Posted on 10/26/2001 11:59:30 AM PDT by RobertBauman
When I first heard about the death threats against student Edward Drago at the College of New Jersey, my heart went out to him. It reminded me of my 1995 trip to Washington and Lee University in Virginia: A gay student had had an M-80 thrown into his dorm room the week before, and someone had gone around campus carving the eyes out of my photo on each poster announcing my appearance.
Then I was stunned to read, after campuswide rallies of support for Drago had been conducted, that he was the one sending the hate mail to himself. At first it sounded simply twisted, but the more I thought about Drago, the more I realized his behavior, though extreme, reminded me of much of what is now called gay politics: Knowing that enmity and fear unite us, we may tend to paint the world in black-and-white, with clear enemies making us into clear victims—even if we have to bend reality.
This ridiculously rigid gay paradigm about enemies and friends is what got me into gay activism. In the 1990 Massachusetts gubernatorial election, blinded by an overpowering belief that the Republican must be the enemy, most gay leaders in the state wouldn’t give pro-gay candidate William Weld a chance over antigay Democrat John Silber. I joined a small group of activists in Boston in breaking with conventional wisdom by reaching out to Weld. We were attacked for that support, but Weld went on to win the election and become one of the most gay-supportive elected officials of either party in the nation.
Gay activists who try new tactics to help change the world, reaching out to conservative Americans, trusting hope rather than fear, routinely get called “enemies” by gays wholly invested in the status quo. You get real hate mail, real threats, real face-to-face scorn and insults. So pervasive is this fear of progress in our community that we don’t even know how amazingly far we have come. We are winning the battle for equality and acceptance because the vast middle of America is moving in our direction, and some old enemies are actually becoming friends—if only we reach out to them.
When Republicans took control of the House in 1994, one of the first new members I met with was Rep. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who chaired the House Pro-Family Caucus. He sat on a committee that would largely determine AIDS funding priorities and readily listened when I explained the importance of AIDS programs from our view—and listened to his specific concerns. Over time we became friends, and Coburn became a champion of AIDS funding. When he spoke at a national Log Cabin Republicans meeting, he said his greatest hope was that conservatives and gays could “reconcile” for the sake of our common goal in AIDS policy. We’d only scratched the surface with Coburn when he retired at the end of last year.
Gabriel Rotello recently attacked the national media for putting people like myself, Andrew Sullivan, and Norah Vincent on television, arguing that we are, I presume, less authentic gay advocates than are he and those who share his views. Yet my most recent television appearances were one-on-one debates with antigay leader Robert Knight, who accuses gays of trying to bring ruin to America, in which I argued that gays are mainstream and Knight is the fringe player in politics today. Rotello, like so many, cannot tell his friends and enemies apart.
Most gay leaders seem to have been waiting, almost hoping, that Bush would be a complete monster in the realm of gay rights—a desperate hope shared by the antigay movement. Instead, Bush has appointed the first gay AIDS czar and a gay ambassador, retained a federal nondiscrimination policy, and launched a major global AIDS program. And the first public criticism of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson after their outrageous comments blaming gays and others for the September 11 terrorist attacks came from the Bush White House. Bush is breaking with the old paradigms of demons and saviors—something he’ll probably never get credit for in The Advocate or any gay publication.
It is time to be bold, to reach out to new friends as they move in our direction. Hope must win out over fear, or we will have done ourselves terrible harm. Just like Edward Drago.
Most are private, quiet types who just want to be left alone. They would no more care to shove an agenda in your face than most people.
Think about those you would consider "raving" heterosexuals. You know the type - women who are always "on", who always seem to be wearing something tight or hardly there. Or their male counterparts - the guys who can't utter a sentence without inserting a sexual innuendo, who talk to women with their eyes forcused about six inches under the women's chin. These are the hetro conterparts to the homosexual activists.
Gay activists that I know live (and die) by their lifestyle. It is an all consumming fixation. They view everything through the prism of "gayness." They are to be pitied and ignored, just as we do their hetero counterparts.
