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 Fundamentalist Freddy Krueger #1293: The Bogeyman of Gay Marriage
by ROBERT ZIMMER, JR.
Friday, December 26, 2003
LOS ANGELES, CA.
As the 2004 election looms a mere eleven months away, right-wing conservatives are banging the drum of family values again. They cry wolf for the umpteenth time, wailing about the imminent destruction of the family unit. Gay marriage is the latest in a long line of benign social changes throughout our nation’s history, including women’s suffrage, equal rights for minorities, etc., that right-wingers insist will herald the collapse of society. They stir up the basest, most irrational fears of Americans in order to preserve outdated and oppressive institutions. The end of the world is always nigh in their universe, a cheap tool to maintain their death grip on the minds of the citizenry.
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The entire argument against gay marriage is rooted in the big lie that homosexuality is a choice. Not only is this scientifically inaccurate, but it is counterintuitive and illogical. No person in his or her right mind would consciously and willingly choose a sexual orientation which would earn them the misunderstanding, hatred and discrimination which exists towards gays in our current society. Ask the vast majority of gay people if they tried to “change” or fight their impulses, and they will say yes – in vain. Reports of homosexuals who have been “cured” by, say, “turning to Jesus” have almost invariably been discredited. The most famous example is the ex-gay advocacy group Exodus, much-vaunted by the Christian right, whose two male founders fell in love with each other and left the group. Oops! I harbor no ill will towards one who chooses not to indulge in his homosexuality. But it is time we accept common sense: certain people simply come out of the factory this way; it is no different than being born with dark skin, musical aptitude, or green eyes.
Nonetheless, human beings have historically excelled at finding ways to discriminate and tyrannize each other on the basis of genetic traits which have no inherent moral qualities to them. Being left-handed is not a sign that one is a scion of Satan; having black hair and dark skin as the Native Americans do is no indication of subhuman savagery begging to be tamed by the Catholic Church; mental illness does not mean you are possessed by the Devil. If the Christian Coalition arbitrarily proclaimed that people with green eyes were sinful and should not be allowed to have relations or marry, they would become the laughingstock of any rational group of people. The imaginary bogeyman of homosexuality’s evilness is just as absurd a concept. It is merely a red herring to distract from the truth that fundamentalist Christianity is more responsible for the disintegration of our society than any ten thousand superfags running amok in the streets of San Francisco.
Make no mistake: extremist Christianity has caused more damage to, and inhibited the liberty and happiness of our society than perhaps any other force in the history of the United States. It was the force which blessed the institution of slavery; it continues to propagate sexism under the aegis of promoting “traditional” gender roles; it fosters international racism by insisting that there is only one means of saving one’s eternal soul. If anything, their fear, intolerance, and hatred is destroying the fabric of our society. Their extremism has ruined the Republican party by driving it to the extreme right.
For those foaming at the mouth about my supposed Godlessness, let me stop you for a moment. I am an Episcopalian who believes in God, and Jesus Christ. I am also a Zen Buddhist. And I am sickened by the behavior of those who use God’s name to spread hate and inhibit social progress at every turn. They excuse their bigotry by cloaking it in religious rhetoric, claiming to be sanctioned by God Himself. These are also the people who would have us believe that God is a Republican, who sully the Constitution by using every dirty trick to subvert and dishonor the hallowed democratic principles and processes around which our country is organized. They also dishonor the word of God, and they make me embarrassed to call myself a Christian.
What would happen if we let gays marry? Would the streets open up and spew demonic lava? Would frogs with acid for blood drop from a black sky? No. If anything, gay marriage will create more families. It will create more stable homes, suitable for raising children with love, and strengthening the fabric of our communities. If we endorse the notion that God is love, then why erect obstacles to the expression and exercise of love, the greatest unifying societal force we know? For those terrified that the gay couple next door will recruit and brainwash their children, they should take heart in the fact, as mentioned above, that a person’s sexuality is largely pre-determined. Even children of homosexual parents do not statistically turn out gay more often than the children of heterosexuals. That more children be afforded the chance to be raised in a loving environment is of far more importance than the gender of who they end up sleeping with.
I do not think it matters much whether we have civil unions or gay marriage, per se. The state cannot sanction a religious ceremony, nor should it try. (This reflects the good and proper separation of church and state, unlike extreme Christianity, which seems of late to be advocating a theocracy.) It is an imperative of civil rights, of equal protection under the law, to confer the same legal rights on gay couples as we do straight ones. To do otherwise tears at the fabric of the notion of commitments, of families, of our very ideals as a nation. True family values encourage coupling and encourage community – they do not encourage separation and discrimination.
Why do the right-wingers persist in their obsession with a group of people that constitutes perhaps 5% of the population? In the context of the 2004 election, the answer is simple. It is because this administration (with apologies to Dick Gephardt) has been a miserable failure at addressing the challenges facing 100% of Americans. The economy is in ruins; even if the recent positive economic trends persist, we still face record budget deficits, collapsing infrastructure, and stubbornly persistent unemployment for both gay and straight people. $86 billion is being spent in Iraq to provide services desperately needed at home. (Residents in the country who are suffering may wish to write the president and ask that he invade their state.)
It is time that we stop wasting energy and attention on the moralistic Freddy Kruegers that distract us from the legitimately real and scary problems our nation faces. Deficits of $500 billion dollars a year, and the erosion of civil liberties under the so-called Patriot Act, are going to destroy America before gay marriage or terrorist librarians do. Conservatives play on imaginary fears to control and subjugate their followers. Thinking Americans -- true patriots -- should not fall into this trap.
In the New Year, let us allow anybody to get married whose heart is filled with love, and let us fill each other with the same grace and compassion. This is how we rebuild our nation and heal our wounds. The path to redemption leads forward into the light, not backwards, into the dark.
Robert Zimmer, Jr. is a film and television writer-producer who resides in Austin, Texas and Los Angeles, California.
ROBERT ZIMMER, Jr., IS A FILM AND TELEVISION WRITER-PRODUCER WHO RESIDES IN AUSTIN, TEXAS AND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. |
 Send your comments to Coffee Shop Times editorial observer Robert Zimmer, Jr.
Copyright © 2003 The Coffee Shop Times
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