.My three wishes
Whether you condone the gay/lesbian lifestyle or not, I think that most people do not condone violence and hateful treatment of the gay/lesbian community. Hate against the gay community can be very insidious. It can disguise itself as concerns for family values and preserving the sanctity of marriage. It can wrap itself up in religious doctrine and even patriotism. But the effects of hate are always the same, causing pain, suffering and sometimes death. I live in Montana, this is my home and I love it. There are many wonderful people here, people who care and contribute much to their communities. But there are also people, as there are everywhere in this world, who destroy communities, who tap into the bigotry that may already exist and build it up to a fanatical level. Or they may do it in a more underhanded manner, through teaching, ministering, running for public office, often under the guise that they are "protecting society" or "protecting our children". One notorious person is a pastor for Big Sky Christian Center in Hamilton named Harris Himes. He also heads a group called the Montana Family Coalition. This extreme homophobe is always in attendance during Montana legislative sessions whenever laws are being reviewed for the rights of gay citizens. In 2003 when HB 294 was being reviewed (this would have removed same-sex contact from the same line as bestiality in the Montana Code) Harris Himes was quoted as saying that "homosexuality was a sin and a crime" and, most chilling, "homes where probable same-sex contact was going on should be raided in the same way drug houses are raided". Tei Nash,
