Am I ethically obligated to treat sexists and homophobes with dignity and respect? Do I have to concern myself with their comfort and sense of safety as I try to dismantle their power? No easy answers.
I would say you (general you) need to remember that they are not just defined by their sexism or homophobia. The chances are they have other problems of their own, and even if you decide you can be beastly to them as regards their -ism you surely have an ethical responsibility to tread carefully as regards everything else. And since humans do not live their lives in discreet boxes of separate ideas and behaviour within their own minds, upsetting a person 'because of' one thing will always play into all the other facets of their life and who knows how your actions may spread out and what harm they may do?
At the very least one should try to set a good example. Rise above their own bad morals to display good ones. Demonstrate how to do things right and how to apologise if one does them wrong. In short, nursery manners have a lot to be said for them - we tend to teach children the fundamental things that matter to us as a society, and by and large they aren't that far off the mark.
So I would say I find the answer to that one very easy indeed - nobody who cares about other people should ever take the attitude that it is ok to treat another person other than with dignity and respect. Even if they do happen to represent something you hate.
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I would say you (general you) need to remember that they are not just defined by their sexism or homophobia. The chances are they have other problems of their own, and even if you decide you can be beastly to them as regards their -ism you surely have an ethical responsibility to tread carefully as regards everything else. And since humans do not live their lives in discreet boxes of separate ideas and behaviour within their own minds, upsetting a person 'because of' one thing will always play into all the other facets of their life and who knows how your actions may spread out and what harm they may do?
At the very least one should try to set a good example. Rise above their own bad morals to display good ones. Demonstrate how to do things right and how to apologise if one does them wrong. In short, nursery manners have a lot to be said for them - we tend to teach children the fundamental things that matter to us as a society, and by and large they aren't that far off the mark.
So I would say I find the answer to that one very easy indeed - nobody who cares about other people should ever take the attitude that it is ok to treat another person other than with dignity and respect. Even if they do happen to represent something you hate.