Politixia
News item, June 30, 2023: “Supreme Court votes, 6-3, to uphold Christian website owner’s refusal to service gay marriage couple”.
Spoiler alert: I am not gay. However, members of the gay community are my relatives, friends, fellow teachers and military members, all of whom I respect. I can’t keep up with the LGBTQ letters (now 15 letters and kind of a mix and match thing) and I am not sure what they mean as actual people. I am slightly uneasy when I watch “Tootsie”, but “The Bird Cage” is one of my favorite movies. Now that I have firmly established my credentials as a commentator on the gay community, let me opine.
The Gay Pride and the Black Lives Matter movements have the same roots: Both spring from groups who have been marginalized, discriminated against, unjustly treated and often times subjected to violence and who feel that the time is ripe to bring this to the attention of Americans. Some of the efforts to achieve this have been positive attempts to give the groups self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and visibility. However, some of these efforts are counterproductive and/or lend themselves to ridicule. (“Defund the police” is one such example in the BLM movement). As regards the gay movement, who were the flamboyantly dressed men prancing in high heels in the recent Boston Gay Parade appealing to? Was this just an attempt to express their joyful freedom of expression ala the ‘60s Burn Your Bra movement, or an in your face taunt/flaunt at straight people? (I cringed).
How many more people will start drinking Bud Light now that they know a cross-dresser drinks it? (Many fewer as it turns out.) Will the ranks of the U.S. Navy swell now with recruits who know the Navy allows transvestites?(However many crossdressers would join up, probably few, would be canceled by young men turned off by the Navy ad.) Why do elementary school students need to experience men dressed as women? (“Pedophile! Grooming!” scream the anti-wokers.) Will this be such a common occurrence in their future lives that they must be prepared to think of it as ordinary? If a man gets pleasure out of dressing like a woman, let him do it with friends, find a drag show venue, or try out for the RuPaul show. Gay people I know are quietly gay: They are not “proud” to be gay any more than they are “proud” to be Italian or brown-eyed. They just are. They do not flaunt or act belligerently about their status, nor do they discuss their sex lives (sounds like most people).
I am for gay marriage, men and women. As one wag put it, “They should have equal opportunity to be miserable.” If they can provide a stable, loving home, let them raise a family. We are in dire need of such parents!
I do not know enough about transgender/gender affirmation to give an informed opinion, but the most important element in a child’s development is loving, informed, responsible parents who will support their children emotionally, not make rash decisions about their child’s sex, and protect them from bullying both from their peers and those who would use them for other reasons. My ignorance of transgender men competing with non-trans women is equally lacking.
I know that statistics can lie, but it appears that transgender men, regardless of transgender therapy, still have an unfair advantage over non-trans women. Establish transgender teams until reliable facts are available.
If you want me to address you with a certain pronoun, wear a name tag. However, the English teacher in me will never allow me to address you as “they.”
In my opinion, the basis for the anti-gay movement is essentially religious: “The Bible condemns homosexuality.” The Bible is 2,000-3,000 years old, authored by perhaps hundreds of authors, translated from at least three languages, and exists in at least 3,000 versions today. The version chosen to illustrate God hates homosexuality features three “proofs”.
- The Garden of Eden fable tells us that, “God created them, man and woman and told them to go and multiply.” Another possible translation. “And He created a man and a woman” leaves the possibility of other humans who might be different, such as the different variety of apes, or who can love another person regardless of their sex.
- In the Sodom and Gomorrah tale, Lot is visited by two angels who seek lodging. Word spreads of these beautiful men and several of the locals show up to “know” them (translation dubious). Lot offers them his daughters instead. God, suitably disgusted, destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, men, women, and children. No non-sodomites in either city it seems. Lot is allowed to escape with his daughters with whom he later has drunken sex. The lesson from this horrible story: God hates homosexuals.
- Among the hundreds of laws and prohibitions in the “Book of Leviticus” are: Don’t eat camel or pig; put to death any man caught lying with another man; don’t wear clothing made from wool and linen; stone any woman caught in adultery.
What does Jesus say about these matters in The New Testament? He says nothing about homosexuals, but he does stop a mob from stoning a woman caught in adultery. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” I’m sure the man who said forgive “70 times 70” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, “love your enemy”, would not approve of destroying two cities either. So should we be guided by tales and rules written 2,000-3,000 years ago?
If you sincerely believe that Yahweh gave Moses the Ten Commandments, that Allah provided the words of the Koran to Mohammed, that Joseph Smith got his Golden Tablets from an angel, and that Jesus was God incarnate, and I think you do, don’t try to force your beliefs on others.
Beware, gay people of the world! Over 500 anti-LGBT laws have been introduced this year alone led by the anti-woke crowd, Bible-thumping fundamentalists and the Catholic Church led by five Supreme Court members pontificating from inside their privileged Catholic bubble, who want to return to the Ozzie and Harriet world of the ‘50s: No abortion, birth control, gay sex or marriage, mixed marriages — the only person allowed to wear a dress and heels is a housewife waiting patiently for her man to come home from work.
Adopt the Jewish motto: “Never again!” But please don’t alienate people like me who want to support you.
Jim McNiff lives in Danvers and has a talented, courageous, gay granddaughter who intends to marry a female partner and raise a family.
