BECAUSE...

20 November 2001

I'm getting worried. In the left column is the last of the magnets from Bob's refrigerator. I have only one more fridge to feature, and there are only six magnets. We may be at the end of this nearly year-long project (except for the few new magnets I've added to my own fridge since I started it). It's been fun. I'll have to give some thought to what I'm going to do in that space when I finally run out of magnets. (I'm still inviting readers to send me their magnets. So far only two of you have taken me up on my invitation.)

I saved this magnet of Bob's for the last because I wanted to write about it. You can't read what it says, of course. To do that I'd have to print it large, so let me copy for you here what's written on it:

BECAUSE gay men and lesbians are discriminated against in housing and employment and because how we act is more important than who we are and if we get harassed it's our problem and if we get attacked we provoked it and if we raise our voices we're flaunting ourselves and if we enjoy sex we're perverts and if we have AIDS we deserve it and if we march with pride we're recruiting children and if we want or have children we're unfit parents and if we stand up for our rights we're overstepping our boundaries and because we're forced to constantly question our own worth as human beings and if we don't have a relationship with someone of the opposite sex we haven't given it a chance and if we have a relationship with someone of the same sex it's not recognized and we are told our love is not 'real' and if we come out of the closet we're just going through a phase and because lesbian and gay history is virtually absent from literature and because homophobia is sanctioned by the supreme court and...for lots and lots of other reasons, I AM PART OF THE LESBIAN AND GAY CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

It's been a long time since I got all of my insides churned up over the way gays and lesbians are treated in this country. But I think this magnet says a lot and I hope people who aren't quite "there" with tolerance will take a minute to think about it. When you really think about it, gay people can't do anything right, no matter what they do.

Maybe it's because I've seen The Last Session four times in the last month (with several more times to go before it closes). I see the cherub-faced "Buddy" standing there confronting the hero, Gideon and citing chapter and verse to prove Gideon "can't be a fag and a Christian at the same time." I'm not sure which burning bush he talked with to get that message. ("Burning bush" was not intended to be a pun--though it makes a good one, if you stop and think about it.)

And then we still have idiots like Jerry Falwell blaming the 9/11 attacks on the homosexual community, saying it was God's punishment for homosexuality (and a few other things).

This is the time of year when I write a letter to our local paper reminding people of the discriminatory policies of the Boy Scouts and encouraging them not to patronize our local Boy Scout tree lot, but to buy their Christmas trees elsewhere.

However, I couldn't really get myself worked up to attack Christmas tree lots when we are attacking Afghanistan and worried about the very real threat of additional acts of terrorism in this country. Somehow, no matter how important equal rights are, they seemed to pale in comparison with the enormity of the World Trade Center disaster and anthrax outbreaks. So I initially decided not to write a letter this year.

But the more I thought of it, the more I realized that perhaps it is even more important this year than ever before to remind people of the suffering some people can endure because of religious beliefs. Terrorists who disagree with our lifestyle, our values, and our religious beliefs took that hatred to extremes when they destroyed the World Trade Center.

How can we, who have seen the suffering religious zealotry can cause, who have read the stories of the heroes, gay and straight, involved in all phases of the disasters, continue to support organizations which still work to divide American citizens into "us" and "them" and continue to insist that "they" aren't worthy of equality.

How can anyone support policies which deny tax-paying citizens equal rights--the right to live where they want, the right to hold certain jobs, the right to love whom they love, the right to live a life unthreatened by physical violence from those who feel they have no right to exist.

So I'll send my letter off to the newspaper, just like I always do. I'll continue to fight for lesbian and gay civil rights. I can't fight bigotry on foreign shores, but I can sure do my best to fight it in my back yard.