Freedom and justice for all
American-style
With the Hardwick decision , the venerable gentlemen and
lady o f the Supreme Court made clear that America
‘ ‘land o f the free and home o f the brave ’ ’ will not tolerate
the ideal o f freedom and justice fo r all.
BY
MICHAEL
S
REED
t is July, the half-way mark for 1987.
There will be picnics, vacations and
hot summer evenings spent with
friends. July is the month where America
does the fandango for freedom. On July
4th, we celebrate revolution. We pay
homage to people who rebelled against an
oppressive government, high taxes and the
dictation of religious philosophy.
What is ironic about this is that we cele
brate the disruption of order all the while
believing that we are safe and secure in our
little American world of American double
standards. We may sit cozily at our picnic
tables, troughing it up on watermelon and
potato salad, safe in the knowledge that we
have a leader who looks after our image
almost as carefully as he promotes his
own. Like our leader, we undrstand very
little of foreign policy — but when he rides
across our televisions like John Wayne,
six-shooters blazing and proclaiming the
strength and goodness of America, we are
comforted in the same way as we are com
forted by the celluloid cavalry’s arrival at
the last movie minute.
Americans, like others anywhere,
choose their leaders by how well they tell
us what we want to hear. If our economy
seems to be weakening, we wait for some
one to come along who acts well enough to
convince us he can fix it all with no prob
lem. When terorrists kill an American we
wait for our leader to hop up on his stallion
and charge into the fray to defend our
honor and avenge those American lives.
If it’s what we want, he’ll give it to us.
He’s a showman. He understands razzle
dazzle. And that’s what frightens me.
I do not like the direction in which we
are headed. Mr. Reagan has been steadily
leading us down the primrose path of
American self-righteousness. He is setting
an example of just how ugly America can
be as it knocks down anything that stands
in the way of its goal. The ugliness lies in
hypocrisy. A fine example of that hypocrisy
is last year’s Hardwick decision by the
Supreme Court. With one hacking blow
those venerable gentlemen and lady made
it clear that America, land of the free and
home of the brave, would not tolerate liv
ing up to its own ideals of freedom and
justice for all.
The Supreme Court told each state in the
country that they had the right to dictate
what went on in the privacy of the
bedroom. The case, Bowers v. Hardwick,
involved a cop entering the home of
Michael Hardwick with a traffic warrant.
Once in Hardwick’s home, the arresting
officer found Hardwick making love with
another man. Georgia has a law against
that sort of thing. The officer arrested
Hardwick. Hardwick fought the arrest,
challenging its constitutionality. The case
went before the Supreme Court which held
that theCosntitution did not confer a
fundamental right upon homosexuals to
engage in sodomy. Actually, the Constitu
tion says nothing about the illegality of
such an act, either. I do believe the court
I
makes a great deal of fuss over the word
“ freedom.” Yet the venerable and
esteemed Court chose to ignore that word
and dwelt on their own rather aged
religiosity. Rather than framing the issue
on the freedom of consenting adults to
choose their own sexual behavior, the
Court focused on the issue of homosexual
ity. Most of us know that it is highly un
likely that a police officer would arrest a
heterosexual caught in the act of sodomy.
That same officer’s morals, however,
would be truly challenged should he find a
homosexual in that situation. How conve
nient that now each state has the right to
outlaw homosexuality — how very
American.
I am not that surprised at the decision,
though. 1986 marked the fifth year of the
AIDS era and we have been seeing many
homophobic events occur simply because
of the fear engendered by this disease. The
Hardwick decision was simply a giant
stepping stone for what is to come.
The other night, while watching Night-
line, I saw a group of protestors outside the
White House being arrested by the Wash
ington D.C. police. The protesters were
protesting Mr. Reagan’s most recent bout
of ineptitude in calling for mandatory test
ing for HIV antibodies all across America.
In the film clip, the police were wearing
yellow rubber gloves, presumably to pro
tect from being contaminated by the filthy,
diseased perverts. It was more than a little
chilling to see that kind of Homophobia in
full bloom. But then, why shouldn’t the
police be as ignorant as our leader?
Does he really think that mandatory testing
is going to help? I don’t think so. Since
there is no provision for confidentiality in
his plan, our names, addresses and health
status will be offered up like sacrificial
lambs when it comes time for more des
perate measures.
I find it amusing, in a way, that Mr.
Reagan is trying so desperately to deflect
the nation's growing attention on his
foreign policy blunders by calling for such
a reactionary, short-sighted plan. I realize
I should be relieved that finally, at long
last, he has decided to speak out about the
epidemic. I would have been more im
pressed if he had mentioned something
straightforward about the exchange of
bodily fluids or the necessity of condoms.
But, that probably wouldn't sail with the
more puritannical members of our society.
They would rather have everyone die than
to speak plainly about matters sexual. It is
America’s puritannical backbone which is
to blame for the spread of this disease.
What is needed now is clear, no-nonsense
language about sex and sexual behavior.
And the language must not be in terms of
right or wrong, but instead in terms of
survival.
It really boils down to a matter of expec
tations. What can one expect from a man
who helped to deprive, through his inade
quate economic knowledge, so many
people of their homes and jobs and then
make token offerings of butter and cheese
to assuage their losses. What can one ex
pect from someone who has flouted the
safety of the American people in his pre
tentious and ill-executed war on terrorism.
A leader is only as noble as the people
who empower him, which doesn’t say
much for us, does it?
This July 4th. instead of celebrating
freedom. I shall be in mourning. I shall
mourn the inequity and injustice of the six
year silence by America’s leader that is
nothing less than act of genocide. I shall
rage against the hypocrisy of a country that
makes lip service to the idea of freedom,
yet sits on its morals when it comes time to
make it a reality. 1 will attempt to ignore
the choking fear I have that someday I
shall find myself on a train, heading to
ward one of those internment camps used
to incarcerate Americans of Japanese an
cestry in the 1940s. They were Ameri
cans, too.
And I will renew my vow to fight,
scratch and claw against injustice and
persecution by any body of people that
dictates how and whom to love.
•
JF/arvey Milk,
openly gay &
supervisor of San
Francisco was
assasinated by an
anti-gay, racist,
sexist bigot
in 1979.
March for him.
O c t. 11th
Photo Irom the movie The Times ot Haney Mil*
National March on
Washington for
Lesbian and Gay Rights
Just Out is marching for Harvey.
Join us.
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Quad, double, and single packages available.
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Call Wayne Boulette at Vista Travel and tell him
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7 . July, 1987