"We Throw Down the Gauntlet"- Pathos

Dr. Kameny relies mostly on logos and ethos in his attempt to argue against the injustice facing Mr. Wentworth and the homosexual community as a whole. However, he does appeal to emotions as well to an arguably lesser extent.

The issue at hand is very sensitive one, so it is natural that an appeal to people's emotions is natural. The crux of Wentworth's argument is that he and his colleagues should not be subjected to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, which really has nothing to do with one's ability to do a job, regarding Mr. Wentworth. He says,

 " We have our sensitivities.  We have our feelings.  We are human beings.  You walk roughshod over those feelings and sensitivities, with hobnailed boots, as if we were somehow less than human---which is, of course, precisely the way all too many of you think of us. "

Really, he's trying to guilt the opposition and show them just how bigoted they are. And to me, it seems quite effective.

The other main example of pathos is Kameny's appeal to patriotism. Not everybody loves gays, but everyone does love America. Thus, he says that being gay makes him no less of an American, and so he and his peers are "American citizens," with all the connotation that goes along with those 2 words:
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Implicitly, he is forcing his audience to wonder how a country that prides itself on freedom can be so discriminatory.

Many of his arguments resurface later in the words of Hillary Clinton. Gay people are no less human than the rest of society. "Gay rights are human rights," because gay people are also human.