THINKing outside the box
There are so many persons in stable same sex relationships to reasonably argue that love and intimacy between two adults of the same gender is a criminal aberration, mental illness or moral blasphemy. Yet we still have those who appeal to fear and ignorance, spouting their messages of hate. Even worse, hypocrites like Mark Foley and Ted Haggard who claims their homosexuality was a moral failure brought on by extreme pressure, childhood abuse or substance abuse.
As pathetic as they are, I am hard pressed to pity them because their cowardice is exactly what the fear-mongers grab on to as they continue to spew false propaganda.
Each of us probably knows someone who is homosexual. They are not abnormal mutants or spawns or the devil. One does not chose to be hetero- or homosexual. One can choose to have a bisexual experience, but isn’t that merely a continuing exploration of an individual’s sexuality? Somehow, I can’t believe God would give us such a wonderful gift as sexual pleasure and then deny us its celebration, nor do I believe that deep abiding love is the sole province of a man and a woman. (Of course, if this is simply an accidental development of evolution then I say, “Way to go Nature!”) Whether one believes in a higher moral authority, or chooses to believe that the individual is the final arbiter of appropriate personal conduct. The only criteria that matters here is if the individuals involved in the intimate relationship are consenting adults. Depriving any individual of the same rights accorded to heterosexuals is a legal and moral injustice. Like those who claimed the influx of European immigrants, or giving women the right to vote, or the mixing of the races would lead to the weakening of American society (and was therefore a reason to treat them as sub-citizens), those who continue to fight against equal rights for homosexuals once again remind us of the power of fear and ignorance.
The cries that equal recognition will mean the unchecked spread of the “homosexual agenda” (whatever that is) ring as hollow as the “Red Scare” of the 1950’s, or the “downfall of the white race” scare during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s.
Surely we have sufficiently matured as a nation to realize that inclusion is the one strength we have distinguishes our nation from so many others. Will we again disenfranchise a group before we have to admit before history that it was wrong? Will we continue to demonstrate such blatant hypocrisy in the face of all we have learned in the last two centuries?
The world is full enough of injustice, prejudices and fears. Surely, if two persons have found love and wish to live within the boundaries of that love, it is not up to another to prevent that.