Essays: September 2005 Archives

It never ceases to amaze me how truly evil some people can be in the name of God. I’m not surprised. This is what America is turning into and all the religious wackos are coming out of the wood work.

America needs to wake up. We have two paths to take for our future. We can take a path where people like Michael Marcavage will turn America into a theocracy, or we can take the path of being an open society, where we are all equal and we all have the same rights and opportunities for ourselves and our families.

The path of Michael Marcavage will logically only have one conclusion. It all depends on how far we are willing to go in the strict interpretation of the law. I’m afraid that people like me would have no place in Michael’s world. They preach love if you repent. If you don’t repent, I should stoned to death - literally, if you interpret the Bible literally. But I’m not alone. Anyone who would commit adultery (I figure that’s going to kill of a big chunk of us) would be put to death, along with those who have an abortion. It’s not a pretty picture.

This is the fight that is taking place now, and in the next ten years, it will be decided. It’s really not clear what path we will take. I’d like to say we are winning slowly but surely, and it often times seems that way, but what I think is the obvious in a free society is often times debated and often times loses the debate.

Case in point... just look at all the states who successfully passed state amendments to their constitutions prohibiting equality in marriage to gay couples. They are quick to say that gays are all promiscuous, but they do absolutely nothing to support and acknowledge the relationships and the families we have. And, all of these amendments are passed right in the face of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution that very clearly states that the amendments are unconstitutional.

The legal argument of course, is to say that they must be challenged by a higher court; the Supreme Court. But it is not clear that we would win the day on this issue, and with one ruling, we would loose our fight for marriage equality. And on that day, we are one step closer to becoming a theocracy. Why? Because the only reason we would have lost is based on religion.

The Constitution’s argument is strong and clear. It’s not ambiguous on the issue of equality. But people have a way of interpreting it their way and ruling against the obvious. Just look at what happened in Bowers vs Hardwick in 1986. It took years for that to be overturned and to simply acknowledge that we have a right to privacy in our relationships. If we were having the same arguments just a few years ago about the make up of the Supreme Court over having less moderate judges on the Court, it may never have been overturned.

The real fight is yet to be fought. That is the future make up of the Supreme Court. What is driving this is not abortion. They would love to overturn Roe v Wade, but even the right-wing theologians agree quietly that that battle is lost. The real target is preventing gay couples from ever having marriage. To them, it is the bedrock of society and they want to preserve the sanctity of marriage. See, I do understand their point of view and from a Biblical point of view, it holds waters. From a point of view of a free and equitable society, it has no standing.

The essence of the battle for the Court is not if gays can have marriage. The fundamental argument is much much bigger than that. It is the very path we will take in America. That path is not clear, and past rulings in the interpretation of the Constitution give me little comfort.

In the meantime, this is what we are up against. Never mind that thousands of people were killed by hurricane Katrina. To people like Michael Marcavage, that’s a good thing. It was God who “destroyed a wicked city”. We can call him and others like him a “nut case” and dismiss him, but there are many out there who are very politically active, such as Michael Marcavage.

It’s not clear where America will end up. For me, if I’m still alive, I will flee America because America will have become a terrorist state at that point, where I could be prosecuted for being homosexual, or killed. At that point, I will have become a refugee from the a country that used to be a beacon of democracy and hope.

An antigay activist group based in Philadelphia says that the disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina reflects God’s judgment on New Orleans for hosting the gay Southern Decadence party. In a statement issued Wednesday, Repent America described “homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets” at the annual event, which draws some 125,000 revelers to the Big Easy each Labor Day weekend. “Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city,” said Repent America director Michael Marcavage. “May it never be the same.” (source)