Some folks are picking at my contention that "the future of same-sex marriage and civil unions in Wisconsin has been put in the hands of two straight, single folks."
People point out that Mike Tate may have a girlfriend. Straight guys do have them, ya know. But until he's "married" in the eyes of the IRS and everyone else he's "single." Perhaps one of the reason Mike burns for this issue is that he's in some form of domestic partnership. I haven't heard it in his stump speech or in the PR releases though.
Julaine openly claims straight singlehood: In her April 10 Wisconsin Family Connection she offered up as much when she said: "I'm frequently asked why I as a single, never-married, straight, no-children woman care so much about marriage. It's a fair question."
Now I know many of my lesbian friends tell me that their gaydar goes "ding" when they're in close contact with Julaine. I also know from friends down in Watertown about the sightings of a long-time female house share. That does not make her "not straight."
Gay people who have lived through an extended coming out process are the last ones who should be throwing up the "guilt by association" canard. Remember how you felt when it was dumped on you? To paraphrase Nathan Hale: "Give me Polaroids or save your breath."
Then again if Julaine's relationship is as long-term as the reports indicate, it might be considered a domestic partnership - since sex is not a pre-condition for any relationship (yes, even for marriage).
"Accepting children lovingly from God" is a vow of Holy Matrimony, not civil marriage. Unless you're writing your own vows it's officially "love, honor and obey" not "love, honor and roll in the hay."
One of the reasons the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging groups is opposed the the amendment is the impact it can have on the companion-based domestic partnership of senior widows and widowers. Those relationships were challenged in Utah after a similar broadly-worded amendment was passed there.
Sure, sex may be part of some of those seasoned relationships, but from the personal testimony I've heard from many of those couples, the only thing heating up the sheets for them is the electric blanket. Its the caring for one another (and the desire to maintain full Social Security benefits) that drives nearly all of those senior "shack ups."
Many of the supporters of the marriage and civil unions ban seem to come from a belief that sex drives marital relations across the board. Anyone who has ever attended a bridal shower or a bachelor party knows a lot of straight people appear to think that way. Those of us who have been engaged in this fight over the years know that once you get a supporter talking about same sex unions, its really the "homo sex thing" that drives them crazy. What a low opinion of the human heart - straight or gay!
Who knows? Maybe its jealousy - a new twist on the "haves" versus the "have nots." I know I pray every night to my Unitarian "to whom it may concern" that I have one tenth the sex life that these professional homo-haters claim I do. Unfortunately, the ways things have been they'll be playing Billy Preston's "Nothing From Nothing" at my final send-off.
Over the years, I've attended the homo-haters' rallies. I learned more about bizarre sex practices during a speech by "Pink Swastika" author Scott Lively than I ever had in all the gay periodicals and chat sessions I've ever encountered. A close second: a speech by pseudo-researcher Paul Cameron. I gotta thank Rantin' Ralph Ovadal and his 1990's "truth tours" for those illuminations. These guys are sex-obsessed. But what both these guys forgot is that sex practices are sex practices - what makes them homo or hetero are the parties involved.
Fortunately each day more and more Wisconsinites are learning - much to the chagrin of the "all marriage is sex" gang - that gay and lesbian unions are far more about about who puts out the garbage than who puts out, or about getting the laundry and the housework done than gettin' busy in the bedroom. In other words, just like those bizarre sex practices the quality of our relationships is not based on the sexes of the partners, but on the commitment and shared values of the couple.
When we defeat the ban this November - and each day I'm more convinced we will - the greatest irony may be that straight Wisconsin understands just how much alike they are to queer folk. Its all about hearts, not private parts.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Irony
The future of same-sex marriage and civil unions in Wisconsin has been put in the hands of two straight, single folks.
For the "defense of marriage" amendment: Julaine Appling, Family Research of Wisconsin
Against the "marriage and civil unions ban" amendment: Mike Tate, Fair Wisconsin
Am I the only one who sees the irony?
For the "defense of marriage" amendment: Julaine Appling, Family Research of Wisconsin
Against the "marriage and civil unions ban" amendment: Mike Tate, Fair Wisconsin
Am I the only one who sees the irony?
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Poll: 4 of 5 Americans Dead From The Neck Up
Yahoo! News is reporting a new poll showing that 60 million Americans are "intellectually curious."
However, current census figures show we have 300,000,000 living in the U. S. at this time.
Thus the poll results suggest something far worse: 80% (or four out of five) of my fellow Americans are intellectual dullards.
At last, the secret of the Republican majority and the sustained runaway popularity of "American Idol" has been unveiled.
