Joel bud, seriously, who are you to tell a man he’s crossed the line? The piece you wrote was ignorant in so many ways that you can’t even see the line from where you’re at. Who the hell are you to “help the entire gay community out with a few suggestions?” Allow me to help you with a few suggestions.
First of all, just like mine, the title of Mr. Henson’s article “Gays, the new Jews?” was a joke satirizing the pop trend articles with titles like “Lavender, the new Pink?” or as Mr. Henson wrote, whom I’ll quote because you quite obviously didn’t read his article very closely, “20, the new 30?” So maybe you’re not supposed to take it seriously, kind of like most jokes.
Look man, this is America and while you may think that your straight middle class white male standards of morality are what this country is all about, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence say different. Remember that whole bit about all men being created equal and the pursuit of happiness? That means if gays want to hold hands in public, march about issues they care about, and write about men and women they consider heroes then they damn well can. Those are all right there in the first amendment. By the way when you specifically complain about marches and then in the next paragraph talk about how they have every right to congregate it rings kind of hollow.
Another piece of advice, if you intend on being taken seriously keep up to date and get your facts right. You talk of how tolerant the straight community is and refer to the gay-rights movement as a “made-up hissy fit.” Have you ever heard of the twenty-one year old Matthew Shepherd who was brutally pistol whipped and then left to die hanging on a picket fence? That was 1998. More recently last year in July the18 year old gay man Scottie Weaver was found beaten, stabbed, strangled, and burned. Maybe you forgot about the fact that not only did 11 states ban gay-marriage three of them banned gay civil-unions. Fine tell me what you will about “the sanctity of marriage” I can listen to that argument, though judging by the divorce rate in this country the sanctity of marriage is a lost cause already, but gay civil-unions? That’s not marriage, what’s the problem with their love having a little protection under the law anyway? Maybe our straight community isn’t as tolerant as you think.
And now what we’ve all been waiting for, the downright offensive. You sir are the kind of guy that makes me ashamed to be a straight white male. You imply that that the global warming theory comes from the gay community. But I guess it’s kind of easy to get scientists and gays confused, and God knows those crazy Gays always believe scientists. You refer to the New York Times as their gay liberal newspaper. Actually it’s my newspaper too, and it happens to have the largest distribution in the U.S., not so disgraceful after all. You compare the possibility of a gay man becoming president to gravity ceasing to exist. “Nobody is fired for being gay?” Get your head out of the sand man, how about every single gay U.S. armed forces member?
Finally, last but not least, the ‘if you don’t like my bigotry get out of my neighborhood’ argument; well while we’re at it why not all the Blacks and Hispanics too. Though you scoff at Gays being compared too Jews it seems to me that Hitler made this same argument. Then he stuffed them all in crowded ghettoes. Watch what you say Joel, it has echoes of the hate you claim doesn’t exist.
Daniel Bland is a sophomore English major and philosophy major. He may be reached at [email protected]
