Ake, homosexuals are not the one and only group which attracts bigotry and hate. There are a myriad of websites specifically devoted to the hatred of (and often proposing violence towards) Jews, Muslims, Blacks, Mexicans, Asians and others, and that is the phenomenon I was referring to. I don't think it is 'hate speech' to refer to such sites as attracting 'scum'.

My point above was in answer to Joe's belief that, on Mudcat, anyway, one could/should either be polite and reasonable or be silent in the face of bigoted statements. The point being, why should we allow people who are simply hateful and trollish to go unchecked in our own corner of the internet? Why should we not let such people know that we disagree strongly and with righteous indignation, not just academically?

I'm well aware that you don't persecute homosexuals; you just have a bee in your bonnet about ss marriage. You are not promoting hatred, IMO. (Yer just wrong. ;-))