Just my two cents...
Exactly. As long as they keep their preference to themselves and in the bedroom where it belongs, I have no problem with them. The friends and acquaintances that I know are homosexual, I only found out accidentally. I see no need to discuss it with them ever, they keep their behavior private and I won't lecture them on mine.
Just found out a friend of mine I've know for 20 years is gay. In hindsight it is kind of like "DUH", but it wasn't ever an issue.
To strech my analogy in my previous post even further - how happy would we be with a "Straight Pride" parade that featured scantily clad men and women doing simulated sex acts on a parade float? Not very.
For the general public, I don't think they mind homosexuals, per se, but they don't like having ANYONES sexuality shoved in their face.
It is funny that the news media, which is very pro-gay, is probably their biggest problem. The media focuses on the loudest most flamboyant gay activists and this does distort the picture of most gays. When a gay person only wants other people and the government to leave them alone and stay out of their private lives, they are much closer to Republicans than Democrats.
1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;
Jude 1:7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
Yeh, I got your view of AIDS funding buddy. Cut it ALL, right now, and quarantine all who have AIDS. Make it a capital offense to transmit AIDS. Its an epidemic, right? Its a real huge problem, right? Then there should be no arguments with my policy.
Yep. My Jewish friends are also not qualified to inherit the Kingdom of God. Should I shun them also? Or should I, as by the example of Jesus, associate with those who are shunned and be an example to them and show them that Christians change people by loving them and letting Jesus make the change in their life?
1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
See previous.
1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
I agree. This is consistent with my previous post. It doesn't matter if you are hetro or homo, sin is sin.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; Taking the fact that these are letters written to specific people in reply to specific questions and circumstance they were living through out of the equation, the whole question of what is and isn't sexually immoral is never specifically answered in the Bible. It does give positive statements, as in the justification of marriage, but other than "Thou shalt not commit adultry" and few other Old Testament passages relating to sleeping with relatives, there isn't a whole lot to say one way or the other. Yes, sexual immorality is a sin. Paul thought that all sex, even thinking about sex, was a sin. Jesus NEVER spoke on the subject. He loved and comforted prostitutes and adulterers (sp?)and told them to stop sinning. He was pretty clear that the crowd accusing the adultress were out of line. He rebuked them, but showed mercy to the sinning.
Jude 1:7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
In the time of Sodom and Gomorrah having homosexual sex was part of the religous practice of the people the Jews were surrounded by. Was God upset with the competing religion or the act they used as a sacriment? My guess would be both. Imagine if we used heterosexual sex as a sacriment. Would God bless it? Obviously not. It is not sex as God meant it to be.
My main point is that I don't think God wants us to take any kind of sex frivioulsly. It is a gift from God meant to be share by a man and a women who have committed their lives to each other. Sex outside of that is a sin. That sin, as is all sin, is a matter between the sinner and God. The best way to turn people from their sinful ways is to live righteously and to love abundantly and let God do the rest.
sorry
Traditional morality, mom-and-pop families, sexual fidelity and responsibility are important conservative ideals. Sullivan is obsessed with gay partnership and homosexual marriages--which are open and shameless mockeries of these important conservative ideals.
Sullivan is not entitled to a pass simply because he also believes in smaller government and lower taxes. The day--indeed the very hour--the Republican Party implicity or expressly embraces the least portion of the so-called gay-rights agenda is the day and hour I and my family will cease to support the Republican Party.
Ha ha ha
Kevin...you've been saying this like...forever.
Like a little boy at the beach..."The line in the sand is HERE" ...
step
step
step
"No really" little boy says as he stands back and draws another line..."the line in the sand is HERE!"
Tongue out for affect.
Ferchrissakes will ya just either accept the Republican party has dropped the sheet a little
and is beginning to see people for who they are and accept them AS the are...
Or get the eff OUT of the Republican party and stop weeziling out with your crybaby words.
Sheesh.
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