So you see, we don’t need laws or other people’s protection to stop people from calling us gay. In fact, these laws against insulting people’s groups teach us that we should get upset when people insult our groups. And when we get upset, the problem gets worse.

All we need is to learn the practice of the Golden Rule, which really means that we should treat people like friends even when they treat us like enemies. And Freedom of Speech is mandated by the Golden Rule.

Note: Please don’t complain to me, “But we need these laws! Attacks against gays aren’t only verbal! There are physical attacks, and we are victims of discrimination, too!”

Yes, of course there are physical attacks and real discrimination against gays. But these acts are already crimes, and rightfully so, and they have nothing to do with Freedom of Speech. Freedom of Speech only guarantees people’s right to say words that can hurt our feelings, but it does not give them the right to hurt our bodies or possessions, to deny members of our groups equal opportunity, to treat us differently under the law, to threaten us, or to incite violence against us. Furthermore, most physical attacks begin with words, so if we know how to successfully handle verbal attacks against our group, there will probably be no escalation to physical attacks.

It is not more laws that we need, but more education. We need to teach the meaning and practice of Freedom of Speech and the Golden Rule.