I never expected Barack Obama's historic victory on November 4th to completely bridge the ugly racial divide that still exists in this country. But, upon reading a story from one of the local papers here in Chicago, while on my way to work this morning, I have to say I am totally disgusted.
There have apparently been innumerable scores of incidents springing up across our land since the election. Among two of the most notable, according to the piece I read:
* A district official reports that 2nd and 3rd grade students on a school bus in Rexburg, Idaho, began chanting "assassinate Obama."
* At Standish, Maine, a sign posted inside the Oak Hill General Store reads: "Osama Obama Shotgun Pool." Store patrons are actually encouraged to sign-up and bet $1 on a date when our President-Elect will be killed. At the bottom of this poster board, somebody had scribbled "Let's hope somebody wins."
As if that's not pathetic enough, check THIS out!
Snellville, GA, resident Denene Millner says that a boy on her 9-year old daughter's school bus was overheard saying: "I hope Obama gets assassinated." Later that same evening, vandals trashed her sister-in-law's front lawn, destroyed the Obama lawn signs and left two pizza boxes filled with human fecal matter outside the home's front door.
There's been cross-burnings, black stick-figures hung from makeshift nooses, and racial slurs spray-painted on homes and cars.
As shameful as most of this behavior is, what really disturbs me is the fact that a great deal of it stems from small children. I've encountered many people who come after me online for being gay, and they all boldly claim they've never preached hate to their kids. That, as this now proves, is such an obvious slap-in-the-face falsehood. A child in his pre-teens should not be harboring deadly intentions towards other people. Neither myself or any of my friends did at that age. If a child grows up in a family environment that promotes hatred and violence against others, as I've often believed, it logically stands to reason that he or she will then proceed to enshrine those unsavory values in common everyday practice.
I admittedly cringe every time I stumble across these news-pieces. Coming from a country that believes voting on each other's civil rights is somehow acceptable, I suppose I shouldn't be all that surprised this sort of thing is STILL happening. Hate is and unfortunately always will be a part of this society. I guess I should simply take solace in noting that unfortunate people of this caliber do not, thankfully, speak for the greater majority.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Voicing My Discontent
Does nobody in the far religious right think for themselves anymore? I find myself posing that question more frequently than ever these days, mostly because I’ve read so much pathetic propaganda scribed by folks old enough to know far better.
That old adage, “live and let live,” apparently no longer bears any credence; at least not to those who believe my life should somehow mirror theirs. But, since it doesn’t, I and the vast innumerable others like me are swiftly judged as inferior. To be a homosexual, after all, is the ultimate abominable sin. God “hates” me. I am ultimately no better than a predatory sex-fiend, who lives only to spread disease and corrupt our nation’s children. I deserve second-class citizenship and will, according to those who laughably presume to know me and my relationship with the Lord, burn in eternal hell-fire. If our God really is one of love, as we so often hear, why does society use his name to spread so much unnecessary ignorance and vile hatred? “I don’t hate you,” touts John Q. Public. “I just hate your sin.”
Are common people really that dense?
These folks place so much stock in the Bible, a tome compiled by flesh and blood men whose bones have long gone to dust, and very foolishly attempt to pass off the writings within that text as “God’s law.” So, where exactly does that leave the Ten Commandments? What is there to say about those who would rather embrace a book authored by mortal men instead of allowing the Ten Commandments, believed throughout history to represent God’s true law, to be posted outside our nation’s courthouses and public libraries? I cannot honestly ever recall spotting one negative reference to homosexuality anywhere within our Lord’s ten mandates. He never once professed, “Thou shalt not be gay.” That false edict is strictly of man’s own self-righteous design and has not the single slightest thing to do with how God views me as an individual. But I would have to be totally insane to believe I could ever convince those who vehemently insist otherwise of such obvious common sense. I find it shrewdly ironic that all the strangers who would casually condemn me in God’s name are also the ones who have already murdered, stolen, committed adultery, and staged false witness against their neighbors.
These are grown men and women who, time and again, have maintained that I deliberately chose to engage myself in a homosexual existence. I can and evidently should pursue the path of change to become more equal to my heterosexual counterparts, this according to Exodus International, Love Won Out, and several other like-minded “Ex-Gay” conversion groups. These organizations often tend to drive me into hysterical fits of laughter, primarily due to the fact that a great many still in practice have long been scientifically discredited. Attraction is what it is. You can’t change who you are attracted to any more than you can hop in a time machine and change the past. Perhaps, if I and several gay friends opened an “Ex-Straight” ministry, the brainwashed right would finally begin to see their concept of change for the embarrassingly asinine waste of time it has always been.
