The big gay backlash
I'd like to talk a bit about this gay backlash that I've read is taking place in the United States. It's easy to look at figures and say "Oh my God! People suddenly hate us and want us to go away!" The fact is, those feelings have always been there. With all the publicity all the sudden about gays in the media, gay programming, and gay people in political circles, peoples attitudes on these issues are also coming out of the closet.
Three separate Gallup polls since the Supreme Court overturned a Texas sodomy law in June have shown declining support for homosexual rights. The percentage of Americans who responded that "homosexual relations between consenting adults" should be legal had increased from 32 percent in 1986 to a high of 60 percent this May. But a poll in late July showed that number had dropped to 48 percent, the lowest in four years. The polls were conducted before the Episcopal Church confirmed the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop last week.
I'm not really sure what people are so surprised about. This is human nature. If you put something out there that people have never in their lives experienced before, they will usually respond to it negatively, unless it in some way benefits them directly.
I think intellectually most straight people would want equal rights for all law-abiding citizens. Emotionally, that can be a different matter, and when the debate shifted to allowing gay people to fully marry, it became an emotional issue for many people. They must feel very insecure and think that society has lost its marbles. We have a few things going for us. Not many, but what we have going for us is very powerful.
First, more people than ever before know actual people who happen to be gay. The propaganda that the religious right is trying to put out there just isn't flying anymore, and that has the religious right (you know, people like Senator Frisk) shaking in their boots. When people know gay people and who have gay people in their family, it becomes a much more personal issue. It becomes an issue of denying basic civil rights to people they love.
Second, the argument that you can have a civil agreement (marriage) that is ok for some in society (straight people) to have and others (gay people) not to have creates a society of classes, and that is unconstitutional. Everyone knows that. That point is not being debated by those who study constitutional law. Because it is unconstitutional, it is only a matter of time (paying attention? a MATTER OF TIME) before civil marriage is given to gay people. That is not to say churches will perform the ceremony, but at least your own government won't be able to treat you as a second-class citizen.
The darkest (read that to mean "most evil") part of this debate is the desire by some conservative lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment, called the Federal Marriage Amendment, sponsored by Republican Reps. Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado, Jo Ann Davis of Virginia and David Vitter of Louisiana, and Democratic Reps. Ralph M. Hall of Texas, Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina. The amendment states: "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried coupled or groups."
If that were to pass, there would be no constitutional argument to be made against being denied the rights of marriage. This would be the same as writing discrimination right into the constitution. The constitution would contain an amendment whose sole purpose is to deny civil rights to a certain segment of our citizens! I doubt that there is little hope for that to succeed. Creating an amendment to the constitution and getting it passed is no easy feat, and for good reason! First the amendment has to be introduced as a joint resolution in the House and Senate. The amendment must pass both houses by a two-thirds majority vote. The amendment must then be ratified by three-quarters of states.
Whatever we are going through now concerning gay rights, we would be best to take a deep breath, and let what is going to happen, happen. The reaction, or "backlash" the polls are recording are more shock at the prospect of actually treating gay people as equals. It also shows that we have some educating to do. Perhaps a good place to start would be the very people who are sponsoring the Federal Marriage Amendment.
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