WHEN HISTORIANS LOOK back at the year 2006 for clues about how gays and lesbians were treated and accepted in the United States, they will discover an era of schizophrenic confusion.
On one hand, there was a president who regularly called for the official sanction of anti-gay discrimination in the U.S. Constitution.
On the other, gay couples were marrying legally for the first time in Massachusetts and several other states seemed close to approving either full marriage equality or civil unions.
On one hand, conservative cafeteria Christians had ascended to power, wielding a veto over national Republican candidates and platforms and scapegoating gays whenever they needed to raise money from the masses or divert attention from policy failures.
On the other, a national Pew Research Center poll showed that opposition to gay rights issues was waning, with more than 20 percent of Republicans and nearly half of Democrats backing full marriage equality for gay couples.
It’s a confusing time to be gay in the United States, for sure. Just when we think we’ve made progress in the fight for equality, someone comes along to remind us about our proper place.
IMAGINE READING IN your local paper the following: "The [Christians] involved should be killed in the worst, most severe way of killing.
Or this:-"I am not convinced that just because our foster children desperately need loving homes that we should just place them in homes that are available when research also shows that most [African-American couples] have numerous emotional dysfunctions and psychological issues that may not be healthy for children."
Or this: "The board’s new rule will protect public schools from having to allow [Jewish] rights organizations to hold meetings on school grounds."
Of course, no one will actually utter those quotes, because anti-Christian, racist and anti-Semitic sentiments are taboo in our culture. Too bad the same can’t be said of similar homophobic remarks. Each of those quotes came in the past three weeks by officials denouncing gays. Just replace "Christians," "African-American couples" and "Jewish" with "gay" or "homosexual" and you get the idea.
The first quote is from Iraqi Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in a fatwah issued in response to a question about sodomy and lesbianism. You didn’t hear President Bush denounce al-Sistani, though, because the U.S. is counting on his cooperation to win the war. And because his vitriol was directed at lesbians.
The second came from Tennessee State Rep. Debra Young Maggart on her support for a bill to ban gay adoption. And the third is from Oklahoma state Rep. Kevin Calvey on his successful effort to repeal a sexual orientation anti-discrimination policy. What a noble calling — working tirelessly to repeal protections for minority groups. Imagine a similar campaign aimed at overturning laws banning discrimination based on race.
What’s more disheartening is that these people are religious leaders and elected government officials. There’s also news that Arizona GOP-Sen. John McCain, a presumed candidate for president in 2008 and former moderate, has told the anti-gay Jerry Falwell that he now backs a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
If that’s true, then McCain has gone from brave war hero to political coward, kowtowing to the very worst elements in the Republican Party.
All of this is the result of five years of George W. Bush, who has emboldened the religious right such that no Republican dares to make a public statement without first running it by James Dobson and his ilk. It appears more and more that no GOP candidate seeking national office can survive without pandering to the cafeteria Christian crazies, which inevitably means more attacks on gays.
WITH BUSH’S APPROVAL ratings mired in the mid-30s and an endless parade of scandals (the Iraq debacle, Abramoff, Katrina, the ports deal, etc.) plaguing the GOP as mid-term elections draw closer, get ready for a new assault on the rights of gays to distract the nation from the disaster that is Bush’s presidency.
Senate Majority Leader – and presumed 2008 presidential candidate – Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has scheduled a vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage for June, just in time for Pride festivities.
So expect another round of anti-gay speeches from Bush as the vote nears. And expect the Democrats to do their usual tortured dance around the issue, failing to back marriage equality but rejecting the amendment. And expect shameless bigots like Maggart and Calvey to seek more political mileage on the backs of gays and lesbians, spurred on by their president.
Some encouraging news came from that recent Pew poll, which revealed that opposition to same-sex marriage appears to be shrinking across the country and even within the GOP. Too bad the changing poll numbers don’t correspond to a similar change in attitude among the politicians elected to represent the people whose opinions are evolving so rapidly.
Outside of a handful of gay and gay-friendly members of Congress, there is scant support for same-sex marriage among our top politicians. Even the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act remains stalled in Congress. For many people, "marriage" is a loaded word with religious connotations, but if we can’t even agree that legalized employment discrimination is wrong, then we really have a long way to go in changing attitudes and, more importantly, laws.
As future historians look back and try to figure out just what was happening in 2006, they will frown on those like John McCain, George W. Bush and Debra Maggart, who demonized gays and lesbians for short-term political gain. As the Pew poll shows, attitudes they are a changin’. It’s time our politicians took notice and changed with the times.
