March 4, 2010
some of us are looking at the stars
3/4/10
Given the misery of Oscar Wilde's final years, he might have found some solace a hundred years later, as Republican lawmaker after Republican lawmaker was revealed as a self-hating, closeted homosexual. In Wilde's day, it was the Marquess of Queensberry and other homophobes attached to the Crown who sent him to jail for "gross indecency" - in our day, it is Mark Foley, Richard Curtis, Bob Allen, Ed Schrock, Larry Craig, Ted Haggard... and now we've got another one.
California State Senator Roy Ashburn was stopped by a state trooper last night, and... well, I'll let one of the CBS news affiliates fill in the blanks:
CBS13 reports that Roy Ashburn, a married, Republican state senator from Southern California with a history of opposing gay rights was arrested for allegedly driving drunk after leaving a gay bar with another man in the car.
The gay bar was called Faces, which is about the only funny thing in this whole story. This is a Republican who has voted against every gay-rights issue put before him, including anti-discrimination laws. These closeted conservatives baffle me - if you were to put their story in a TV script, it would get network notes saying "uninteresting reveal" and "too on-the-nose". Can we please just have Republican Gay Amnesty Day, where all of these poor bastards are allowed to come out on a papier-mâché float with "Ask" by the Smiths blaring over a loudspeaker?
It's just so ugly, seedy, unsanitary and chock full of lies and self-hatred. Compare that to one of my oldest friends in the world: Hampton, who married his partner (of many, many years) Christopher two days ago when the District of Columbia allowed same-sex marriage. Hamp works for the National Park Service doing historic preservation of important buildings, and managed to be one of the first people in line:
Christopher and Hamp
THAT is how it's done, y'all. Two sane, wonderful, grown adults engaging in the same solemn and joyful pact the rest of us get to. Congrats to Hamp and Christopher, may they age together and age gracefully. To think anyone would have a problem with a union so perfectly natural. As Wilde said, "those whom the gods love grow young."
Posted by Ian Williams at March 4, 2010 11:24 PMCongrats Hampy and Christopher.
I will air another beef here...Are you aware that a gay person or couple cannot legally adopt a child in the State of Florida? You can be a foster parent until the cows come, but the law draws the line at making your love and commitment to a child official.
How can you deny anyone the right to have a family?
As for the douche above, I really pity him. He will be forgiven his "sins" by those who fail to see the real "wrong" in his actions.
Congratulations to Christopher and Hamp. Quite the handsome couple!
I was listening to "This American Life" yesterday, and there was a story about how the APA removed homosexuality as a pathology from the DSM in 1973. I dunno, I guess I am "old", but I was shocked to learn that being gay was considered a medical defect in the medical world as recently as 1973. I did not realize that professors and psychiatrists were subject to being fired simply based on their sexual orientation, the argument being that diseased people should not be teaching or treating people. Keep in mind that this was the viewpoint of our educated medical elite: being gay was a pathology. To say nothing of the average option of the folks in Ian's flyover states. Ugh.
American cultural history towards gays is so complicated and convoluted. I feel a lot of pity towards men like Ashburn . . . I think that you have to consider them within their generational context. When he and the others would have been of the age to come out, coming out simply was not an option. And now, as they approach senior citizen status with their careers and their families, they are trapped. Very sad.
Well, I am rambling. I am just struck by the changes that happen generationally. Hopefully by the time my daughter is a young adult, same-sex rights will be a given.
love the Wilde quote. and the idea of Republican Gay Amnesty Day is awesome.
Ian, I love the idea of Gay Amnesty Day, and I, too, was delighted to see the first legal gay marriage legislation south of the Mason-Dixon. And I find it odious that these dudes can't see the truth about homosexuality, that it's just as benign and transformative and destructive and supportive and boring and thrilling as heterosexuality.
But I definitely understand where they're coming from. These guys have been brought up trusting their parents and ministers when they say that homosexuality is something like pedophilia. They hate what they are, and more than anyone else, want those laws against it to help them stay on the "straight" and "narrow." Or to punish them if they give in.
Again, I don't think that's an excuse for the harm they do in opposing equal rights for gay folks, but I don't find them baffling. Pitiable and reprehensible, but not baffling.
I've never really understood the opposition to gay marriage.
The same people opposing it are the same people preaching about stable families and homes.
I assume you have seen "Outrage" on HBO.....
Ehren said what I was going to say, "They hate what they are". They were raised being told that being gay is a choice, and something must be wrong with you if you make that choice. Because after all, God doesn't make mistakes, and everything happens for a reason. (I visibly gag when someone says one of those 2 things to me!)
Rebecca:
I tend to respond that everything happens due to a cause, which is the reason for the happening. In that sense, everything happens because of a reason.
And I'm also sure God doesn't make mistakes. Same way that the Easter Bunny doesn't poop. Hard for imaginary things to do anything.
Josie, kids need a mother and a father to raise them, otherwise they're doomed.
Or so I've been told repeatedly when arguing about this very same thing.
"Two sane, wonderful, grown adults ..." To which I would add "hot." :-)
Congrats, Hamp and Christopher. And as for closeted Republicans, that party seems to breed contempt and hypocrisy in equal measure.
Gay marraige would be the best thing that ever happened to the event planning business. I am shocked they are not lobbing the congress.
I found about this from Lee yesterday... the funny thing about this is how is NOT shocking... it is sad.
methinks the Roy doth protest too much..