September 8, 2010
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Martin
Cleaning
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Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
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Minimum Service CHG,
$45.00
A sm all distance/travel charge
m ay be applied
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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