Board Thread:Site Policy/@comment-5371501-20130418204404/@comment-14705774-20130418222229

I'd say that discrimination shouldn't be a bannable offense so long as it isn't derogatory discrimination. For instance, if I acknowledge that all gay men are sexually attracted to men whereas all straight men are sexually attracted to women, I am technically discriminating between gay men and straight men, but in such a way as to be completely truthful and not to imply any difference between the two groups' general quality as human beings.

In any case, I would say it is not the word that is the problem, but what is being said with it. If someone is in any way indicating that some large, non-organized group of people to which membership is involuntary -- such as the group of all blacks -- is inherently less respectable than the rest of humanity, I think that should be a bannable offense, regardless of the words they use. Conversely, if someone is not in any way indicating this, I think that simply using words that would normally suggest otherwise should not be a bannable offense.

In summary, we must be able to recognize the distinction between simply talking about some vocal minority and outright belittling or insulting it, and ban for only the latter.