Sometimes the religioius right is its own worst enemy. This story from the New York Times clearly illustrates that point. The story talks about a recent trend in the state of Kansas, where more and more gay and lesbian people are coming out of the closet following the passing of a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. From the Times:
(There is) a dramatic shift that has taken hold lately among gay and bisexual Kansans, many of them well into midlife and ensconced in long-term relationships. An energized culture of coming out has emerged, apparently in reaction to what many see as the anti-gay climate that led to the marriage ban.
The gay rights movement was slow to make its debut in Kansas, but during the last two years it has developed with an intensity that has surprised even its leaders. Kansas, which has approximately 73,000 openly gay and bisexual adults, according to Mr. Gates’s estimates, had no statewide gay rights organization until late 2004.
Imagine that, the state that gave us anti-gay bigot Fred Phelps (please, take him back) has a GLBT population that is alive, well, and beginning to make its presence felt.
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Well, the more you stir the hornet's nest, the more likely they are to attack you en masse. I also heard another analogy concerning the gay community, and it is also applied to many other situations in human history; the analogy states that if you beat a dog long enough and hard enough, that dog stops being submissive & scared and goes into a blind rage where it attacks it's abuser, basically because it has nothing left to lose. There are a lot of gay folks all over the country, especially in Kansas who are probably sick of the constant abuse... a few martyrs can spark a heck of a political uprising.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for keeping up this blog! Best wishes for 2007.
ReplyDeletewhen i found your blog a few months ago, i bookmarked it because you had some very interesting things to say. but this post just proved to me that i kept reading for a reason.
ReplyDeleteas a life-long kansas resident i spent the first 19 of my 22 years hiding in the closet afraid of the reaction from my much more conservative friends and family. 3 months before i left for college (k-state as fate would have it) i told my 4 closest friends that i was a lesbian. surprisingly enough i got the same reaction from all of them, "we already knew that". i waited to come out to my mom until new years last year. she took it about like i expected which, while not being positive was a lot better than it could have been. i'm now out to everyone i know. i don't even try to hide that part of me anymore.
anywho...i was saying all of that to say that i think what you're doing is awesome. the stories that you put out there are amazing, especially this one!!
Phelps has done more to help gay rights in Kansas than almost any one else. A favorite tactic here is for a gay group or cultural group that needs money to accept pledges for every minute Phelps pickets one of their events.
ReplyDeleteThat said if anyone else wants Phred and his hateful bad of followers, hey can have them...maybe Phelps ought to go to Colorado Springs.