"It gets better." Really?

In September 2010, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry Miller to inspire hope for young people facing harassment. In response to a number of students taking their own lives after being bullied in school, they wanted to create a personal way for supporters everywhere to tell LGBT youth that, yes, it does indeed get better.

Apparently, there is fine print involved. It seems it's only supposed to get better for gays as long as you're not a conservative. But if you dare wander off the liberal plantation, there is hell to pay.

Early this week, Kyle Wood, a young, openly gay Wisconsin man, was the victim of a hate crime. He is a full-time volunteer working for GOP candidate Chad Lee. According to the Daily Caller:

"I was getting ready for work and there was a knock at the door," Wood emailed the Caller late Wednesday. "I opened it, and a guy wrapped a ligature around my neck, slammed my head into the doorway, and smashed my face into a mirror, telling me 'You should have kept your [f*******] mouth shut.'"

"He then kidney-punched me, while at the same time saying I was 'warned,' and continued to beat me," he added.

Wood said his attacker's reference to a warning likely pointed to graffiti he found painted on his car last week. The vandalism included the phrases "house trained republican faggot," "traitor," and "ur like a jew 4 hitler."

Those slurs, he explained, were references to him being a gay Republican working to help Lee, a straight GOP candidate, defeat the openly gay Democrat Mark Pocan.

Wood was unable to move the right side of his body immediately following Wednesday morning's assault. He was transported by ambulance to Meriter Hospital in Madison. His eyes were swollen shut by the beating, and he suffered a concussion along with neck and head lacerations.

The left oftentimes seems incapable of tolerating any level of ideological opposition. Opposition isn't to be challenged through reasoned argument and free and fair elections. No -- it must be eviscerated.

Last spring, Dan Savage, the man who founded the "it gets better movement," was a guest speaker at a Seattle high school journalism conference. He was invited to speak at the conference precisely because of his very public anti-bullying efforts. Yet when he attacked the Bible, which offended many students in the audience, they walked out. The anti-bullying champion proved to be very much a bully himself:

"It's funny, as someone who's been on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible, how pansy-assed some people react when you push back."

This was a middle-aged man, berating and maligning high school students! Yet this was just another example of the vitriol and violence which often lies behind the facade of tolerant liberalism. You can watch the video here.

I have my own example: I wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post expressing my opposition to same sex marriage. I am gay. However, I believe wholeheartedly that the definition of marriage is immutable.

A majority of the 450 comments posted on the Washington Post's website were vitriolic, all because I expressed my opinion that we shouldn't mess with the definition of marriage. I suggested that gays and lesbians find another term to use.

Additionally, within twenty-four hours, a web page was created on a gay website with my picture, excerpts from my writings, and at last count, over one hundred mostly vile comment postings, all meant to intimidate and silence me. The comments have now been deleted. Fortunately, I downloaded them, so here is a small sampling:

Guest replies:

Someone should look into his background.

ClevelandJim replies: He's just another republican house faggot. Pay him no mind.

AJD says: Let's start calling these people Little Roy Cohns -- make that the gay equivalent of Uncle Tom.

TedBear says: "Hi. My name is Doug Mainwaring and I hate myself so much I want to prevent marriage and happiness for all GLBTQs."

Perhaps the nicest thing I was called was a douche bag. I won't mention the others.

Some liberals even put on their Sherlock Holmes hats and sought me out on Facebook. Here's a particularly striking attempt to silence me, which came all the way from Italy:

If Maryland would approve the repeal (it is quite possible a setback) i (sic) think that every suicide of a gay young in Maryland (sic) will be caused a little by your piece.

Not a single comment attempted to enter into meaningful dialogue, or to express any level at all of intellectual curiosity about why I possess my particular viewpoint.

Liberalism purports to be both tolerant the protector of the victims of society. It is becoming abundantly clear that this is a self-serving mischaracterization. The left wants to silence opposition at any cost.