Why is it socially acceptable for one but not the other?
Background: I'm sure I will be accused of being all kinds of horrible things since asking this question, but I'd like to hear everyone's opinions. I don't believe that anyone should be hateful towards any group for any reason, be it sexuality, religion, race, gender, belief, status, whatever, but I know that it's facile and immature to imagine that the world we live in will ever be like that.
In the wake of the Chik-Fil-A anti-gay thing that's been going on recently, I got to thinking, however this could be applied to many issues-- isn't preaching 'tolerance' by being intolerant of the original intolerance extremely hypocritical?
That sounds ridiculous, so let me use an example: the generally reviled Westboro Baptist Church. They preach against-- well, most everything-- but their big thing is, they are anti-homosexuality. That's spreading the idea of hatred. But how is it any better for pro-homosexuality groups to preach against Westboro Baptist, spreading the idea of hatred even further afield? If we as a people should be free to practice whatever religion, sexual orientation, belief system, etc that we want and accepted as we are, shouldn't that include practicing being what many people would refer to as a small-minded misinformed bigot, and accepted as such?