The particular people who oppose homeless people in our community ARE bigots, Steve. They blame our shelter for causing the problem of homelessness, and are unable to appreciate it as an attempt at a solution. They lie and say the homeless are newcomers to our community, and most of our homeless have been here far longer than they have. They are hysterical and unreasonable.

Now, even bigotry has its basis in reasonable fear, at times. Parents have reason to fear perverts attacking their children in school bathrooms. But is that fear reasonable? And if they fear perverts, is it reasonable for them to fear transgender people?

Bigotry is at least partly based on fear. If we are to defeat bigotry, then we must use reason to dispel the fear. Same goes for all forms of bigotry. A positive, non-threatening approach is usually far more effective than aggression that just exacerbates the fear.

-Joe Offer-