It is time for conservatives to reclaim and rehabilitate the word “discriminate,” particularly when it comes to homosexual behavior.
The left has twisted this word to create the utterly false impression that discrimination of any kind at any time for any reason is by definition wrong and immoral.
Of course, leftists are oblivious to the reality that they, these self-described paragons of tolerance, routinely discriminate against people of Christian faith, by refusing them permission to pray in public, by fining them for declining to photograph lesbian commitment ceremonies, by throwing them out of graduate programs in counseling, or by suing them in court if they won’t rent their facilities to same-sex couples. So their blindingly hypocritical mantra quite simply is “discrimination for me but not for thee.”
The truth is that public policy is about nothing other than discrimination. This is all it is about, all it can be about, and all it should be about.
According to Webster’s, the verb “discriminate” is from a Latin word meaning to “distinguish between.” It means to “differentiate,” to “distinguish by discerning or exposing differences,” “to make a distinction” or “to use good judgment.”
This is what public policy is all about: using good judgment to distinguish those behaviors that are worthy of public approval from those behaviors which ought to receive public disapproval.
Public policy is about discriminating against behaviors that are socially destructive and corrosive to the social fabric.So, we rightly discriminate against people who rip off convenience stores, burgle houses, drive while drunk, eat the faces off homeless people, gun down servicemen on military bases, embezzle funds from employers or clients, or beat their wives.
