To Homophobes: Thanks for the memories!

Unfortunately, no one has yet invented a time machine. (If this was the case, many Friday nights would result in my meeting my future self around midnight who convinces me to go to bed instead of taking more Fireball shots) We are, however, graced with a peephole into the past, a sort of living, breathing version of history which allow us to reminisce about years long ago without the hassle of home videos or a wormhole.

I’m talking about the percentage of the world which refuses to recognize homosexuality as another example of one human loving another. They are a group of people who disguise bigotry with the cloak of religion, sticking their fingers in their ears and yelling “BibleBibleBibleBible” like a little kid when anyone brings up the hypocritical interpretation of their own faith. They’re a group of people who manage to ignore the bigger picture of that holy book – one of acceptance, brotherhood, and empathy – to justify a personal discomfort. And luckily, they’re a group of people who are becoming as much a thing of the past as racists and floppy disks.

Electing our first black president was huge. Underratedly, though, electing the first president to believe in the legitimacy of gay marriage is also massive. Obama went into the ultimate no-huddle offense in that ABC interview and told the world that gays and lesbians should be able to legally marry, no matter the implications. (So maybe Joe Biden called the play from the sideline by dropping his own bomb a few days earlier, but who’s counting) However or why-ever it happened, Obama-Biden threw up the ultimate middle finger to bigots, fundamentalists, and the far-right by heaving an oppressed minority onto their shoulders and carrying them towards a place where they can be loved and accepted, no matter the heinously antiquated stigmas of scriptures which are taken literally when convenient and proclaimed as metaphor when not.

The Phil Robertson “Duck Dynasty” situation reminded me how terribly exciting I find it to be witness to the rapid and powerful change our generation is experiencing. As GQ magnified the extreme philosophical dichotomy which exists between those for and against gay marriage – or even the moral sanctity of being homosexual – in the interview with Robertson, A&E demonstrated how slandering gays has not only become uncool, but not tolerable in the context of successful business practices. How refreshing is it to see that insulting a people, no matter the context, is now considered bad for business? The debate raged on about how Robertson was only saying what he believed, but could the Klu Klux Klan not take the same defense? I’m pretty sure they “believe” the things they say as well. Hell, Rush Limbaugh might even believe what he says but that doesn’t mean it isn’t linguistic diarrhea. And as for the words being taken out of the Bible, I challenge anyone to take all of its rules literally without having to stone their wife, cut off her hand, or do any of the other things that people apparently did back in the day. Finding clothes made out of only one cloth is fucking hard nowadays.

As happy as it is to see the right begin to prevail over the wrong, the inclusive over the exclusive, unconditional love over justified hate, it is also sad that there are people who so vocally disapprove of this type of progress. Among them lie my own father, a black man. It’s strange – my being a minority is what makes me always root for the little guy over the guy trying to fuck him over, what makes me hope the underdog can find the support to put his rights and needs into law and dance on the graves of those who went out of their way to prevent it from happening. This perspective, however, seems lost on him. His is a belief rooted in cultural fundamentalism which lacks rhyme and reason, stamped onto his mind early on and justified loosely and irrationally. Whenever I try to counter his homophobia with the argument that he could as easily be hated and oppressed by a vocal, determined minority (and likely would have been a few decades ago, given the geographical nature of much of those voices) his arguments are of “it not being the same” and my comparing apples and oranges.

But 50 years ago, a black man and white woman couldn’t marry in some parts of the world, no matter how much they loved each other. Luckily progress afforded us that change and there are millions of happy couples who flourish within its justice, and kids like me who’ve been passed the baton to fight things that are wrong. There are also millions of backwards-minded, change-fearing individuals who now grow smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror of history, wondering where the hell the party went and dirty with the dust kicked up by those hauling ass into the future.

Joining them is Phil Robertson and homophobes who are just “saying what they believe”, those that decidedly pervert the message of holy and inspiring scriptures, and everyone else whose personal discomforts compel them to slap away the righteous hand of equality.

Sayonara, you fucks, and thanks for the memories! I’ll call you if I ever forget my Myspace password.

- James

Like this:

Like Loading…

Related