Amid growing threats of boycott, Ian Reisner, one of the gay men who hosted an event for Ted Cruz, finally issued a confession on his Facebook page: Hosting the conservative Republican had been “a terrible mistake.”

There’s something about forced apologies that is especially humiliating and disturbing. This is probably because they hearken back to auto-da-fé, witch hunts, and show trials. But what else could Reisner do? From the sacking of Mozilla’s CEO, to the threatening of Memories Pizza, it’s hard to argue that there isn’t a heavy-handed approach to dealing with people who don’t happen to agree with the gay rights agenda. And if firings and threats are the punishment for opponents, what fresh hell must be in store for traitors?

You have to hand it to Allahpundit for predicting exactly how this would play out:

[Cruz] says the NYT was trying to suggest that he was somehow compromised in his conservatism for socializing with pro-SSM gay constituents, but I don’t know. Maybe the Times’s angle was really that Weiderpass and Reisner were compromised in their gayness for socializing with Cruz. The media understands very well by now what happens to business owners who stray from gay-marriage orthodoxy. If you’re interested in enforcing that orthodoxy, as most of the press is, you’ll achieve more by making life hard for Weiderpass and Reisner than you will trying to make it hard for Cruz.

Intentional, or not, this will send a message — as a sort of brushback pitch to anyone in the future who might provide comfort to the enemy — who might prioritize other shared commonality over this particular brand of identity politics. (In this case, the common bond was apparently their shared support for Israel).

The sad thing is that this disincentivizes forging the kinds of relationships that might ultimately lead to greater understanding and mutual respect — and instead, encourages more tribalism, isolation, and polarization.

It’s possible that Cruz and these guys might have bonded over Israel, and that this might have developed into a greater friendship and dialogue. All parties might have ultimately become enlightened. Is this not something we should encourage? In fact, that’s pretty much exactly what Mr. Reisner told the Times just a couple days ago when he said: “Senator Ted Cruz and I disagree strongly on the issue of gay marriage, but having an open dialogue with those who have differing political opinions is a part of what this country was founded on.”

Or not …

Activists with a political agenda gain nothing from comity. This sort of “dialogue” is a bug, not a feature. People who don’t get on board with this agenda are to be shamed and ostracized, not welcomed into polite society — and certainly not feted. (Normal people don’t think this way, but activists do. And they’re the ones who lead movements — they’re the ones who organize boycotts.)

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… By the way, get used to these kind of stories. This weekend, The New York Times ran another story that opened with a “drag queen turned waiter” serving Jeb Bush a “bison burger wrapped in lettuce.” (This is not to suggest that .)

In this instance, however, the waiter displayed a sort of grace when he said: “Love everybody and serve everybody.” This is something that people on both sides of this culture war should aspire to.

How long before Mr. Strangie is forced to beg forgiveness?

Note: Matt Lewis’ wife previously consulted on Ted Cruz’s Senate campaign, and currently consults for RickPAC.