Not so. First, already-enacted special gay advantage legislation (including a recent Denver ordinance) clearly identifies gays as a group with status equivalent to ethnicity. On February 7, 1991, the Colorado State House Judiciary Committee considered an "Ethnic Harassment Bill" which would clearly have given gays class status and protections equivalent to those of ethnic groups. The Committee rejected this proposed legislation precisely because they did not agree that gay behavior or alleged desire offered a legitimate basis for gays' inclusion in a bill specially protecting disadvantaged ethnic classes. Ignoring gay extremists' charges of "bigotry and homophobia," these legislators clearly agreed that behavior or alleged desire alone should not compel the granting of ethnic-equivalent status.

It is absolutely relevant to recognize that special gay advantage legislation would indeed grant homosexual behavior (or mere alleged desire) equal status with ethnicity. Those who can't (or won't) perceive this are either short-sighted -- or simply determined to make the equation a reality without acknowledging it.

Lately, gay militants have attempted to take homosexual behavior out of the gay special advantages debate by saying, "We're not asking for protection for our behavior; we're asking merely that our sexual `orientation' or `status' be protected." In other words, that an entire new edifice of civil rights protections be based solely on what kinds of sexual desires a group of people claims to experience. As we shall see, no rational basis can possibly exist on which to build the kinds of protections gay extremists are now asking for.

It is vital that Americans understand these parameters of the issue we're discussing: Gay militants want to be awarded ethnic-equivalent, protected class status based only on how they SAY they want to have sex.

Unless we understand the unprecedented, tenuous nature of gay militants' claim to protected class status, we will not recognize the extraordinary, unprecedented request gay militants are making. Let's keep this understanding in mind as we explore this issue in greater depth.

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