(This is the second and concluding segment of “Homophobia is a social disease.”)
It would seem that the underpinning of the “limited constitutional rights for gays” cause is essentially enabled by the idea that their homosexual orientation is a “choice” rather than something with a significant genetic component. While anyone who has ever given this thorny topic even a moment of actual clear-headed evaluation can certainly debate the grand “nature vs. nurture” question, it’s another matter entirely to ponder all those teenagers making their “choice,” presumably around the onset of puberty or thereabouts.
The thought of teens, ravaged or about to be ravaged by a hormonal onslaught not to be matched at any period of their lives, sitting around and ruminating about which lifestyle seems the more enticing would be laughable if it weren’t such a serious topic.
No, homophobia isn’t funny, primarily because it devastates the lives of so many millions of young (and older) people who presumably already have more than enough crap to deal with. The obvious comeback for the ludicrous “choice” fantasy is to ask the adherent to describe the events surrounding his or her own grand moment of decision making as they were being thrust in adulthood. Presumably, the answer will be, “Of course, it wasn’t a choice for me, because I am normal.”
Ah, therein lies the rub. Those who insist that their theology-driven homophobia must outweigh the actual rights of a group of fellow Americans do so with the certainty in their hearts (use of your head is optional – and rare – in this instance) that if gays are not simply making a bad choice, they are afflicted with a mental disorder.
It ought to go without saying, but clearly needs to be said, that there’s nothing “Christian” about telling millions of people that they allegedly have a mental affliction that requires a separate but decidedly unequal and limited roster of constitutional guarantees relative to the majority of the population.
As an illustration to show how wretched and/or absurd that argument is, ask the goofy question, “What if gayness really were some kind of mental affliction? The American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association both say it isn’t, but pretend we don’t care what those august bodies have to say about the topic.
Then what? There are millions of Americans saddled with a dizzying array of recognized mental illnesses, and yet we don’t try to limit the constitutional guarantees afforded them. Indeed, anyone who suggested such a thing would be quite fairly thrashed and pummeled (figuratively speaking). So why is it OK to do it with gays?
Obviously, with all the crass political maneuvering to push the country back to some mythical 1950’s period of simple bliss, a Supreme Court might be stacked to keep something as controversial and problematic as gay marriage off the docket for a while. Still, even with the current Court’s lamentable starboard list at the moment, a decision on whether gays were entitled to the same constitutional rights as anyone else would seem to be a no-brainer … even with a written dissent from faux Justice Clarence Thomas (he’s afraid to actually open his mouth from the bench out of a justifiable fear that someone will notice that he has no robes).
Assuming this hypothetical case had the needed characteristics and scope, how could they rule otherwise regardless of their political biases? For those who favor a rigid adherence to that nifty document, there wouldn’t seem to be much wiggle room for the homophobic.
Ultimately, the country is moving toward a more “Christian” and constitutional acceptance of gays. For those who would – out of a misguided convergence of bigotry, homophobia and ignorance – try to stem that tide, there will be nothing to tell your grandchildren other than the fact that you were on the wrong side of the issue way back then. And anyone born in the last 20 years or so won’t have the slightest understanding of what all the fuss was about anyway.
In the meantime, those who stubbornly plant themselves at the fetid barricades in a pathetic attempt to hold back the tides of history need to know that their willful ignorance – even if they lamely insist that it is somehow linked to their Christian values – will simply be yet another part of the problem rather than part of the solution. In an ironic, unChrist-like twist, when the next gay teenager overdoses on pills or hangs himself in the family basement out of a sense of despair that reactionaries have helped to foster, they will have blood on their hands that doesn’t wash off.
- T.S. O’Connell