September 8, 2010
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Martin
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CARPET CLEANING
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Bigotry’s Icy Grip is Thawing
Don’t Ask,
Don’t Care
Made top sergeant,
Earned my way;
Till they found out
I was gay.
W illiam A . C ollins
T h e g la c ia l p ro g re s s to w a rd
equality for gay A m ericans offers
som e revealing looks at o u r society.
O ne is the w eakening hold o f re li
gion, R om an C atholicism in particu
lar. U n til re c e n tly , c h u rc h b ias
against hom osexuals w as plainly
u n d e rs to o d , u n s p o k e n , u n c h a l
lenged, and accepted.
N o longer. T hat underlying b u l
w ark o f m orality is now w id ely p e r
ceived as bigotry. F or exam ple, at
Jesuit-run M arquette U n iversity a
great uproar ensued w hen the school
revoked a deanship offered to a
lesbian professor. In o th er days not
only w ould there never have been
an offer, b u t she probably w ould
never have becom e a professor. A nd
surely faculty and students w o u ld
never have raised such a how l.
O ther religions are in turm oil too.
Episcopalians are breaking into sepa
rate ch urches ov er the issue, and
by
w hile northern M ethodists lean to
w ard allo w in g gay clergy, S o u th
erners control the votes. L utherans
are sim ilarly divided. M or
m ons o f co u rse rem ain
o ffic ia lly o p p o se d , bu t
church fathers (there are
no ch u rch m o th ers) re
cently supported an anti-
discrim ination ordinance
to protect gays in Salt Lake
C ity. B lack churches, how ever, fear
that h o m o sex u ality th reaten s the
basic fam ily, and in A frica churches
have succeeded in m aking sam e-
sex relationships a serious felony.
T hen th ere’s o ur m ilitary. The
C om m ander-in-C hief, D efense Sec
retary and C hairm an o f the Joint
C hiefs have now called for repeal o f
D o n ’t A sk, D o n ’t Tell. B ut the indi
v idual service chiefs aren't so sure.
N aturally all this internal tension
g iv e s g a y -in to le ra n t p o litic ia n s
room to m aneuver. So w ith such
ram pant indecision still on the loose,
D efense Secretary R obert G ates is
sim ply ch an g in g p rocedures m ak
ing it m uch harder to enforce the law
that ejects gays from the service.
Social tolerance seem s to be a d
v ancing quite n icely w ithout us in
o th er countries. M ost W estern m ili
taries think w e're kidding about b an
ning gays. T h ey n ev er could un d er
stand A m ericans anyw ay. A nd now
several C atholic countries are loos
ening up their w edding rules.
Portugal lately b ecam e the sixth
E uropean nation to san ctify gay
m arriage, and A rgentina ju s t broke
the ice in South A m erica by court
decree. It seem s that its c o n stitu
tion, like m any o f o u r ow n state
co n stitu tio n s, co n tain s an in co n
v e n ie n t " e q u a l rig h ts " c la u s e .
M exico C ity has actually voted to
a llo w sam e -se x m arriag e. M ore
sleepless nights in the V atican.
B ack here at hom e, these social
battles rage on. California, w hich in
cludes m any progressive-voting com
m unities, actually approved a gay
m arriage ban in 2008. C iting the
C onstitution's guarantee o f equal
rights, a federal district court recently
overturned the ban, but that decision
doesn't alter the population's basic
sentiment. The final outcome will prob
ably be decided by our Supreme Court,
which is dom inated by a conserva
tive majority.
M eanw hile, m ost law m akers still
seem co n v in ced that in their hearts
the "silent m ajority" o f voters o p
p o se g a y rig h ts. W h eth e r th ese
public passions stem from fear o f
sin o r "otherness," o r real concern
for "fam ily values" is hard to m ea
sure. W hat can be m easured is that
this icy g rip on a big chunk o f o u r
population is gradually thaw ing and
that autom atic hard line opponents
o f equality are now faced w ith m ean
ingful political opposition.
OtherWords columnist William
A. Collins is a former state repre
sentative and a former mayor o f
Norwalk, Conn.
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