No Tim, it’s not a hate crime, it’s just profound ignorance

So Timmy starts damage control:

“I still don't accept their lifestyle. No.”

“I don't hate anybody. I don't have a hate bone in my body.”

“…it was just the wrong choice of words. It came out of my mouth real crude and real bad and real ugly. And people think that that's the way I feel. That I hate [gay people], and I don't. I don't condone what they do, but I don't hate them. But that's how it came out.”

“They call them hate crimes for a reason.”

“And that's what it was, a hate crime on my part.”

And here is what I’d say to Tim if I could:

Yes Tim, you’re right, your words were "crude, bad, and ugly", but you had every right to say them. It is not a hate crime to express your true feelings about gay people and the day it becomes one is the day I don’t want to live in the United States of America anymore. And no, you don’t even have to accept anyone’s so-called “lifestyle” either. That’s your right too, and nobody can take that away from you. That’s the beauty of this amazing country, you have the freedom to hate whatever or whomever you want and you can tell the world all about it, just like you did. No crime there.

But the world has the right to recoil in shock and revulsion at the words that so blithely spill from your mouth too. And I’d bet $1,000 that the profound regret and remorse that you are expressing today has nothing to do with the hurt you caused untold numbers of people you’ve never even met and everything to do with the huge backlash that slapped you in the face almost immediately. And sadly, you were so blinded by your own overblown sense of self-importance, you never saw it coming. You had absolutely no idea that there could be consequences to those searing words, did you?

Such a shame…

Well Tim, I am the mother of a gay son and I don’t hate you, I don’t even dislike you. I’m just really sad you choose to hate and use God to justify it. And I’m sad you were so stupid and blinded by your own massive ego that you thought you could publicly proclaim such a nasty sentiment and not think there would be repercussions. And I’m sad at what you’ve missed out on because of your blinding hate and ignorance. But Tim, my Christian beliefs do not permit me to hate you. And I don’t. I just feel sorry for you.

But while I have your ear, let me tell you what I do hate. I hate the misplaced hero worship that creates people like you. Over and over again we see it, some nobody kid comes out of the woodwork, proves he was one of the lucky ones born with a little bit of talent for a certain sport, secures a contract promising to pay him sinful amounts of money, gets elevated to hero-status for nothing more than being able to put a dumb ball in a dumb basket, and voila said nobody-kid turns into an egotistical prima Donna that forgets that at the end of the day, he’s really no better than anyone else, even gays.

I know that when this whole stink calms down, the only lesson you will have learned is that you need to think before you speak. And yes that is a great lesson, but it is not the lesson you should be taking away from this sad affair. The lesson you should be taking away is this:

Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged.

But maybe you did get a taste of that lesson too.