The Ugly America

It's hard to write as my mind seems bombarded with negativity. Drowning it out with a glass or three of a fine smokey, spicy Cabernet and some weight lifting, though not in that order of course, seems far easier. Contrastingly, over the weekend, I enjoyed a rather positive respite from the never ending drama that seems to be the macroeconomy circa 2008. This Saturday Downtown St. Louis bore witness to the anger and frustration of St. Louis' Gay Community, and supporters, as they voiced their opposition to California's Proposition 8 which defines marriage between male and female. If only 4 years ago when Missouri became the first state to ban these Human Rights and thereby undermine the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment! Our progressive state voted -- with around 70% supporting -- denying our neighbors the rights we enjoy as citizens.

I'm not going to address why California voted to ban Human Rights or why minorities turned out strongly, according to exit poll data, for Proposition 8. I will address those of Caucasian persuasion, specifically males, some of which hold an irrational fear of homosexuals. As I speak from experience, I will isolate this categorization further to the rural/exurban white male.

Fear and opposition results from difference. Upon interaction with the homosexual, presupposing any actually occurs, they react with abject fear and insular, ironically narcissistic, behavior. They assume that they must be the object of their (the homosexual's) desire. This relates to the irrational fear of the African American insofar as he's assumed to both want the white male's wallet and wife. Essentially the suburban white male thinks himself so highly as to believe that both his castle, security, and physical self must be the object of nearly everyone's desire.

Given the homogeneously banal design of suburban life, where difference and similarity are clearly defined via gated community defensible space planning and the pod style, this reaction becomes predictable. They fear the other, the outsider, those beyond their gates. They believe erroneously that their home, their marriage, their way of life, everything that defines them, will be challenged by those vagabonds of immorality and depravity. Since their way of life has been extolled for generations, they assume that those of difference seek what they possess.

Gated communities proliferate our former countryside because, like the legal barriers erected to prohibit marriage equality, they provide a clear demarcation between the fortunate and marginalized. This feeling of division and separateness supports those who built the walls and ensures their continued success and happiness at the expense of those outside.

What stimulates these reactions? My explanation makes no rational sense. How can someone fear for their own safety or status based upon one's sexual orientation or race? The efficacy of ridiculous groupthink and religious indoctrination at achieving social control must be quite high. Psychological comprehension of why some fear difference still escapes the logical mind. Explanation could involve the fear of change, of being no longer among the dominant mores, compounded with the fear that stability might be undermined.

What's more harmful for societal stability and progression: the homosexual in a marriage out of convenience, who drinks severely and cheats on his wife because he's unhappy, or a homosexual married in a relationship which is healthy for all parities involved? From my limited experience, it seems that happiness and compatibility are rare commodities -- I don't think we should discriminate when individuals find what compels them to seek marriage. If we really desire stability and not social upheaval due marginalization then shouldn't we make the correct decision?

Those that fear homosexual marriage should resign themselves to Jesse Helms' North Carolina. This irrationality should be expelled like the scar tissue from the cirrhosis stricken liver. In 50 years Missouri will not only witness homosexual marriages but also a homosexual U.S. Congressperson. As it was said Downtown, on the steps of the Courthouse that decided the abhorrent Dread Scott v. Sanford, the day that we witness a first couple in the White House -- that will be yet another momentous milestone in the progressive history of the greatest Nation on this planet.

Supporting this struggle for equality means recognizing the omnipresent themes within our Constitution and case law. These include the right to privacy established under Griswold v. Connecticut and again the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment! Support also signifies an embrace of diversity and the marginalization of the segregationist suburban worldview.

I have only this message: Barack Obama and Lawrence v. Texas are only the beginning. Fear and division will soon founder. Whatever forms this ridiculous basis for discriminatory marriage -- that Human Rights may be excluded from whomever you happen to fear -- will only be yet another stain upon on history. Strong emphasis on history must be placed because this constant social conservative fetish with resurrecting the past (not the good parts like Fedoras, Mansard Roofs, or suicide doors!) shall ultimately fail. We wish to move forward and won't resign to a sterile vinyl siding bible thumping gated community fear mongering agoraphobic state of misanthropy!

Yet as with other errant policies throughout the expansive volume of history, these stains must never become an afterthought. Obama did not end racism insofar as Harvey Milk (both substantial, albeit dissimilar achievements) did not halt homophobia. Those energized and still angry Americans, who understand that we've taken 10 steps backward in the previous 8 years, must continue with their action! Great opportunities exist to stand and mold a better Country which acknowledges that difference makes us stronger. The window of opportunity, where we will analyze and shortcomings in order to form a more perfect union, has never been so wide open. Seize that moment faster than Bush stole the 2000 election. We have only tomorrow. That's patriotism.

Take your fear and look in the mirror.