Of Dutch Gays & the Limits of Tolerance

Building on my post, Dutch Gays Prefer Conservative Parties in a post of his own, our friend Chris Crain, provides some information about conservatism in the Netherlands, based on his travels here and greater knowledge of Dutch politics. He also repeats a question he had asked before: “how do you tolerate everything while not tolerating intolerance?”

The question bears repetition. It sometimes seems tolerance is the watchword of the left, well, tolerance for everything but white male individuals supporting Western Judaeo-Christian ideas and institutions.

Hence, in Europe, we see tolerance of the anti-gay and misogynistic practices of radical Muslims in Western society which Bruce Bawer details so well in his excellent book, While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within. This tolerance has caused police in European nations to look the other way when Muslim families kills their daughters for dating (or being presumed to date) outside the faith. Or for engaging in sexual relations before marriage.

British Gay leaders have received death threats from Muslim fundamentalists in the United Kingdom while one Muslim extremist murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. They all claim to be doing this in the name of their faith.

Should we be tolerant of such murderous bigotry? By speaking out regularly against narrow (but less vicioius) attitudes of American social conservatives, representatives of gay organizations refuse to tolerate the beliefs of certain Christians. Shouldn’t they be less tolerant of a attitudes which more regularly have more fatal consequences?

In failing to readily (and regularly) condemn brutality against our fellows in nations governed by Islamofascist regimes, do these very groups show a tolerance of the prejudice of this supposedly oppressed (by the West) faith? No wonder I think it’s a big deal when Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon publically addresses how conservative national security policy benefits gay people in standing up to these hateful regimes.

If we, as the Europeans are finding, become too tolerant of groups merely because they are minorities and thus perceived to be oppressed, we may find ourselves tolerating an intolerance which often has brutal, if not fatal, consequences for our gay and lesbian fellows. Not to mention others who refuse to follow the narrow dictates of radical Islam.

As you read Chris’s piece, take note how he, having talked to actual gay Republicans, can distinguish between our attitudes and views and those of outspoken social conservatives in our party.)