Musket, we don't allow or disallow anything as "a valid" or "invalid" view. We let people post what they think, and then let the community express their agreement or disagreement - and the vast majority of Mudcatters speak very approvingly of gay people. Allowing minority opinions, even when they are disagreeable, gives an opportunity for discussion - and perhaps the "unenlightened" will become enlightened. We do put a stop to combative discussions when they get out of hand, but we have never gotten into the business of passing judgment on what is acceptable and unacceptable in individual posts.

You may have noticed that my religious denomination (Catholic) is a very small minority here, and I get a lot of crap about it. I admit that years ago I did delete a one-line post from an anonymous guest who called me a "Catholic child molester," but I think that's the only anti-Catholic post I've seen deleted here. We have deleted some anti-gay posts when they were truly hateful. There's a line between what is a person's opinion and what is just a hateful, bigoted attack. We try to err on the side of freedom of expression.

We do delete personal attacks, if the target of the attack finds them unacceptable. Let me know if that happens, and I'll pass your request on to the moderation team to deal with. I don't do that "remedial" moderation any more, but I'm still the person who handles other Mudcat business like public contact, music editing and archiving, and member registration.

We know that many people don't like the tone that discussion has taken at Mudcat, particularly in recent years - And I have to say I'm not always thrilled with it myself. Still, we still believe in erring on the side of freedom of expression. It would help if people who say they believe in civil discussion, were to refuse to join in the combat.

-Joe-