Worst Fear: Nothing Wrong with Being Gay

I ran across a very interesting post by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite at the Washington Post that nicely sums up why the repeal of Prop 8 is both correct and why it scares the hell out of the religious right. Because the ruling validates the thought there is nothing wrong with being gay.

According to the post:

After all the rationales have been examined, Judge Walker concluded, “What is left is evidence that Proposition 8 enacts a moral view that there is something ‘wrong’ with same-sex couples. ” This phrase gets right to the crux of the theological basis of the Christian view of whether lesbians, gay men, bi-sexuals and transgendered people should be able to be legally married, and indeed have all the legal rights accorded to heterosexuals in our society.

The post also continues by stating:

In some Christian theological perspectives, there is a view that there is some essential “wrongness” in being gay.

This is why I’ve often stated that taking the religious aspect out of the argument leaves you with no argument against equality.

What implications does this have for those who follow the religious ideology there is something “essentially wrong” with being gay? Really, not much. It may cause a few to reexamine their beliefs, but a ruling won’t necessarily change anyone’s mind. That is the responsibility of the LGBT community. We have to be activist on a daily basis. In our conversations with the clerk at the grocery store as we wait for them to finish ringing up our purchases. With the person standing next to us at the laundry mat. With our neighbors, co-workers, and all we come into contact with (provided we’re in a safe public environment).

This is where we change the hearts and minds of people who unfortunately, like many, don’t exercise their ability to think on their own, but rather they allow themselves to be led around like sheep. Again, the effects of equality are basically non-existent to many of those who oppose LGBT equality. However, those who are the shepherds of the flock do stand to lose a great deal.

As I’ve also written about, let’s examine how throughout history fear has been used by religious leaders for their own political and financial gain. More recently it happened with the Civil Rights Movement. Some church leaders, primarily in the South used the movement to instill fear into their congregations. The seed was planted that if people of color became equals, then it would take away from those who took their rights and privileges thereof for granted. Why, because in a segregated society, you don’t have the opportunity to get to know someone different than you, which in turn perpetuates the fear of the unknown.

Now, think about the Pat Robertsons, Tony Perkins, James Dobsons and other anti-gay religious leaders. Think about the lives they live. Do you think they’ve been affected by the recession? Do you think they worry about paying their mortgage? Do you think they worry about health insurance, having to spend money on an auto repair or putting food on the table? Of course not. These people live upper-class and economically viable lives. Why, because they’re able to gain support of those who don’t know. They’ve been successful at taking the money they’re given and building lavish lifestyles. That is why equality is their worst fear. Without maintaining segregation, the very fears that produce great contributions will diminish.

Just as Jerry Fawell used to preach segregation between the white population and people of color, earning a grand living doing so, the religious leaders of today are doing the same by preaching a different kind of segregation…segregation from the LGBT community. They fear that if people do learn that we are human, if people come to realize we aren’t out to recruit their children, if we, just like they, work hard to secure our futures, then the support those leaders currently receive to fight against the “immorality” of homosexuality will become a thing of the past. Then what? Where will their tax-exempt millions come from? Perhaps this is exactly why we’ve seen a surge of involvement in African nations. The U.S. religious leaders are already searching for where their next dime will come from. Who will they be able to discriminate against? Where will their paycheck come from?

This is why the repeal of Prop 8 has them scrambling. Those who have the most to gain, also have the most to lose