Gay Patriot

The thing that struck me the most about the Unity Statement this past January of 22 gay groups was its absence of vision, its failure to get beyond policy prescriptions and address the ultimate goal of the gay movement. Like so many documents coming out of Washington, D.C., it was long on self-congratulation and stock phrases, but short on what the president’s father once called “the vision thing.”
Too many gay activists and leaders, it seems, have failed to ask themselves what they, through their activism and lobbying, ultimately seek to accomplish. They focus too much on passing this or that piece of legislation, securing this or that “right,” pushing for “equality” and “fairness,” yet, in the end, they rarely articulate what all these things mean in our lives today.
To be sure, it’s not all that easy to articulate that vision. When I attempt to do so, I find myself telling stories rather than outlining a list of specific goals. I respond that what we seek is what I experienced just over six years ago, the first time I brought a date home for Thanksgiving. My family treated this man as they would the different-sex schweetie (i.e., significant other) of any one of my (straight) siblings. My Dad recognized him in his toast at dinner, welcoming him into the family.
A few weeks later, this man invited me to his office’s holiday dinner where I received a welcome similar to that he received in my family.
The stories seem to articulate the better part of our “ultimate goal,” that our families, our friends, our professional colleagues include our “schweeties” with us in their lives. Add into a few other things, such as state recognition of our unions, repeal of the Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT) policy and general acceptance of the normality of homosexuality and you pretty much have it.
[Read more…]

The Connecticut House has passed a civil unions bill, but with a gratuitous provision defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The Republican governor has said that should this bill clear the Senate, she will sign in.
The Oregon Supreme Court nullified nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples by Multonah County, holding that the both state law and the state constitution had limited marriage to opposite sex couples. The Democratic governor said he would push for a law recognizing same-sex civil unions.
Several readers, including Eva Young, have e-mailed me that Paul Koering, a Republican State Senator in Minnesota, came out as gay and voted against putting a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman (and ruling out same-sex civil unions) on the ballot. Eva notes that the reaction to his coming out has been generally supportive, though a handful of Republicans are not pleased.
And on this tax day, Log Cabin follows up its praise yesterday of the vote in the U.S. House to repeal the Death Tax with a release calling for comprehensive tax reform, pointing out that the “current tax system severely disadvantages gay and lesbian familes.”
In general, it seems that things are looking up for gay people, but with a few dark clouds on the horizon. Hopefully, once I file my taxes, I’ll be able to resume regular blogging and comment on these developments at length.

It seems everyone wants me to blog on Bill Clinton’s latest attack on a Republican. This time, the former has accused an openly gay GOP campaign consultant of being “self-loathing.” Two people mentioned it in comments to my last post. A guy I’ve been dating e-mailed me the same link that a reader sent me. A couple people commenting to my last post were eager to hear my thoughts. Naturally, I was flattered by the interest in my ideas. 🙂
So, instead of giving my brain a rest after much studying, writing and reading, I’ll share my thoughts with you. Once again, we see Clinton returning to his basic campaign tactic, what I call, the “reverse-offense defense,” where he attacks those who criticize him. As he recycles his old standard, I am reminded of the words Ronald Reagan used in his debate with Jimmy Carter in 1980. “There you go again.” There Bill goes again, taking the low road. Engaging in invective instead of answering the charges.
Except in his case, no charges have yet been leveled against his wife. All that’s happened is after marrying his longtime partner in Massachusetts, political consultant Arthur Finkelstein has launched the “Stop Her Now” campaign, a “527” advocacy group (like those which raised millions to defeat our man W), reportedly raising $10 to prevent Hillary Clinton’s reelection to the U.S. Senate. Perhaps, the former president should note that his wife, the Senator Finkelstein is working to defeat, opposes gay marriage.
It’s comedic watching Clinton — of all people — tar a gay man as self-loathing, Clinton who made promises to gay people as a candidate that he didn’t keep as president because keeping them would have hurt him politically. Will any gay group criticize this man for calling an openly gay man self-loathing?
Well, one has. Log Cabin Political Director Chris Barron shows how this Democrat has always put politics ahead of gay interests, noting that Clinton is

the same President who signed the Defense of Marriage Act, implemented the military’s discriminatory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, and encouraged John Kerry to support anti-gay state Constitutional amendments, thinks he has any credibility passing judgment on the life of Arthur Finkelstein or any other gay and lesbian American.

To think that some gay activists see this man as a hero is beyond me.
[Read more…]

To celebrate my six-month blogiversary, I reposted the quotation from Camus with which I entered the blogosphere. To me, that quote helps define what blogging, especially for blogs, like this one, which invite comments, should be all about.
Camus feared the “long conversation of mankind” was coming to an end, in part, because people remained fixed in their ideologies, not willing to let themselves be persuaded by the arguments of others.
As gay conservatives, we see all too clearly such narrow ideologies, both in our gay identities and in our political leanings.
As gays, we are stigmatized by certain social conservatives who are unwilling to recognize that many of us strive to live our lives with the same — or similar values — as the most pious Christians. This past week, I have posted twice (here and here) on how they refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of legislation enacted (or in the process of being enacted) which recognizes gay unions. It seems they have blinded themselves to the reality of many gay lives, those countless same-sex couples who seek (and do) live together in monogamous unions. They see gay people not by looking at the broad range of gay “lifestyles” but through a narrow definition of the “gay lifestyle” — and by a narrow reading of Scripture.
As conservatives, we are stigmatized by many on the left who assume that being a part of some minority, be it one of race, religion or sexual orientation requires one to adopt the principles of contemporary American liberalism, which includes strong and frequent critiques of all forms of American conservatism, even those which are not anti-gay. When we do not fit their narrow view of what a gay person should be, they dismiss our arguments and label us “self-hating.”
It seems that more often that not, neither wishes to engage us. Too many of them, on the social right as well as on the angry left, have become no more than what Camus would call, representatives of an ideology. They think like those around them, having created an abstract view of the world, leaving no room for individual distinction or philosophical difference.
[Read more…]