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Those who hold such opinions have that right, but giving them a forum legitimizes their views.

By STEVE WESSLER April 26, 2008

Deeply prejudiced and baseless rhetoric that blames minorities for society's problems is not a new phenomenon.

Jews, for example, have been blamed by some in the United States for an international conspiracy to spread communism, for masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and for the spread of AIDS.

Unfortunately, it is not difficult to find examples of bigoted and irresponsible diatribes against blacks, Jews, gays and lesbians and others.

The fliers and Web sites of organized hate groups are both readily available and deeply disturbing.

Extremists will continue to find avenues to express their biased, unfounded and inflammatory views on Web sites and at rallies.

This kind of rhetoric, however, has no place in the opinion section of well-respected newspapers. The April 13 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram included an opinion column by Michael Heath, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, blaming the gay-rights movement, as the "radical wing" of the so-called sexual revolution, for a range of societal problems, including broken homes, child abuse, abortion and AIDS.

Heath followed with the equally brazen assertion that, unless Maine people enact the Christian Civic League's proposed referendum to roll back years of legislation which protects gay and lesbian families and individuals from unfair and discriminatory treatment, these societal problems "would be irreversible."

Many readers will find Heath's unfounded blame of gays and lesbians for child abuse, broken families and other ills to be simply ridiculous.

But it is more serious than that, and it would be a mistake to ignore the impact of false accusations against minorities.

Irresponsible and biased speech legitimizes extreme prejudice, lowers the quality of public debate on important societal issues and encourages others to engage in divisive and humiliating stereotypes.

Moreover, during the years I spent enforcing Maine's civil rights laws and, more recently, implementing programs to reduce bias and harassment in schools and communities through the work of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence, I have seen that stereotypes about racial, religious, ethnic, socio-economic, gender and sexual orientation groups never are static.

Rather, bias and stereotypes are part of a process of escalation in which degrading and dehumanizing comments, stereotypes and jokes can lead to harsher language, to threats, to property destruction and finally to violence.

Mr. Heath's assertions are deeply disturbing but not surprising. The Telegram's decision to print those assertions, however, is both disturbing and surprising.

I do not believe that the paper would print an opinion column blaming Jews for the destruction of the World Trade Center or denying the Holocaust.

Neither do I believe that the paper would print an opinion piece blaming African-Americans for crime and arguing that blacks are genetically inferior to whites.

Why, then, did the paper print Mr. Heath's column?

I worry that the paper's decision might have been due to our society's acceptance of stereotypes and bias directed at gays and lesbians.

Alternatively, the paper may have been trying to appear evenhanded in its coverage of the Christian Civic League's proposed referendum.

Michael Heath certainly has the right to express his opinions.

However, respected newspapers should not be in the business of printing, and thereby legitimizing, opinions that are deeply prejudiced, factually unsupportable and destructive to the culture of civility which is such an important part of our state.

The Maine Sunday Telegram is a far, far better paper than this.