I happen to be transgender, but I'm not at all into liberal politics. I'm EXTREMELY free-speech friendly, to the point of pissing off a lot of people.
I think the right to free speech trumps any other right. If you can't speak, you can't tell someone that you feel oppressed. And that's what transgender and gay people are doing. They're telling you that they feel oppressed, and they want it to stop.
This "promotion of gay" thing isn't really because we want people to be gay. It's because we've all seen the childhood bullying that goes on, and how LGBT kids are targeted. Even I lightly bullied some lispy kid back in middle-school, so I'm guilty as well, despite being transgender, which is even a bit more extreme than being gay.
LGBT people are speaking out because nearly all of them have been bullied as kids, and as adults, they simply refuse to continue dealing with adults who want to bully them. Adults who bully adults are the worst sort of people, so it's no surprise that some people want them silenced or gone.
Now, I don't think we need them silenced, I think we just need them to learn to not be a bully. But I'm expecting a lot of people to simply look down on LGBT people, and to always look down on them, which will create a rift in society. Choosing to look down on people will create enemies, and even though I'm not some fan of laws, other people are, and always will be, no matter their political or social or religious alignment. Those people will make laws that benefit themselves, and we need to fight oppressive ones so that we don't feel afraid of speaking or living how we want to. We also don't want our citizens, gay or otherwise, to feel like second class citizens, so when we see oppression, we need to fight it.
We live in a glorious country. We won't tolerate unjust cruelty upon the innocent. We are writing our legacy, and it will be glorious, and it cannot be stained with petty hatreds towards our neighbors and fellow citizens.
Free speech does NOT mean you should be as mean as possible to other people because it's legally ok. You certainly can, but for what purpose? Free speech is better used to spread good ideas, make interesting conversation, and discuss concepts and discoveries.
These are just my opinions. It's up to you to form your own philosophies that guide your life.
I agree. The idea of free speech is to be able to express yourself without being silenced or prosecuted. It does not give you the right to say what you want without consequence, and it does not entitle you to a platform.
At the end of the day it comes down to respect. Which sounds like a cliche thing to say, but a greater understand of the word would lead to less problems in the world.