However, current census figures show we have 300,000,000 living in the U. S. at this time.
Thus the poll results suggest something far worse: 80% (or four out of five) of my fellow Americans are intellectual dullards.
At last, the secret of the Republican majority and the sustained runaway popularity of "American Idol" has been unveiled.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
RIP: Rev. William Sloane Coffin 1924-2006
It was with great sadness that I read of the passing of civil rights leaders and Christian moral leader Rev. William Sloane Coffin April 12.
I had the honor of getting to know this truly great man while he was a visiting professor at Lawrence University in Appleton ten years ago.
Gay activists nationally will remember that Rev. Coffin marched in New York City's Stonewall 25 parade back in 1994. We in Wisconsin will also remember his principled response to the late Reggie White following the Packer hall of famer's notorious speech to the Wisconsin Assembly at the request of Congressional candidate John Gard: the one where White in a few sentences managed to insultingly stereotype Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans and gay people.
At the time he wrote that response, Rev. Sloane Coffin had been active the civil rights movement for nearly four decades. In 1962, he was a Freedom Rider in the black civil rights movement in the South. As chaplain at Harvard, he provided sanctuary to draft-resistors to the Vietnam war. In 1979, he was one of four clergy permitted to minister to the Americans held hostage in the U. S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. Rev. Throughout the 1990's and until his death, Rev. Coffin had been active in the gay civil rights movement, marching with his wife and at times with his (straight) children in numerous Gay Pride parades in New York and other cities.
Rev. Coffin's words are worth re-reading as we continue to battle the ban of same sex marriage and civil unions here:
ONE MINISTER TO ANOTHER: AN OPEN LETTER TO REGGIE WHITE
Dear Reggie White,
I've only heard good things about you, and nobody for a moment doubts your greatness as an athlete. But if your words to the (Wisconsin) legislature this week were accurately reported, I'm troubled, and in particular about what you said about homosexuality.
I write to you as one ordained minister to another. As the Bible is the founding document of every Christian church in the world, it can't be taken seriously enough. But if you take the Bible seriously, you can't take it literally - not all of it.
For instance, in the book of Leviticus, it is a "toevah" - an abomination - not only to eat bacon, sausage and ribs, it is sinful even to touch the skin of a dead pig. If you thought that insight valid today, would you be playing football?
Homosexuality is not a big issue for Biblical writers. In the 66 books of Scripture (71 if you're Roman Catholic), only seven verses refer to homosexual behavior. Some time ago, I picked up a pamphlet entitled "What did Jesus say about homosexuality?" Opening it, I came across two blank pages. Closing it, I read on the back, "That's right, nothing."
St. Paul thought all men were straight. He assumed all homosexual activity was done by heterosexuals.
This assumption is true as well of Old Testament writers, which means that all the Biblical passages used to flay gays and lesbians have really nothing whatsoever to say about constitutionally gay people in genuinely loving relationships.
As Christians, we don't honor the higher truth we find in Christ by ignoring truths found elsewhere. I'm impressed that the American Psychological Association does not consider homosexuality an illness, and that natural scientists have discovered homosexuality in mammals, birds and insects. Clearly, God is more comfortable with diversity than we are!
In my experience, a lot of people talk in the abstract about homosexuality being a sin, but without first-hand knowledge of gays and lesbians. Wouldn't it be better to talk with rather than about homosexuals?
I write you all this in large part because today the "gay agenda" has replaced the "communist threat" as the battering ram of reactionary politics. It grieves me to see you put your considerable muscle behind such a blunt instrument of prejudice.
We live in a land of great prejudice and you as an African American and I as a white man have had to overcome the differences we have invented about one another. It is urgent that men and women, gays and straights, do the same, for as James Baldwin described us, "Each of us, helplessly and forever contains the other - We are a part of each other."
--Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Lawrence University
It's interesting to note that in his final year and a half of his life, Reggie White rejected the anti-gay tenets of Christian fundamentalists as well as the fawning born-again types who were drawn by his celebrity not his Christianity.
Also, compare Rev. Coffin's take on the Bible with the Dominionist thinking of Julaine Appling in her Holy Week Wisconsin Family Connection screed:
"We aren't interested in constitutional amendments for purely social and political reasons. We're engaged in this campaign for nobler and higher reasons. We're motivated by a Sovereign Who some 2000 years ago devoted His sacred Head on our behalf, as undeserving as we are. Surely the least we can do is to stand up for Him and His Truth. "
Of course Ms. Appling is telling a bald faced lie. Julaine's goal - like fellow Dominionist Rantin' Ralph Ovadal's - is re-shaping laws and Constitutions to mimic their twisted view of "Biblical principles," one that creates a more perfect union by banishing (or worse) those pesky homosexuals and anyone who takes the Golden Rule literally.
