[News] Will we know when its time to leave?
News at freedomarchives.org
News at freedomarchives.org
Fri Nov 12 12:32:36 EST 2004
The slippery slope
As hopes for equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans melt away and the
antigay forces muster power, will we know when its time to leave just to
save our own skins?
By Rod Abid
An Advocate.com exclusive, posted November 5, 2004
Back in the mid and late 90s I was assigned to work in Bosnia and Kosovo,
where I learned several things.
(1) The Bosnians and Kosovars who didnt leave and were there for the war
wished theyd paid attention to the many signs of their nation falling off
the precipice. They didnt imagine that the cultural differences in their
nation would result in an all-out war.
(2) The people who didnt leave couldnt imagine that things could turn so
bad so quickly.
(3) The people who didnt leave knew that the Serbs could hate them, but
didnt imagine that the hatred would come to them in the form of their
neighbors turning them over to homicidal paramilitary groups
These people saw signs of a clearly gathering threat. But they didnt, or
couldnt, get out in time.
I learned that when the center doesnt hold things can get ugly very
quickly. I decided that I, as a gay man in the United States of America,
would not let myself get caught behind enemy lines if the American center
didnt hold.
It was an easy-to-digest thought back in the 90s. It seemed that gay men
and lesbians were living in a virtuous cycle, when corporations were
instituting domestic partner policies and gays and lesbians were becoming
more and more visible in both the media and in daily life.
Today, November 5, 2004, life in the United States doesnt feel safe.
Im not saying that I see a Bosnia-like fall in this country. But I do see
an America where the center is slowly coming undone, a downward slope. And
the only difference between a downward slope and a precipice is the time it
takes to move down to the same place.
For the past four years any perceptive gay man or lesbian could notice the
downward slope in their political lives beginning to take shape. President
Bushs judicial nominees were the clearest sign: qualified jurists with
views about gays and lesbians formed by the most fundamentalist of
Christian beliefs. These men and women often have had to go into
confirmation hearings and disown previous statements in which they asserted
that gays and lesbians are not fit members of American society.
Then in the past year a new and even stronger sign of the downward slope
came into view when the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts ruled that
the states ban on same-sex couples getting married was unconstitutional
under the antidiscrimination clause of the Massachusetts constitution.
The response from the Republican Party was not dissimilar to the Ku Klux
Klans response to the Voting Rights Act. This wasnt about human rights,
they said. This was, they said, about a few judges doing irreparable harm
to the country. To them, this wasnt about American citizens validating
their long-term relationships and living their lives pretty much as they
had always lived them. It was an affront against God and needed to be
stamped out at any cost.
How did the president of all the citizens of the United States respond to
this furor? He proposed adding real, live bigotry to the Constitution of
the nation. The worst part of it was that he seemed to think that he could
be both tolerant (he says he is not prejudiced toward gays and lesbians)
and propose such an amendment.
And that president just got reelected, with the winning margin coming from
people who agree with his policies regarding gays and lesbians. The
president and his party worked hard to get out their base to vote, and a
large part of that strategy was to get antigay marriage amendments onto
ballots in crucial states, including Ohio, the state that won him the
election.
The downward slope is firmly in place.
So now where do we gay and lesbian Americans stand?
Basically in a shit hole.
How bad is it? Lets look at the various players who will affect our
political future.
The president. George W. Bush probably doesnt hate gays and lesbians. He
believes, he says, that all people are sinners, and that no one should
claim perfection over other sinners, that only God can judge. But at the
root of this belief is the idea that gays and lesbians are sinners because
of who they are, not what they do. And his words are really of no
importance when one looks at his election strategy. The president allowed
his closest political adviser, Karl Rove, to use hatred of gays and
lesbians as the centerpiece of his reelection strategy.
Sure, his vice presidents daughter is a lesbian. But in light of the
presidents election strategy, can we really rely on his sense of tolerance
and fairness?
I wont even mention the name of the man whom Mr. Bush chose to be our top
law enforcement officer.
The Supreme Court. It was the courts ruling in Lawrence v. Texas that
paved the way for the Massachusetts supreme judicial courts decision. A
63 decision that spoke to the dignity of gay people, Lawrence was perhaps
the most moving political document that Ive ever had the pleasure to read.
But I dont believe we gays and lesbians are going to have much time to
live under it.
Its pretty clear that the president will have the opportunity to fill
three Supreme Court positions during his second term. Based on his
lower-court nominees, we can pretty much determine that his nominees will
be conservatives with no inclination to continue the courts acknowledgment
of the dignity and simple equality of gays and lesbians. But as long as
theyre qualified jurists its likely that their political views will not
prevent their confirmation, which brings us to...
Congress. Take a close look at the leadership of the next Congress: Tom
DeLay, Bill Frist, Dennis Hastert, Rick Santorum. Do a quick Google search
of these names with special rights or, in the case of Mr. Santorum,
bestiality and youll get a good idea of how these people feel about gays
and lesbians. Move down the ranks among the GOP members of the House and
Senate and youll find an almost overwhelming number of legislators who are
happy to compare gays and lesbians to murderers, child molesters, and even
Nazis.
Barring some major change, the Republican Party is setting the table to run
this country for a long time to come. And we in the gay community are not
invited to sit at this table.
Am I saying that were slouching toward Bosnia? Are we going to have to
face the loss of our homes, our jobs, our ability to survive? No. But
remember the slopethe slow degradation of our rights in this society.
Among the things that are possible: sodomy laws reinstituted, partnership
rights revoked, adoption rights taken away, harassment overlooked by law
enforcement. And forget teaching in public schools, or serving in the
military.
The Republican Party as an organization wants us back in the closet. They
dont want to see us, hear from us, know were there. And, once the Supreme
Court has five votes in favor of this invisibility, our legal rights will
be in real and immediate peril.
Now some will say that Im overreacting. I dont think so. The pendulum in
this country has swung away from the center, and is swinging clearly to the
right. The best thing that can be said about the GOPs treatment of gay
people is that theyre using us as political tools to play to their base.
Our best-case scenario is that were a cynically manipulated factor to gain
political power. Thats the best we can do under this system.
Now what to do? Do we stay and fight? Perhaps, though its always been
difficult to create anything resembling a grassroots groundswell for gay
rights.
Can we count on a majority of Americans voting or using their political
clout to stand up for us? I dont think so.
Move to another country? Perhaps, though its not as easy as just buying a
plane ticket. Now of course, if our rights are marginalized to a certain
degree, then theres the chance that political asylum might become an
option.
Yes, on this point Im serious: political asylum.
I have no prescription for gay and lesbian American citizens except to be
ready for anything: Save money, liquefy assets, keep your finger in the air
to see which way the wind is blowing. Assume the worst. It could turn into
a reality.
Abid lives in Chicago. He is senior producer of National Public Radios
Wait Wait
Dont Tell Me!
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