The stubbornness of ignorance, however, is not so easily educated. Take what's happened in California, for instance. The California Supreme Court, as we all remember, legalized same-sex marriage earlier this year. It was signed into law. Last week, however, thanks to a discriminatory and altogether evil piece of unnecessary legislation known as Proposition 8, common voters have now overturned that landmark ruling and have stripped their fellow citizens of their rights. This leaves 18,000 couples, all 36,000 people who married between June and November, wondering if their vows will be invalidated. I clearly cannot accept this, as a gay man, because it so totally flies in the face of everything this great nation allegedly represents. Prop 8 only became a political juggernaut because James Dobson, from Focus on the Family, joined other like-minded bible-thumping fear-mongers across the country and threw millions of dollars at it. They maliciously lied to anybody gullable enough to give them a platform about how homosexuality was "destroying the fabric of moral society." It's plain to see that Dobson, along with any others who endorse this glorified bigotry would rather carry their convictions to the grave before ever entertaining my point of view. It's their way or no way at all.
I’ve also read statements from certain parents over the last year who claim they will never teach their children to accept or tolerate the “deviant homosexual lifestyle.” Those of that mindset should try voicing their opinion to Lawrence King’s grieving mother and father. King, as many will recall, was a fifteen year old Oxnard junior high student who took two bullets through the back of his head from a classmate last February simply because he self-identified as gay. Kids killing kids, imagine that! Does anybody ever wonder where they get the inspiration? Prejudice is a behavioral quirk that no child is ever born with. A responsible parent plays a major role in determining the potential social conduct of their sons and daughters. Teach a child to hate, and he will more than likely go through life with a chip on his shoulder. Instilling him with love, however, will open his mind and allow him to appreciate the wonderful diversity that makes life so exceptionally unique and special. Why, for some people, is this picture postcard ideal so incredibly difficult to grasp?
I harbor just as much frustration for those who, while unmercifully picking apart my life as a gay man, dare to label sexual orientation as a “bedroom topic.” If that actually is what human sexuality all boils down to, then I never want to see another straight couple holding hands, exchanging hugs, or kissing anywhere in public again! It is quite hypocritical for one to declare that I am somehow “shoving” my life down society’s throat when, by no small coincidence, it has been the millions of gay people living throughout the world who have had the “straight agenda” thrown in their faces from day one!
This may all seem like some sort of mad rant on my part. But, in all honesty, I'm upset. And, in wake of all that's happened to the gay community just within this last week, I think I have every right to be. This petty nonsense has persisted long enough!
I've actually caught wind of a grassroot campaign currently underway, a planned march on Washington to address these issues. And, you know something? Maybe that's just what today's gay youth needs. They are the ones who are currently facing the exact same persecution their elders have been fighting year after year. While we very well may have a large base of support from our heterosexual allies, we still need more. Folks, in general, should not be lashing out at the gay couple living down their street because of several small passages they misinterpreted from the Bible, or because some venom-spewing false preacher says it’s okay. We need to organize, come together as a unified people, and strive for the better tomorrow we all deserve.
That old adage, “live and let live,” apparently no longer bears any credence; at least not to those who believe my life should somehow mirror theirs. But, since it doesn’t, I and the vast innumerable others like me are swiftly judged as inferior. To be a homosexual, after all, is the ultimate abominable sin. God “hates” me. I am ultimately no better than a predatory sex-fiend, who lives only to spread disease and corrupt our nation’s children. I deserve second-class citizenship and will, according to those who laughably presume to know me and my relationship with the Lord, burn in eternal hell-fire. If our God really is one of love, as we so often hear, why does society use his name to spread so much unnecessary ignorance and vile hatred? “I don’t hate you,” touts John Q. Public. “I just hate your sin.”
Are common people really that dense?
