Not that There's Anything Wrong With It

On Monday of this week, NBA center Jason Collins came out as gay and became the first openly gay player in a major professional sport. And instantly, the conservative community recoiled in horror and lamented about where we are as a society. Lots of Bible waving and talk about morality's role in society. More than few people feel the need to declare that the definition of marriage is between a man and a woman, only. They are absolutely brimming with confidence that they are on solid ground when it comes to who is right about this matter. That should be your first indication that they are in fact dead wrong. And I believe that this issue, and not immigration, is the thing that will help or hurt Republicans the most in the near future. Being opposed to gay marriage and open homosexuality, is a losing position that will only get worse as more and more people "evolve" on the issue, as our President has. Of course, I don't really believe he "evolved" as much as he simply saw a political opportunity. But regardless, he beat us to the issue and is on the right side. Now, the GOP is locked into opposing him and consequently his stance on gay marriage. God, I wish they wouldn't. Where are the Liberterians when you need them?

The real problem as I see it is that marriage was a cultural invention that provided a framework for the orderly function of our society. And that's perfectly fine. In fact it served that purpose very well and got along with politics just fine, right up untill we put it in the tax code. We should have never done that. Now we have two aspects of marriage, the cultural and the economic/political.

When they designated married people to get special treatment on taxes, it was seen as promoting a good thing. But they failed to recognize that they were picking winners and losers based on something that people had no control over. Now, there are those who don't believe that. They contend that it's a lifestyle choice. And I think that's one of the key points where I diverge, and leave the conservatives. I don't think it's a choice any more than having blue eyes is a choice. As a gay man I know once asked me, "Who would choose this? Considering what one has to deal with being gay, why would you choose to be so? So that I could be harrassed, assaulted and reviled by people who don't even know me?"

With very few exceptions, most gays I've heard from, will tell you they knew they were gay from childhood, and that choice had nothing to do with it. It was a bit ironic though when TV star Cynthia Nixon declared that she did chose to be gay. All the other gays denounced her. I think it's probably like Masters & Johnson theorized, that everybody is on something of a sliding scale between being 1% gay and 99% straight, and being 1% straight and 99% gay. If you were in that 50-50 range it would probably seem like a choice.

But this is not about my theories on sexuality. It's about real people.Take a look at how people's attitudes change when a friend, or better, a relative, comes out to them. Dick Cheney now supports gay marriage. Of course his daughtetr is a lesbian. But I notice how people like Rush Limbaugh won't go after him about it, nor will they voice support for him. They just kind of ignore it while criticizing Democrats for "pushing the gay agenda," whatever that is.

But guys like Rush have this thing about homosexuality being, well, wrong. And I really get irritated when Rush, who I don't believe to be religious at all, will simply state that it's a sin, or that it is specifically condemned in the Bible. It never fails that some clown will remind us that "The Bible says it's an abomination!" Yes, and the Bible also says that you can buy your slaves from neighboring countries only, and that if a master kills a slave by striking him with a rod, the slave shall be avenged. That is unless the slave lingers for a day or two before he dies, in which case, vengence is off the table. So am I dissing the Bible now? Well let me just say that while I believe the word of God is in there, I'm not so sure every word in there came directly from him. I think that translations and compilations that took place thousands of years ago were not neccessarily under the complete control of a divine being. Otherwise, I'm going to have problems with a lot of things that are in there.