Now We Know Or-You-Know-What
It's that time for holiday season newsletters in which we look back at
the
past year with rose-colored glasses and try not to shudder.
This past year --- in which my major personal writing project seems to
have
been this column --- has been one of growth and self-enlightenment. The
first thing I've learned is the power of the internet. I started
writing
"Family Ties" as a way of expressing some feelings about the unfair way
gay
people are treated in the United States. It also was a way of "doing
something" about my oldest son, Rick, who has been a missing person for
four
years now, and for other gay people like him (although one of the
things
I've been reminded of is that no two gay people arte alike and
therefore
there's no one else exactly like Rick, which is simultaneously a
sadness and
a relief).
Little did I know that the column would grow from just a dozen or so
postings to people in my circle of friends and acquaintances to its
present
mailing list of several hundred, many of whom forward it on to other
folks.
I honestly don't know the locations of every mailbox that "Family 101"
ends
up in, but I have heard from folks in nearly all of the 50 states, plus
Canada, Mexico, The Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, the West
Indies,
The Netherlands and many other countries. I've heard from gay men,
lesbians,
bisexual folks of both genders and others in varying stages of the
process
of transgendering. I've also from their parents, siblings, children and
other relatives and friends. If the sampling I've discovered in less
than
one year of writing has been any indication, the world is full of these
gay
and gay-friendly folks and official statistics about their numbers are
way,
way, undercounted.
I've learned that a united gay and gay-supportive community can
accomplish
quite a bit. Ask Laura Schlessinger, whose crummy homophobic television
talk
show is all but obliterated, much like the fall of communism. Enough
outraged people said to her major sponsors this year, "Tear down your
part
of the wall which protects this self-styled Queen of Ethics, Morals and
Values!" There are a few sponsors and broadcasters who still keep
Schlessinger going, but the point was made. Whatever values she
promotes,
her views on homosexuality are not mainstream. The efforts of an
organized
opposition have relegated her to the boob tube's insomniac hours.
Gay people and their supporters also made a difference politically this
year. Sheila Kuehl (formerly Zelda Gilroy on the old "Dobie Gillis"
show)
was elected a state senator in California, along with three other
out-of-the-closet lesbian politicas there. In Vermont, efforts of
same-sex
union supporters managed to get the nation's first domestic partners
law
passed and it looks as though the law will hold up, despite an
organized
effort by the radical right to overturn it.
Finally, the gay and gay supportive vote helped Vice President Al Gore
win
the popular vote in the U.S. presidential election and probably the
popular
vote in Florida, although we'll never know for sure. We voted for Gore
because he represented the best of some admittedly less-than-wonderful
choices, in terms of furthering the goals of the gay civil rights
movement.
What none of us counted on was the corruption in the Florida electoral
process and the partisanship of the conservative Republican appointees
on
the U.S. Supreme Court, all of which conspired to make George Dubya
Bush our
president-select.
With the pending inauguration of Dubya as commander-in-thief, the next
great
battle lines are quite obvious. Those of us who still believe equal
rights
for our gay loved ones are possible must focus on the 2002 election and
voting for candidates who are committed to promoting equality and
eradicating homophobia to oppose any Bush appointees to our nation's
courts
--- from the U.S. Supremes on down --- who are unwilling to be at least
open-minded on gay rights issues. If this means having a few vacant
judgeships until the next presidential election, there are far worse
things
that could happen --- like a court made up of Antonin Scalia and
Clarence
Thomas clones!
To quote a great American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, we
need
to "keep our eyes on the prize" --- a world that has room for equal
treatment of all people, no matter whom they love.
From my family to all of yours, may your Yule be cool and all the
holidays
be bright and gay!
Published 17th December 2000
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