(no subject)
This election has shown me that there IS hope for a better America. For a nation that was founded largely through theft and outright genocide (towards the Native Americans, the rightful inhabitants of this continent), and further darkened by the disgrace of slavery, to have elected even a biracial candidate as president is a huge step in the right direction. As it turns out…I was the only person in my entire family to vote for Obama, and I realized last night as I talked to her, that the sole reason my mother-whom I’ve always viewed as a reasonable human being and progressive for her time- did not vote for Obama (even though she admitted to voting a straight democratic ticket *aside* from choosing Mccain for president) was because he was `black’. “I just couldn’t do it.” Were her exact words.
Just couldn’t do *what*? I want to know; prove that you had the moral fiber and the intelligence to rise above the way you were raised to choose a political candidate based on his stance on the important issues and his plans for the future of our country, and NOT because of the ethnicity of his parents or because your pastor, family member, or friend *told* you they were bad? Prove you *weren’t* just another mindless face in the crowd refusing to stand up for what was right, rather than for what was popular? This is the year 2008, *anyone* who refused to vote for Obama simply because his father wasn’t white has, in my opinion, no right to live in this country that we’ve come to call the land of the free and the home of the brave- because such narrow-minded, outright ignorant views have no place in a rational, *just* society.
But as inspiring as last night’s election result was…it drove home a deeper heartache that is extremely personal to me. Simply put; this election proved to me that while we as Americans are becoming less racist (at least in regards to African-Americans…thanks in large part to the Bush administration, anyone of Arab descent has now had the focus of racism turned against them…), a large portion of them are still just as bigoted as they were centuries ago.
I’m speaking, of course, about proposition 8 in California, which approved a ban on gay marriage despite the fact that their supreme court legalized such unions. Another proposition passed in Arkansas now makes it impossible for any `unmarried’ couple to adopt, or even to foster children. While this could surely effect unmarried heterosexual couples who want to open their hearts and their homes to children who surely need that love…the supporters of the proposition made it obvious they were targeting gay and lesbian couples, and trying to put a stop to their `gay agenda’, by making it so they couldn’t adopt children.
So many people stand on their high horse and claim our country is the best in the world. Really? Look at the state of our health care, our unemployment, our education system, even the happiness of our citizens…I believe facts speak for themselves, even if a large number of our population refuses to look at them.
When will conservatives (and I choose the term conservative, rather than aiming my words at the members of any particular religious affiliation, as I’ve known some people who identify with the faiths involved who are perfectly open-minded and not blinded by their beliefs…) wake up and realize that there is no `gay agenda’? We’re not out to `convert’ hapless straight people walking down the street to our `lifestyle’ (I put lifestyle in parenthesis to drive home my point…the view of many if not most conservatives who stand opposed to allowing gays and lesbians equal rights is that we’ve `chosen’ to be gay…this is like saying I *chose* to be born with green eyes or curly hair…I didn’t, anymore than I *chose* to be born lesbian).
Those who voted in favor of the Arkansas measure stood on their soapbox and probably made grand claims that they were `protecting’ innocent children from being `converted’, or worse, outright molested by any evil gay or lesbian couple who might have adopted or fostered them. Our country already has a critical shortage of good foster and adoptive parents…and Arkansas is surely a *model* in this respect…their foster care system is already in such a deplorable state that is it currently under court supervision. And by passing this narrow-minded, mean-spirited proposition, they have only done any child unfortunate enough to languish in their foster care system a great disservice by refusing to allow them a chance at gaining a good home and supportive, loving parents…simply because there’s a chance those parents might be gay or lesbian.
There has been study after study after study done on the issue of gay parents raising children, and the possible effects of such parenting, and they have been unanimous; The American Psychological Association, in a recent report reviewing the research, observed that "not a single study has found children of gay or lesbian parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents," and concluded that "home environments provided by gay and lesbian parents are as likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to support and enable children's psychosocial growth."
And their claim that gay and lesbian parents will try to `convert’ any children they might be allowed to raise? The results of no less than *nine* separate studies have proven that the sexual orientation of a child’s parents has NO impact whatsoever on what orientation they themselves will grow up as. These children were no more likely to become gay or lesbian than the children of heterosexual parents. The *only* difference studies noted in children that have been raised by gay and lesbian parents were that they tended to be more tolerant of diversity…but surely tolerance and open-mindedness is a horrible thing?
And on the issue of molestation…There is NO connection between homosexuality and pedophilia. All of the legitimate scientific evidence shows that. Sexual orientation, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is an adult sexual attraction to others. Pedophilia, on the other hand, is an adult sexual attraction to children. Ninety percent of child abuse is committed by heterosexual (read=straight) men. In one study of 269 cases of child sexual abuse, only two offenders were gay or lesbian. Of the cases studied involving molestation of a boy by a man, 74 percent of the men were or had been in a heterosexual relationship with the boy's mother or another female relative. The study concluded that "a child's risk of being molested by his or her relative's heterosexual partner is over 100 times greater than by someone who might be identifiable as being homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual."
But of course…the same conservatives wail, gnash their teeth and claim that allowing gay marriage will lead to the downfall of our society. But let’s take a closer look at that claim, shall we? Same-sex marriages are legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Canada, Spain, and South Africa. Many other countries legally recognize civil unions. Recent studies have shown that the countries that are considered the happiest, that is, the ones where people have the best access to education, healthcare, ect, also happen to be countries where Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized. Gee…how come they haven’t collapsed in a huge pile of moral decay and brimstone in the *years* that have followed their decision? For anyone curious, by the way, the United States ranked #23 in happiness in the 2006 study….Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Canada, all these `evil’ countries that allow same-sex marriage ranked higher than us. Go figure.
I guess my ultimate point is that although I rejoice at this historic presidential victory…I am at the same time deeply saddened that such blatant and malicious hatred against gays and lesbians is not only still allowed in our country, but outright condoned and now legally sanctioned in some places. How much longer will we allow the members of certain pockets of narrow-minded individuals to use their religious beliefs as justification for bigotry? One’s religion and spirituality should be a positive force- a transformational power to improve the world and the lives of those around you- it should NOT be used to deny fellow human beings the rights and privileges that most people take for granted. If someone proposed a law that would make it illegal for, say, Hispanic people, to get married, there would be a world wide surge of outrage, and it would be defeated. But because we’re dealing with someone’s sexual orientation, it is allowed, because the majority of people are straight, and thus they wrongly believe that because they are the majority, only they deserve happiness and equal rights under the law.
There are many people in our country…no matter what race, political leaning, or religion they might be, who might not want to stand up in support of gay rights, because as a heterosexual perhaps they feel that any anti-gay legislation that is passed has no effect on them or their lives…but what will these same people do one day, if their son or daughter comes to them with the revelation that they are gay or lesbian? How will they as a parent deal with this same child that they should love unconditionally, when he or she comes to them crying that our country has decided that because they are different, they have no right to love who they fall in love with, or be able to form a loving family of their own? Whatever your race, religion, or orientation, whether you `agree’ with gays or lesbians or not, *everyone* has a responsibility to stand up and fight for the equal rights of *everyone*, because that is the right thing to do in a country, in a society, that we like to call the land of the free and the home of the brave.
I close with a quote I have always identified with, by Pastor Martin Niemoller, written in 1946;
“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me.”