John Carroll wrote a piece for the San Francisco Chronicle that was published Fri, 06/24. This is a lovely article, I thought I should share.
Very soon now, our nation will engage in one of its most festive and patriotic days of celebration. Picnics will be held, kids will race around, flags will be carried, fireworks will be set off. The day means many things to many people, but I like to think of it as a celebration of the First Amendment, particularly freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.
Sometimes I'm at the edge of tears when I see these Americans of all different races and religions and ages gathering together freely and openly. That's when I feel the most patriotic, when people put aside their differences and come together for a giant party celebrating our commonality of purpose.
I refer, of course, to this Sunday, gay pride day. The marches, the speeches, the party atmosphere -- it is such a welcome break from the grim things being said about gays and lesbians, from the dopey laws and stupid opinions and deeply held misconceptions. I remind everyone, in this hour of darkness, that 50 years ago, there was no such thing as gay pride day. There was no such thing as gays and lesbians and transsexuals and bisexuals and, yes, heterosexuals gathering together to affirm the humanity of people with sexual orientations different from that of the majority. Fifty years ago, almost all gay men and women were closeted, and often they felt guilty and depressed and suicidal. Often they felt entirely alone. They no longer feel alone. They never will again.
This is a new world, and there's no going back, and I suspect that's one of the reasons for the Christian jihadist push to deny gays and lesbians pretty much everything. They know there's no going back. The bell cannot be unrung. And, may I say with all due respect: ha ha ha ha ha.
Another thing that makes the right uncomfortable: the well documented ability of gays to hide in plain sight. You can't tell by looking.
They have had plenty of training in undercover work (I thought of that joke; rejected it), and one of them could be right next to you. Or right next to your child.
Ignorant people are afraid of gay men and lesbians. They believe that gays use recruitment as a major way of passing on their, uh, belief system, just like the Army does. And so anti-gay folks say a lot, without irony, that they are "doing it for the children." They do a lot of things for the children, whom they sincerely love.
If you want to see sincerely loved children, come on out to the gay pride parade. Lesbians and gay men are never sure they can have a child until one actually comes along, and the blessing of that presence is treasured. In a perfect world, gay parents would be hanging out with straight parents talking about the best place to buy shoes, the tricky issue of raising a child to be both brave and cautious, the eternal problem of finding time for themselves in a child-oriented family. These are important issues, and it would be great if we could, as they say, live in the solution. But it looks like we're going to be living in the problem for a while longer.
Russell Shorto wrote a fascinating article in Sunday's New York Times magazine about spending time with anti-gay groups. He quotes Brian Racer, a minister of the Open Door Bible Church in Catonsville, Md: "It's unfortunate that homosexuals have taken the moniker 'gay,' because their lifestyle and its consequences are anything but. Look what has happened in the decades since sexual revolution and the acceptance of the gay lifestyle as normal. Viruses have mutated, STDs have spread. It shows that when we try to change the natural course of things, what comes out is not joy or gayness."
Viruses have indeed mutated: The ebola virus, the avian flu virus. Before the sexual revolution, another flu virus mutated and killed 100 million people. Viruses mutate because they are hardy life forms. Do you get the feeling these folks only pay attention to the fact that fit their theories? AIDS is a worldwide health crisis, and would have become one whether gay men in America got HIV or not.
As for joy and gayness -- y'all come on out, hear? Gay people having uncomplicated fun! Oh my, they are not tortured souls writhing in God's disapproval; they are cheerful people, some of whom are rejoicing in God's love. You won't see this on the TV much, but there are always groups of self- identified Christians marching in the parade, marching to bear witness to the power of that simple injunction, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
I think you have to be pretty far gone in your pathology not to see the truth, that there's nothing but people inside those human skins, whether those skins are covered by leather or polyester or a cotton T-shirt that says "Bush used to be such a pretty word."
Out
uke dumb queers jumped up and down for her, yuck. she was there to introduce deborah harry who sang like 4 songs, which was cool, rapture and heart of glass being the higlights. She had this outfit that at some point opened up into this huge rainbow flag. hee, good times. Then Lucy Lawless came out. I was disappointed she didn't say anything. She just sang one song, a real dancey type song. And she was sporting this really long bloonde hair. A nice little short dress, what beautiful legs...
And I missed it! Too bad she didn't say more; she's always been an outspoken GLBT supporter. I don't ascribe motives to anyone, but it seems like Lucy was always the one acknowledging the lesbian Xena fans and Renee wasn't. That dynamic seems to be present in Amber and Alyson also - again, I don't mean to imply that it means anything - but I've always read the GLBT-supportive quotes from Amber and not from Alyson.
)
