Just until after the election. [I have previously had much to say about this issue in these pages. See Archives nos. 2.2, 5.12, 21.2 (which is about the 2004 election), 29.1, 30.2, 32.5, and 38.8]
© 2008, UrbisMedia
GAYS. What’s wrong with them?! It’s not that they are gays and lesbians and trans-gender or trans-fatty-acid people. They are humans and citizens and that’s all that matters on that score. They should be allowed to marry, like anybody else. It’s not that they are stupid. They are probably of higher intelligence than average Americans and are smarter than everybody in a state like West Virginia that has a cumulative IQ lower than its area code, all share the same DNA, and have an average of six teeth per mouth. It’s not that they are immoral; you have to be a born-again religious idiot zealot to believe that. It’s not that they are going to ruin heterosexual marriages, half of which end in divorce very well by themselves, which is not always the half that should. It’s not that they are “homocrats,” trying to overtake the political system; they just want their Constitutional rights.
But I am not sure that they are acting like democrats, or at least Democrats. It’s that they are either A. not politically savvy, or B. impatient, self-indulgent jerks. Even these hypotheses are quite open to question. But: are they doing it again? Giving the Religious Right another poke in their cheeks so they will come out in droves again, like they did to elect George Bush in 2004 and, this time, get John McCain elected? COULDN’T THEY F*****G WAIT ANOTHER SIX MONTHS, UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION TO DANCE IN THE STREETS? JESUS CHRIST! THEY HAD THEIR LAST ‘MARRIAGE’ CELEBRATIONS A FEW MONTHS BEFORE THE LAST ELECTION AND, ARGUABLY, HELPED ELECT A GUY WHO REPRESENTS PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIKE TO BURN THEM AT THE STAKE! CAN’T THEY WAIT? ARE THAY THAT POLITICALLY STUPID, OR ARE THEY THAT SELF-INDULGENT AND COUNTERINTUITIVE? [OK, now there are gays who call themselves “Log Cabin Republicans.” I know, it’s almost impossible to imagine gays who would want to be Republicans, a politicval party that pretty much hates their gay guts, but there you have it. They even chose the name Log Cabin Republicans, using “log,” the very object the homosexuals were called when tossed on the fires in autos da fe, called“faggots,” that has come down through the ugly ages as a epithet.]
I am all for the cause of gays and lesbians and trans-gender people getting their marriage licenses and full rights. They have been denied these for a long time. But they are partly responsible for a lot of people who got killed a tortured because George Bush remained in power. And they are going to be partly responsible again because they are acting, politically, like selfish jerks. Once was enough; now to hell with being politically-correct or sympathetic. They stakes are higher than a couple of months before you can play the wedding march, or some Streisand tunes at your wedding banquets.
Now maybe gays would like to counter with the argument that this was a decision by the California Supreme Court, and therefore the judicial calendar should be blamed for this. I wouldn’t buy that claim. In fact, maybe those Log Cabin Republicans are really a 5th column operation who pressed for getting this decision to come out at such are Right-Wingedly propitious time. Also, it could be that the six members of the Cal Supreme Court who were appointed by the Republicans, saw this as a good time to come down with the decision. One vote could have swung it other way. OK, maybe that’s a bit too conspiracy theory. You get to believe in Machiavellian politics in the Bushian world.
Like many oppressed groups, gays tend to become self-deprecating in a self-protecting manner (“I can make better fun of myself than you can”), but there’s always a point where you begin to wonder about it. I like the joke about the four gay guys who attacked a woman; three of them held her down while the fourth guy did her hair. But there is always the cultural danger where emphasizing the differences emphasizes the difference to some people. When it gets to four gay guys marching like the Mod Squad down the street and grabbing some dorky straight guy and re-doing his wardrobe and apartment, I start moving away. No, it’s not the homo-terrorism that religious zealots make it out to be; but for them perception is reality and they vote their perceptions. Maybe it brings on some tolerance, but when people are in the voting booth they don’t have to be tolerant. Admittedly, life can be cute and fun, but it can also get pretty serious. This is serious time. And marriage can be important to people who really care about one another; so keep it from being a political statement in addition to personal vows. Victory can be sweet, but this one isn’t sealed yet.
This is a “cutlure war,” a war in which gays are as surely targeted for the pink triangle badge and the death camp as they ever were. There is more at stake than some “I do’s” and some dancing and kissing in the streets. In politics timing can be everything. There is the next four years of this badly damaged and divided country at stake.
I write this partly for my gay friends, none of whom I know are contemplating matrimony. But I wish them to tell those who are that they just might cool it until we get some people in power who will be a lot more tolerant than the people their enemies. They may find that their judicial victory is pyrrhic after they have had their public celebration; they may have to have more allegiance to their political “party” than to party. If they want to get married they can wait a few months—I don’t think there are any “shotgun” necessitated marriages in the offing. I’ll even check out what patterns they have registered for their dinnerware or drapes. I wouldn’t dare to attempt a tasteful selection on my own. But if McCain gets in because you have helped bring out the Religious Right I am going to be pissed, REALLY PISSED. And I am going to show up at next year’s Gay Pride Parade with a sign. It won’t be anti-gay—but you are not going to like it.
I’m probably going to catch some flak for this piece. But it isn’t going t hurt anything like having to learn how to say “President McCain.”
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© 2008, James A. Clapp (UrbisMedia Ltd. Pub. 5.17.2008)