A Bigot Is A Bigot Is A Bigot (Even if he's a bishop)

I was listening to the Diane Rehm Show yesterday on NPR and she had, as a guest, Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of the Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland. The topic was gay rights and President Obama's signing of a directive giving new benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Some are saying that our president's directive didn't go far enough. Some say that he went as far as he could under current federal law. But this pastor, Bishop Jackson, was arguing vehemently against the directive. He called it the beginning of the slippery slope of the national recognition and legalization of gay marriage, which he finds abhorrent.

Now you know, I have heard these Christian... (I am trembling with the need to call them dickwads but I am a polite southern lady, as you know) believers who think that gay marriage is proof positive of the end of times and I am used to that. But when I was listening to this particular Christian, I was struck by how much his arguments reminded me of the arguments during the sixties against integration and civil rights. He had nothing of any value to say except that he believed it was wrong and that it was wrong to force people to accept this wrongness. He even cited, as an example, photographers who would be FORCED to do wedding photography for gay marriages.
That photographers, if they were of the belief that gay marriage is immoral and wrong (as the bishop does), would somehow have THEIR civil rights violated if forced to take those pictures.
Now, as far as I know, no photographer in this entire country has ever been forced by law to take a wedding gig that he or she did not want.

Really. That was the level of argument this man was using. That those Americans who believe that it goes against god's word for people of the same sex to join legally in love and marriage are going to be forced to accept the evilness of the result of such marriages in their everyday lives.
He also used as an example a daycare that his church runs which, if gay marriage is recognized in Maryland, will be forced to take the children of gay couples and how that is just not the type of people whom they want around "their" children.

And all I could think about was how bigots spouted off the same exact words about what would happen if integration and equal rights for African Americans became the law of the land. If Negroes were allowed to eat dinner in the same restaurant as you, the next inevitable step would be that your sister would be forced to marry one.

It was just so blatant, the words pouring forth from this man's lips- his fear, his intolerance, his prejudice, his blindness, his use of his religion to rationalize his bigotry.
The Bible was used to rationalize slavery for hundreds of years, was it not?
What is the difference between that bullshit and the bullshit of using Leviticus to rationalize not giving equal rights to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people?
There is none.
Either we live in a country which provides equal rights for all or we do not.
I think we do not.

And I am tired of this.
Come on, people! Can we not grow up? Can we not see that we are all different and that there are so many variations of loving human behavior?

Who do we think we are to deny human rights to others because of differences?
And how do we get away with it?

How do people who hide behind religion to defend their bigotry against others of different colors or beliefs or born-gender preferences get away with being the ones who make our laws and defend them?
They should NOT be allowed to make the laws of our land. Not OUR land- the land where everyone, do you hear me? EVERYONE should be extended the equal rights guaranteed to all.

Those old sick arguments are not worth listening to anymore. They never were but it is 2009 and the voices of these sad people should be exposed for the vile ignorance they represent. And it's time to quit giving these people soap boxes to spout their vileness from.

Any two consenting adults who want to be married should be allowed to be married. And don't drag incest in here, either. I'm not talking about that.
And also, while we're at it, let's get rid of that ridiculous Don't Ask, Don't Tell law. There are too many problems and denials of basic human rights wrapped up that little package to even begin to go into here.

If Bishop Jackson doesn't believe in gay marriage, he should not marry a man. If a gay woman wants to join the Army she shouldn't have to pretend she's straight and fear that some disgruntled fellow soldier can force her out of the service.

We should all be allowed to say, "This is who I am." Because who else can say that?
No one.
No one else at all. And we should be allowed to say that without fear of repercussions or violence.

And I am tired of all of the time and energy we spend on trying to legislate and regulate such matters when children are hungry, when people die for lack of health care, when the world is teetering on the very brink of disaster as ice sheets melt and seas rise and we can't figure out how to replace the internal combustion engine with something that doesn't wound our planet.

We're better than this. Not just Americans, but humans.
I refuse to believe we're not.
If we could just shut up the nattering naybobs of hate and ignorance, maybe we could start to make the changes we have to make.
I think our president knows this and I think he is trying.

I think I'm on his side.
I know I'm on the side of love. Whatever that means, I'm on that side.
The side that says that all true love is good. That any love which can abide the light of love on its shoulders is one that we should encourage.

Bishop Jackson- read what Jesus said. And weep at what you're trying to defend.
Because right now you're sounding like George Wallace when he stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama to prevent African-American students from entering.

We all need to vote for leaders who are not afraid to give equal rights to all.

This is America, goddammit. And I am an American. And this is my voice.

My heterosexual, love-believing voice which is just as important as Rush Limbaugh's or Bill O'Reilly's or Bishop Jackson's, even if I don't have as big a soap box as they do.
I'm just as important. And so are you. And so is every single person in this country.
This country where human rights are so highly valued. In theory if not in reality.

Please. It's time. Let's make it a reality.
Let's give everyone's love the chance to shine as brightly as everyone else's.

That's all I'm saying. Equal rights for all. Yesterfuckingday, as my friend Lis says.
And let's quit basing the laws of our land on ancient religions that have no place in today's society. Basing who gets to enjoy the rights they deserve as Americans on prejudice and ignorance and fear.
Let's let our children grow up knowing that whoever they are, they can marry whom they choose, legally and with all rights.

Okay? Is that so much to ask?

I don't think so. I really do not.

And on a somewhat related note, I see that Cher's child is bravely and publicly declaring a gender change. And Cher has announced that although she does not understand, she pledges to be "understanding" and that nothing will change the abiding love she has for her child.
She can't understand? Cher, the woman who has had almost every one of her body parts altered to conform to the vision she has of who she really is and wants to be?
Come on. Cher- you can do this. Just open the little gate and walk across the dewy grass and there you are on Chaz's front porch.
Open the door and hug your son.
Done.

It's Friday. I'm hot. And I feel heated.
Thanks for listening.