Thank you, Leolaia. I couldn't have expressed it any better myself. I certainly have never promoted a political agenda with anything I have shared here save for a plea that human rights be accorded to and respected by all. I don't think that is too much to ask. I must say that I find 144001's reasoning both specious and condescending. He speaks of 'imposing an agenda' but apparently does not understand that without that imposition the only people who would fully enjoy the privileges of American citizenship would be wealthy white males. I don't think that is the type of country he would want to live in.
Have some advocates for their causes become far too strident and even intolerant of others' views? Absolutely, and I don't like that anymore than the next person. And it must be admitted that some love stridency and conflict for their own sakes. But it must also be acknowledged that they often arise when calm and rational appeals for justice and redress have been harshly denied. Minorities of every stripe have encountered that attitude in their respective struggles thus creating the excesses that both 144001 and garbonzo deplore.
As for teaching the positive roles gays, blacks and other minority groups have played in history, what's wrong with that? Should their contributions be left out? And doesn't including them make for better citizens overall when they learn that a nation's greatness has arisen because of the contributions all, rather than some, have played? The answer to that question is self-evident.
Quendi