I was recently scanning the news on the web. I like to read the Huffington Post, the Christian Science Monitor and for a look from the right, The Drudge Report. There seems to be a lot of news out of Uganda because of this outlawing of homosexuality and the administration of the death penalty for anyone caught in the act and stiff prison time for family members and friends of said homos for giving them protection. As an American, a liberal minded gent of said democracy having an IQ of over fifty and a gay man myself, I find the whole idea repugnant and not a little scary. Of course we as Americans can click our tongues and say that isn't it a shame and what is it with those Africans anyway and order another cocktail.
I'm not saying everybody does this but there are an awful lot of...not just Americans, but gay Americans who do. After all, American gays are petitioning for the right to marry, not to keep from facing a firing squad because of who they are...at least not at this date and time. We live under a relatively benevolent and liberal system of government. No matter who's administration it is it's not Uganda and for this I am grateful...kind of grateful...kind of weary too.
I had a very dear friend in California who used to say that we...Out American gays are the last populous in this country who are legally hunted. This does not mean that we are tracked down and shot like a wild bore although if you get into the wrong parts our deep dark interior with your pants down...well!...Remember Mathew Shepard. And it happens pretty much everywhere but maybe not to the extent of the slaughter of Mathew Shepard out on the Wyoming range land.
And it still prevails. There seems to be a very anchored dislike for homosexuality in most cultures and I am trying to understand it but not quite. Because the ugly truth of the matter is...a lot of people seem to do it at one time or another. and a lot of people seem to do it a lot. And it is hard to document because one cannot document something that someone refuses to ever admit, and yet...
Now I understand the whole lifestyle problem that the moralists of our American Society frame us gays with. And looking back into my own younger years in California I can see their point. It was hedonistic and I have to confess, fun, I thought it fun and make no apologies for it. But that is my own opinion. It was hedonistic, lets just say that. But we are talking about the 70's here. We are talking about the 70's in America and I was hanging around heterosexuals too back then and it was pretty shocking if I can say so. I mean gays you would expect such behavior, but heterosexuals? Not to mention the whole urban punk scene that was going on in the cities and that defies explanation. So it is really unfair to target gays solely with this promiscuous title. And besides, with the gradual homogenization in certain parts of the country with gay couples adopting children and moving to the burbs and two cars and on the golf course and all that normal stuff going on, the whole wild party scene seems to be on the wane. And if anybody has been to a gay bar as of late you see an aging population sitting at the bar having shots of schnapps and listening to 70's disco music, reminiscing about the hedonistic good old days. Young gays just don't go to gay bars anymore. That too is getting homogenized.
But it's an act, it's a sexual relationship! Because a person has a sexual relationship with his or her own sex does not mean him or her is necessarily gay. They may have had a homosexual relationship, but does that make them gay? And visa versa. One can see the gray area there. And in Uganda they want to execute people for this act. In Egypt they want to lock you up for it. God only knows what they do to you in Iran for it. And China? In Mississippi? I know it's worth one's safety in Jamaica to be outwardly gay. And yet it goes on...this abomination of God, this gay agenda, this act of love, this act of lust. Whatever!
I have always been a supporter of the 2nd amendment. I reserve the right to protect myself as I see fit from intrusion. And I hold it sacred when I hear the hatred publicly spouted by certain churches and institutions right here in the USA. That is why I never really identified myself as a liberal. Left wing, socialist perhaps, but not liberal. When I hear The Reverend Phelps and his God Hates Fags I say to myself...hey! They're talking about me! And I think...yeah...we are the last people in this land where it is legal and condoned to hunt down. And I bet you the Pope in Rome would agree. We are the last hunted humans indeed.
....Gee Santa! I'd like a Winchester for Christmas this year. Maybe some ammo too.
Going overboard? I don't know. Some of the religious homophobes seem to be way overboard, and yet tolerated.
It really does not matter what Christianity says about Homosexuality, we have separation of church and state here...thank God! It really does not matter what Islamic law states either, it does not matter what anyone really thinks. But the democratic process fails when the majority get to vote on whether to take someone else's basic right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness away from law abiding citizens because the majority happens to think that God disapproves, or they happen to find that lifestyle not to their taste. There has to be checks and balances on democracy to keep this form of government from the take over of mob rule.
Uganda? Probably not. A right winged takeover of our governmental process, hope not. Taking away my basic rights because I choose to love someone of my own sex?...What was it Charlton Heston said at the NRA convention before he went senile?...something about cold dead hands?
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