I'm like 'hello, where the hell do you think you are?' So in turn I get mad," he said."

The majority of people who live in Provincetown are gay, so when straight people come to visit their town as tourists and make anti-gay remarks what are they supposed to do?

I wouldn't go to China and call everyone a bunch of chinks and then bitch when they called me 'white devil' or trailor trash- THAT would be hypocritical.

7/20/2006 9:25:41 PM

Quote :

"Fighting for your rights and against discrimination, and then doing the same damn thing is pretty shitty of them"

Ummm, where does it say they're discriminating against straight people? They're -allegedly- confronting the petition signers.

And I'd like to hear what these people consider to be "verbal abuse."

7/20/2006 9:28:15 PM

I really don't see why people care so much about this.

7/20/2006 9:33:15 PM

I don't REALLY care about this, but I just thought it was noteworthy enough to make it to TWW

7/20/2006 9:39:23 PM

Quote :

"I wouldn't go to China and call everyone a bunch of chinks and then bitch when they called me 'white devil' or trailor trash- THAT would be hypocritical."

dude, if you went to china and said that, you'd have a helluva lot more to worry about than what people were saying.

that said, what is the point of the article? Some homosexuals are assholes. So what? There are assholes in every demographic. That doesn't mean they represent all of gays. But considering how alot of gays are treated, I don't blame them for having anger towards homosexuals. I'd be angry too if I was treated like trash all my life by my peers and oftentimes family.

7/20/2006 9:51:28 PM

sooooo, you say that the way to rail against intolerance and cruelty is by being cruel and intolerant... got it!

7/20/2006 10:24:40 PM

Quote :

"cruel and intolerant"

Where does the article say the gays were being cruel and intolerant

AND YES, FOR WHAT I WISH WOULD BE THE LAST TIME; IT'S OK AND NOT AT ALL HYPROCRITICAL TO BE INTOLERANT TOWARDS INTOLERANCE.

7/21/2006 12:06:55 AM

7/21/2006 2:08:15 AM

Neither gay people nor straight people make any goddamned sense to me.

7/21/2006 2:36:10 AM

Quote :

"Gay-marriage advocates have set up a Web site -- http://www.knowthyneighbor.org -- that publishes the names of people who have signed the petition"

that's awesome - kind of like baptists like to hang around outside strip clubs and post pictures of the customers..... awww, can't take the heat? don't dish it out, assholes.

7/21/2006 6:53:24 AM

I liked the gays better when they couldn't get married

Quote :

"ridiculed as "breeders" and "baby makers.""

Oh no the evil breeders. How is that an insult?

Quote :

"PEOPLE LIKE YOU FACILITATED MY EXISTENCE "

[Edited on July 21, 2006 at 9:05 AM. Reason : -]

7/21/2006 9:05:15 AM

Quote :

"I'm like 'hello, where the hell do you think you are?'"

Haha you have to read that quote like Nathan Lane in Birdcage. You can't help it!!!

7/21/2006 9:21:59 AM

Note: Al Franken is straight.

7/21/2006 9:25:12 AM

no, no he's not.

he's extremely gay. i don't care what he says or if he fucks 15 women per hour, he's still insanely gay.

7/21/2006 9:32:07 AM

it's because he's a democrat i get it. and you like stereotypes. stereotypes are fun!

(note: Al Franken is married)

7/21/2006 9:35:45 AM

[Edited on July 21, 2006 at 9:39 AM. Reason : sdjfisdhf]

7/21/2006 9:38:38 AM

no. not because he's a democrat, but because he's extremely gay. very very gay.

he walks gay, he talks gay, he's fucking gay. and he's not funny in the least.

7/21/2006 9:38:42 AM

I concur, has nothing to do with his leanings, he just looks, walks, talks like a gay guy

7/21/2006 9:39:50 AM

Quote :

"stereotypes are fun!"

7/21/2006 9:42:43 AM

Quote :

"But considering how alot of gays are treated, I don't blame them for having anger towards heterosexuals. I'd be angry too if I was treated like trash all my life by my peers and oftentimes family"

I do blame them...they're the ones who sucked cocks and took it in their assholes like flaming faggots, not the heterosexuals

7/21/2006 10:48:40 AM

wow.

7/21/2006 10:59:51 AM

^hey, you're a descendent of a Middle East country right? You guys dont like fags either

7/21/2006 11:01:39 AM

Quote :

"IT'S OK AND NOT AT ALL HYPROCRITICAL TO BE INTOLERANT TOWARDS INTOLERANCE."

it's one thing not to tolerate intolerance. It's entirely another thing to show the same intolerance to people who you once claimed were so bad for being intolerant of you.

7/22/2006 8:59:59 PM

it's no worse than being intolerant in the first place

7/22/2006 11:33:29 PM

Al Franken is metro. It's a fine line.

7/22/2006 11:45:08 PM

if people dont get over shit then nothing will get better, escalation through retaliation cannot acomplish anything positive, and its time people realized that.

7/23/2006 3:07:39 AM

right

which is why the civil rights movement during the 60s was a total waste of time

that Rosa Parks bitch was so out of line, FUCK HER!!!1

7/23/2006 11:52:39 AM

Hey, remember when Rosa Parks created great social changes by calling white people "honkeys"?

7/23/2006 1:35:06 PM

lets email them and ask them "Is it possible to sign the petition online? I dont see a link."

7/24/2006 9:15:31 AM

Quote :

"I do blame them...they're the ones who sucked cocks and took it in their assholes like flaming faggots, not the heterosexuals"

I know, what the hell where they thinking? Following their instincts and feelings. Shoud have just supressed it and fallen in lock step with the rest of the populus right?

7/24/2006 11:58:43 PM

i know straight dudes who like stuff up their ass. They are all republicans.

GIGGIDY!!!!!!!

7/25/2006 12:20:52 AM

"breeder" or "babymaker" would offend me as much as "dothead"

which means pretty much not at all, because its true

7/25/2006 10:22:11 AM

"Breeder" sounds gay. Why not something cool, like "subjugator" or "enforcer"?

7/25/2006 11:04:09 AM

^well, the people that are calling others "breeders" are gay.

7/25/2006 12:25:04 PM

oh the hilarity of it all.

i think its about time oppressive motherfuckers (the petiton signers in this case) were a little oppressed themselves, don't you ever think, "what we really need in this case, is good and thorough ass-kicking," and that's kind of what they're getting.

7/25/2006 1:17:17 PM