I had the honor of getting to know this truly great man while he was a visiting professor at Lawrence University in Appleton ten years ago.
Gay activists nationally will remember that Rev. Coffin marched in New York City's Stonewall 25 parade back in 1994. We in Wisconsin will also remember his principled response to the late Reggie White following the Packer hall of famer's notorious speech to the Wisconsin Assembly at the request of Congressional candidate John Gard: the one where White in a few sentences managed to insultingly stereotype Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans and gay people.
At the time he wrote that response, Rev. Sloane Coffin had been active the civil rights movement for nearly four decades. In 1962, he was a Freedom Rider in the black civil rights movement in the South. As chaplain at Harvard, he provided sanctuary to draft-resistors to the Vietnam war. In 1979, he was one of four clergy permitted to minister to the Americans held hostage in the U. S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. Rev. Throughout the 1990's and until his death, Rev. Coffin had been active in the gay civil rights movement, marching with his wife and at times with his (straight) children in numerous Gay Pride parades in New York and other cities.
Rev. Coffin's words are worth re-reading as we continue to battle the ban of same sex marriage and civil unions here:
ONE MINISTER TO ANOTHER: AN OPEN LETTER TO REGGIE WHITE
Dear Reggie White,
I've only heard good things about you, and nobody for a moment doubts your greatness as an athlete. But if your words to the (Wisconsin) legislature this week were accurately reported, I'm troubled, and in particular about what you said about homosexuality.
I write to you as one ordained minister to another. As the Bible is the founding document of every Christian church in the world, it can't be taken seriously enough. But if you take the Bible seriously, you can't take it literally - not all of it.
For instance, in the book of Leviticus, it is a "toevah" - an abomination - not only to eat bacon, sausage and ribs, it is sinful even to touch the skin of a dead pig. If you thought that insight valid today, would you be playing football?
Homosexuality is not a big issue for Biblical writers. In the 66 books of Scripture (71 if you're Roman Catholic), only seven verses refer to homosexual behavior. Some time ago, I picked up a pamphlet entitled "What did Jesus say about homosexuality?" Opening it, I came across two blank pages. Closing it, I read on the back, "That's right, nothing."
St. Paul thought all men were straight. He assumed all homosexual activity was done by heterosexuals.
This assumption is true as well of Old Testament writers, which means that all the Biblical passages used to flay gays and lesbians have really nothing whatsoever to say about constitutionally gay people in genuinely loving relationships.
As Christians, we don't honor the higher truth we find in Christ by ignoring truths found elsewhere. I'm impressed that the American Psychological Association does not consider homosexuality an illness, and that natural scientists have discovered homosexuality in mammals, birds and insects. Clearly, God is more comfortable with diversity than we are!
In my experience, a lot of people talk in the abstract about homosexuality being a sin, but without first-hand knowledge of gays and lesbians. Wouldn't it be better to talk with rather than about homosexuals?
I write you all this in large part because today the "gay agenda" has replaced the "communist threat" as the battering ram of reactionary politics. It grieves me to see you put your considerable muscle behind such a blunt instrument of prejudice.
We live in a land of great prejudice and you as an African American and I as a white man have had to overcome the differences we have invented about one another. It is urgent that men and women, gays and straights, do the same, for as James Baldwin described us, "Each of us, helplessly and forever contains the other - We are a part of each other."
--Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Lawrence University
It's interesting to note that in his final year and a half of his life, Reggie White rejected the anti-gay tenets of Christian fundamentalists as well as the fawning born-again types who were drawn by his celebrity not his Christianity.
Also, compare Rev. Coffin's take on the Bible with the Dominionist thinking of Julaine Appling in her Holy Week Wisconsin Family Connection screed:
"We aren't interested in constitutional amendments for purely social and political reasons. We're engaged in this campaign for nobler and higher reasons. We're motivated by a Sovereign Who some 2000 years ago devoted His sacred Head on our behalf, as undeserving as we are. Surely the least we can do is to stand up for Him and His Truth. "
Of course Ms. Appling is telling a bald faced lie. Julaine's goal - like fellow Dominionist Rantin' Ralph Ovadal's - is re-shaping laws and Constitutions to mimic their twisted view of "Biblical principles," one that creates a more perfect union by banishing (or worse) those pesky homosexuals and anyone who takes the Golden Rule literally.
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