To Be
On October 11th, 1988, I was working in the IT department of a large state agency. I had come onboard to set up the agency's first computer network: IBM PS/2 computers connected to a Banyan Network Server via Arcnet. One of the things I had put in was a standard Unix motd, Message Of The Day. It was just a few lines of text, usually something amusing or an announcement. On that day 24 years ago, I quoted Bishop John Shelby Spong:
The verb "to be" is the key verb in every human language. We use it to describe that which is of our very essence.
And underneath, I wrote,
Happy National Coming Out Day
Someone or more complained. The announcement was taken down by 10:00 a.m.
That was the first National Coming Out Day. Today it is now International Coming Out Day, a day to raise consciousness of the LGBTQ community and the ongoing civil rights movement.
Bishop Spong wrote those words in a book called Living In Sin?, which changed the way I looked at my religion. The chapter was titled, "Homosexuality: A Part of Life, Not a Curse." He went on to write,
If I have a broken leg I do not say, "I am a broken leg." But if my leg has been amputated, I might well say, "I am an amputee." The amputation has redefined my being. ... It is employed to describe the essential characteristics of life over which we have no control, or that which is so much a part of our identity we cannot think of ourselves apart from it."
Here in Massachusetts, things are pretty good. Same-sex couples can marry and we've passed laws protecting the transgendered from discrimination. We're not perfect, but we're vastly improved from 24 years ago. The Commonwealth still stands. Barney Frank's marriage hasn't yet threatened my own.
But in much of the rest of the nation, to say nothing of the world, the fight is far from over. The argument is now being made that the California law forbidding inflicting "reparative" therapy to change the sexual orientation of minors is a violation of religious liberty. There are people actually suing for their right to torture children.
Kirk Camerion told Liberty University students last week that the criticism he received following his homophobic comments on the Piers Morgan show was persecution, like being "drug out to the public square and stoned" and that his detractors were trying to "crucify" him. Just spend a few moments on right-wing websites and you'll be amazed at the level of vituperative hatred and self-pity that American popular culture doesn't favor gay-bashing anymore.
These are the people whose support Mitt Romney and the other Republican candidates curried during the election. That Mitt is desperately trying to shake the Etch-a-Sketch now that the election is less than a month away is irrelevant. These are the people who will stop at nothing to remind a Romney White House that they are owed something for turning out the base.
Today is a good day to come out, whether you're lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, or ally. But the real day to come out is November 6th. Let us be.
The verb "to be" is the key verb in every human language. We use it to describe that which is of our very essence.
And underneath, I wrote,
Happy National Coming Out Day
Someone or more complained. The announcement was taken down by 10:00 a.m.
That was the first National Coming Out Day. Today it is now International Coming Out Day, a day to raise consciousness of the LGBTQ community and the ongoing civil rights movement.
Bishop Spong wrote those words in a book called Living In Sin?, which changed the way I looked at my religion. The chapter was titled, "Homosexuality: A Part of Life, Not a Curse." He went on to write,
If I have a broken leg I do not say, "I am a broken leg." But if my leg has been amputated, I might well say, "I am an amputee." The amputation has redefined my being. ... It is employed to describe the essential characteristics of life over which we have no control, or that which is so much a part of our identity we cannot think of ourselves apart from it."
Here in Massachusetts, things are pretty good. Same-sex couples can marry and we've passed laws protecting the transgendered from discrimination. We're not perfect, but we're vastly improved from 24 years ago. The Commonwealth still stands. Barney Frank's marriage hasn't yet threatened my own.
But in much of the rest of the nation, to say nothing of the world, the fight is far from over. The argument is now being made that the California law forbidding inflicting "reparative" therapy to change the sexual orientation of minors is a violation of religious liberty. There are people actually suing for their right to torture children.
Kirk Camerion told Liberty University students last week that the criticism he received following his homophobic comments on the Piers Morgan show was persecution, like being "drug out to the public square and stoned" and that his detractors were trying to "crucify" him. Just spend a few moments on right-wing websites and you'll be amazed at the level of vituperative hatred and self-pity that American popular culture doesn't favor gay-bashing anymore.
These are the people whose support Mitt Romney and the other Republican candidates curried during the election. That Mitt is desperately trying to shake the Etch-a-Sketch now that the election is less than a month away is irrelevant. These are the people who will stop at nothing to remind a Romney White House that they are owed something for turning out the base.
Today is a good day to come out, whether you're lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, or ally. But the real day to come out is November 6th. Let us be.