Should gay or lesbian partners have the same right as my wife and I to visit each other when critically ill in ICU? If not, why? Because of the religious beliefs of some people? The word "establishment" in the First Amendment means there shall be no law to codify religious views on which citizens differ!
Early as a social worker I realized that some of my colleagues were probably homosexuals. They worked just like everyone else, we depended on each other, they were team players, and they were fine friends. I realized they were likely homosexual, because in my social work training our class in the 1960s asked that our faculty help us learn about homosexuality. That was before it was the issue it is now and was not in our study plans. In a day long teach-in we listened to and questioned some homosexuals and psychologists and others. One of the gay men told us secret ways that gays communicated, without fear that straights will understand. One told some gay humor.
Once I was in the work world, I recognized that some colleagues were probably gay or lesbian, though I never asked, because, so what? Given the normal distribution of people, likely some of your colleagues or clients or friends are gay or lesbian whether open, or hidden "in the closet."
When gays and lesbians "came out" or became public, some church people objected to homosexuality. Their feelings were based on a few isolated passages in the Bible. Some church leaders played on their feelings of discomfort, and became fundamentalist moral police who publicly tried to protect the country from gays and lesbians. They convinced voters in some areas to enact laws denying gays and lesbians equal protection in housing, on the job, and in other ways. They tried to make their religion into the law of the land.
Many other leaders and church people were better informed and accepting. As a Christian hymn says, "New occasions teach new duties."
As a retired clergy, I knew that the few statements in the Bible against homosexuality are a miniscule minority, that are easily explained by the cultural environment of the time. So, why are these passages emphasized, while the Bible’s message clearly welcomes people and is concerned for people and for justice.
As an active social worker, I know that most pedophiles are heterosexual. I know that generally gays and lesbians want to live like the rest of us, and are not trying to convert straights. Why are these conservatives not conserving the Bill of Rights, instead of denying these holy rights to gay and lesbian people? I personally believe the Christ of God is deeply offended when people are denied these Creator given rights.
Sinistral?
I realized that being
gay or lesbian is like my being left handed. I was left handed
from the get-go. As babies we reach
for things with our left hand. A few generations ago teachers forced
left-handed people to learn to write with their right hands. The
results were tragic. These children’s brains were short-circuited.
Some like my great aunt continued using their natural left hand privately.
And later I learned how many of the creative people through
the centuries were left-handed. Almost half our astronauts are left handed! Read more!
Today some want to force gays and lesbians the way society used to force the left-handed — force them to be like the majority. Many gays and lesbians say they felt attracted to and "fell for" people of their own gender in their early teens, when most of us were fascinated by the opposite gender. That certainly suggests that being gay and lesbian is not a choice, but is like some of us being left handed. And our left handedness does not impact your life in your right-handed world.
So, if you have read this far, a simple question. Fundamentally, why not think about and treat gays and lesbians as you do left handed people? Left handed comes from the Latin word sinistral while right handed from dexterity! Sinister we really are not! And most gays and lesbians are like left handed people. They want to visit their partner in ICU just as husbands and wives get entry. They want equal housing and job protection — to be treated just like the rest of us — able to adopt children and be foster parents. Why do conservatives feel a mission to deny basic human rights? When will they come after us sinister left-handed people?
Within churches today welcoming and ordaining gays and lesbians causes conflict. The Bible clearly accepts slavery, which we now condemn. The New Testament in a few places expects women will be silent, but my faith tradition is deeply enriched by clergy women some of whom are now bishops! Gay and lesbian clergy are effective, but often must deny their souls or selves and appear straight. In my ideal church gay and lesbian couples can show their caring for each other just as hetero couples do, and clergy's orientation is irrelevant.
About gays and lesbians and left-handedness, perhaps think of this slogan on my desk: "!Left is always right."
While some Americans think homo- and heterosexuals are different, the reality is that we are a continuum. Though some at one extreme are thoroughly homo and at the other hetero, the majority have some of both. Most of us have very close friends of both genders that we find attractive, pleasant, fun to be with.
The "rainbow cross" welcomes and is made by a few individuals and includes at the center the triangle homosexuals had to wear under Hitler when many were sent to death camps.
To find rainbow crosses or comment
Copyright © 2002, 2006 John F. Yeaman