Larry Kramer, the founder of the "Act Up", an AIDS-advocacy organization, recently wrote an op-ed piece for the Los Angeles Times that was more of an open letter to straight people. It began:
Dear Straight People:
Why do you hate gay people so much?
Sweeping generalizations like that often trouble me, but Kramer made a good case for his. He wrote:
Gays do not realize that the more we become visible, the more we come out of the closet, the more we are hated. Don't those of you straights who claim not to hate us have a responsibility to denounce the hate? Why is it socially acceptable to joke about "girlie men" or to discriminate against us legally with "constitutional" amendments banning gay marriage? Because we cannot marry, we can pass on only a fraction of our estates, we do not have equal parenting rights and we cannot live with a foreigner we love who does not have government permission to stay in this country. These are the equal protections that the Bill of Rights proclaims for all?
Why do you hate us so much that you will not permit us to legally love? I am almost 72, and I have been hated all my life, and I don't see much change coming.
I think your hate is evil.
What do we do to you that is so awful? Why do you feel compelled to come after us with such frightful energy? Does this somehow make you feel safer and legitimate? What possible harm comes to you if we marry, or are taxed just like you, or are protected from assault by laws that say it is morally wrong to assault people out of hatred? The reasons always offered are religious ones, but certainly they are not based on the love all religions proclaim.
You may say you don't hate us, but the people you vote for do, so what's the difference? Our own country's democratic process declares us to be unequal. Which means, in a democracy, that our enemy is you. You treat us like crumbs. You hate us. And sadly, we let you.
I know how I feel and how I act, but I can't offer up a strong arguement against his points. I do know, however, that hatred is directly against God's word.
Click here to read the entire piece.
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Amen, Jim. You're preaching to the choir, but sometimes we need to really get that dose of fire in our bellies to continue the fight against bigotry and hatred wherever it shows up.
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