Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Why Do Straights Hate Gays? (Cont.)

I decided to move my response to a full length post.

One Response to “Why Do Straights Hate Gays?”

Not all straight people hates gay people. I am straight and I DON’T HATE gays. I love them and I respect them.

That's true Ira, but I think the aim of this article is that it's not enough for heterosexuals to simply say they support and respect gays/lesbians. From Stonewall to ACTUP, as powerful political events that shaped queer politics, things have not changed much and it's incredibly frustrating. One can change their attitudes and develop respect for each other. But *real* change demands an active public engagement against those who continue to stir and feed off of an increasingly powerful anti-gay agenda. This is the political dimension. Voting is one of those political practices to voice that support in public, and so is petition writing, opinion pieces, blogs, and so on. But "we" as straight people simply do not do enough. Or worse, "we" lack a political conviction. And the fallout is not restricted to those liberal or progressive hets either. It also extends to the state of queer activism and politics which has been largely confined to marriage, a rather heterosexual practice and institution.

Seriously. When Hillary Rodham Clinton was asked if homosexuality was immoral, she simply responded, "Well I'm going to leave that to others to conclude."

WTF??? She's running to be President of the United States, and she's going to leave that decision to others???

That is not "presidential." It is not in the least bit invoking "executive privilege." It is simply cowardice. It runs from the very top of our political elites to the common person. And the worse thing about it is that we accept it without question.

Larry Kramer's final analysis is right on target:

You may say you don't hate us, but the people you vote for do, so what's the difference? Our own country's democratic process declares us to be unequal. Which means, in a democracy, that our enemy is you. You treat us like crumbs. You hate us. And sadly, we let you.

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