Closet as Tactic 24 June 2012

Perhaps you get what you ask for when you ask for it. I specifically asked my pastor in NY what he thought of the whole evolution of our president, and he did not mince words: Weve discovered what Ive known all along: President Obama is a politician, and he made a political calculation in his support of same-sex marriage. He also pointed out that a pastor doesnt have to marry anyone heterosexual or homosexual he/she doesnt have to perform any marriage ceremony if they dont want to. He also gave me some insight on civil unions: they already exist for straight couples, like those that dont want to have a wedding ceremony, but want the other person to be identified as their partner for life. That in his mind is simply a marriage without the ceremony, similar to points Id made in Holding My Nose, and Diving Deep. He also alluded to the title of this essay: Ive known for a while the gay and lesbian community has infiltrated all aspects of our society, and are now coming out in positions of power, authority and wealth. He said that gay marriage will become a standard of the land is inevitable, because this clandestine infiltration has been an effective tactic. Closet as tactic: Richard Grenell, was Mitt Romneys national security advisor, and prominent in GOP politics until ousted by caustic reaction from the right wing. George W. Bushs 2004 campaign advisor recently came out: Ken Mehlman is now an open advocate for gay marriage. Vice President Richard Bruce Dick Cheney, a.k.a. Lord Vader, is also a surprising GOP advocate for marriage equality, after all: his daughter and her partner bore his grandchildren. The Log Cabin Republicans have been active and advocates of marriage equality for some time. One thing that has disturbed me is the definition of gay rights as Civil Rights. I look up two definitions and compare (ref: www.m-w.com): Civil Rights: the nonpolitical rights of a citizen; especially: the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to United States citizens by the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution and by acts of Congress. First known use: 1658.
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Closet as Tactic 24 June 2012

Human Rights: rights (as freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture, and execution) regarded as belonging fundamentally to all persons; Origin 1766. It has been argued that there were gay and lesbian slaves. I dont doubt that. However, when I look at the two definitions, I can see a tenuous relationship at best; a false equivalency at worst. The LGBT communitys rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are protected by the Constitution. However, Civil Rights took acts of Congress, amendments to the Constitution that originally conveniently defined us as a fraction: 3/5 th a person, powerless, subjugated and without rights a white man is bound to respect (Dred Scott, US Supreme Court, 1857). They should have freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture and execution as all persons should. There are instances of beatings, killings and most recently a suicide of a promising student brought out by his roommates cruel usage of a web cam on his laptop. That is arguably, a human right. As there were gay and lesbian slaves, I dont doubt there were similarly ascribed masters, some heinous in their treatment of my ancestors; some not. But sadly, there was never a closet we could retreat to. If so, there wouldnt be this angst about the coming census in 2050, when midcentury, whites will be a numerical minority for the first time in the US, and some dont quite know what that means. Answer to us now: nothing, to paraphrase President Bush on the prescience of history: well all be dead. Blackness is a condition, an adjective, an assignment. It is a ready identifier, a ready reminder of a caste system in America, not much different than ancient Indias Brahmins-Kshatriyas-Vaisyas-Sudras-Pariahs; similar to alpha-beta-gamma-delta-epsilon in Huxleys Brave New World. Defined by a fraction of three-fifths relevancy, there were entrances, water fountains, sub-par-by-design-schools, lynching, dont look at or whistle at the white girl (Emmett Till), church bombings, marches, police dogs and fire hoses; back seats of buses (if lucky), poverty, Medgar, Malcolm, Martin assassinations and our side of town. It was Jim Crow de jure, so habitual after Browns mandate to integrate at all deliberate speed, it is now de facto via stratified economy that favor a now identified 1%, and voluntary somnambulism through Internet accounts and flat screen television burgeoning with reality shows. Historically, some of us of lighter hue could
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Closet as Tactic 24 June 2012

pass, the closest closet we could come by, blessed by the lack of the technology that allows genetic testing: one drop of black blood But if a closet existed, it had a sign with white background and black lettering: whites only. As Archie Bunker was apt to sing: Those were the days Judging from the disrespect President Obama has received as candidate and as Chief Executive in his own country, ALA outhouse as presidential library: I can see whats meant by taking our country back. I dont share that nostalgic, xenophobic vision at all. You could say my pastor is conservative, as most black clergy and parishioners are. He is first and foremost true to his calling. Yet he is pragmatic: one issue will not decide his vote, any more than abortion did for the last election that propelled Obama to the oval office. Many of us, like he, like I will wrestle with this issue: until November 6 th in the ballet box. That is not evolution, it is struggle, without which there is no progress. (Frederick Douglass) Ed Rollins, campaign manager for Ronald Reagans reelection said on Fox News the Republican Party has become old, fat, and white (the weight quip an obvious self-deprecation). The evolution will not be televised for republican operatives, as a singular, resounding electoral defeat in the polls will lean them inexorably towards acceptance of Log Cabin Republicans, GOProud, political operatives writ large: it will be interesting to see which way the evangelical block so far, a loyal base to the GOP will vote post this inevitable transformation, that I predict will happen with all deliberate speed. If anything, I admire the skill at which power and clout have so quickly been amassed. It is quite impressive. The president, as I say in Diving Deep, finds himself in the trifecta crossfire of an ambitious Vice President eyeing 2016, a clumsy-at-messagediscipline Education Secretary, and a very skilled, politically powerful, wellfunded decades long strategy of closet as tactic.

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