These folks place so much stock in the Bible, a tome compiled by flesh and blood men whose bones have long gone to dust, and very foolishly attempt to pass off the writings within that text as “God’s law.” So, where exactly does that leave the Ten Commandments? What is there to say about those who would rather embrace a book authored by mortal men instead of allowing the Ten Commandments, believed throughout history to represent God’s true law, to be posted outside our nation’s courthouses and public libraries? I cannot honestly ever recall spotting one negative reference to homosexuality anywhere within our Lord’s ten mandates. He never once professed, “Thou shalt not be gay.” That false edict is strictly of man’s own self-righteous design and has not the single slightest thing to do with how God views me as an individual. But I would have to be totally insane to believe I could ever convince those who vehemently insist otherwise of such obvious common sense. I find it shrewdly ironic that all the strangers who would casually condemn me in God’s name are also the ones who have already murdered, stolen, committed adultery, and staged false witness against their neighbors.
These are grown men and women who, time and again, have maintained that I deliberately chose to engage myself in a homosexual existence. I can and evidently should pursue the path of change to become more equal to my heterosexual counterparts, this according to Exodus International, Love Won Out, and several other like-minded “Ex-Gay” conversion groups. These organizations often tend to drive me into hysterical fits of laughter, primarily due to the fact that a great many still in practice have long been scientifically discredited. Attraction is what it is. You can’t change who you are attracted to any more than you can hop in a time machine and change the past. Perhaps, if I and several gay friends opened an “Ex-Straight” ministry, the brainwashed right would finally begin to see their concept of change for the embarrassingly asinine waste of time it has always been.
The stubbornness of ignorance, however, is not so easily educated. Take what's happened in California, for instance. The California Supreme Court, as we all remember, legalized same-sex marriage earlier this year. It was signed into law. Last week, however, thanks to a discriminatory and altogether evil piece of unnecessary legislation known as Proposition 8, common voters have now overturned that landmark ruling and have stripped their fellow citizens of their rights. This leaves 18,000 couples, all 36,000 people who married between June and November, wondering if their vows will be invalidated. I clearly cannot accept this, as a gay man, because it so totally flies in the face of everything this great nation allegedly represents. Prop 8 only became a political juggernaut because James Dobson, from Focus on the Family, joined other like-minded bible-thumping fear-mongers across the country and threw millions of dollars at it. They maliciously lied to anybody gullable enough to give them a platform about how homosexuality was "destroying the fabric of moral society." It's plain to see that Dobson, along with any others who endorse this glorified bigotry would rather carry their convictions to the grave before ever entertaining my point of view. It's their way or no way at all.
I’ve also read statements from certain parents over the last year who claim they will never teach their children to accept or tolerate the “deviant homosexual lifestyle.” Those of that mindset should try voicing their opinion to Lawrence King’s grieving mother and father. King, as many will recall, was a fifteen year old Oxnard junior high student who took two bullets through the back of his head from a classmate last February simply because he self-identified as gay. Kids killing kids, imagine that! Does anybody ever wonder where they get the inspiration? Prejudice is a behavioral quirk that no child is ever born with. A responsible parent plays a major role in determining the potential social conduct of their sons and daughters. Teach a child to hate, and he will more than likely go through life with a chip on his shoulder. Instilling him with love, however, will open his mind and allow him to appreciate the wonderful diversity that makes life so exceptionally unique and special. Why, for some people, is this picture postcard ideal so incredibly difficult to grasp?
I harbor just as much frustration for those who, while unmercifully picking apart my life as a gay man, dare to label sexual orientation as a “bedroom topic.” If that actually is what human sexuality all boils down to, then I never want to see another straight couple holding hands, exchanging hugs, or kissing anywhere in public again! It is quite hypocritical for one to declare that I am somehow “shoving” my life down society’s throat when, by no small coincidence, it has been the millions of gay people living throughout the world who have had the “straight agenda” thrown in their faces from day one!
This may all seem like some sort of mad rant on my part. But, in all honesty, I'm upset. And, in wake of all that's happened to the gay community just within this last week, I think I have every right to be. This petty nonsense has persisted long enough!
I've actually caught wind of a grassroot campaign currently underway, a planned march on Washington to address these issues. And, you know something? Maybe that's just what today's gay youth needs. They are the ones who are currently facing the exact same persecution their elders have been fighting year after year. While we very well may have a large base of support from our heterosexual allies, we still need more. Folks, in general, should not be lashing out at the gay couple living down their street because of several small passages they misinterpreted from the Bible, or because some venom-spewing false preacher says it’s okay. We need to organize, come together as a unified people, and strive for the better tomorrow we all deserve.
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