CONTENTS
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WHAT'S MY STAKE
IN ALL THIS?
As I've worked on this project, shared some of the papers I have written, I've been asked why I am putting so much effort into it. Am I a closet gay? Why else would this issue be so important to me?
This is a normal reaction. Unless there is some direct benefit for the person on a campaign, we cannot understand why that person should expend such energy. We wondered why all the white youth from the North would go down south to register Afro-Americans to vote, to campaign for equal rights in the late fifties and early sixties. They were not, after all, victims of racial prejudice. What was in it for them?
I am a white, straight male. I have two children and one grandchild. I've been married to the same woman for almost twenty-seven years and, if we both live long enough, we will most likely celebrate our golden anniversary together. No, I am not gay. But...do I have to be gay to be concerned? Is the problem perhaps much bigger than how it effects the gay?
My first experience with prejudice happened when I was only about 10 years old. Describing it takes a little background. My favorite male entertainer was Sammy Davis Jr. There was something about the quality of his voice that did things to me. (I find the same effect with Ann Murray.) When he sang WHAT KIND OF FOOL AM I, it sent shivers down my spine. So, when I found out that he had a Thanksgiving Day Special one year, of course I wanted to watch it.
My mother's family always got together for Thanksgiving Day. (I believe that this is a tradition with most American families.) There were aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, third cousins twice removed, the entire extended family that still lived in our home town. So, as a ten year old boy, who was never interested in spectator sports, I announced that I wanted to watch the Sammy Davis Jr. special. It came on at the same time as the big football game. I was, of course, in a minority of one, and soon realized it. But...one cousin decided to use my request as a reason to make some of the most repugnant racial remarks possible. He questioned my race, my parentage, my sexuality and my citizenship, because I liked one of "them."
No, I did not feel the full effect of racial prejudice. No, I did not suffer even half as much as a ten year old black might suffer even today. But, I certainly came out of that experience knowing what prejudice was all about.
This occurred about the time Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, about the time Martin Luther King Jr. was becoming nationally known, and about the time the Rev. Jerry Falwell and others began preaching their segregationist message from the pulpit. Now, Jerry Falwell, while not a champion of racial equality, has changed his tune and admits that racial equality is the plan of God. But, he still preaches his anti-homosexual drivel.
As long as prejudice against any one person is tolerated, our entire society suffers, if that prejudice is based on an innate physical characteristic of that person. (Yes, homosexuality is a physical characteristic in that it is biological.) As long as any one person, especially a pre-teen child, is allowed to suffer because he likes or admires a person who is a member of any minority, our entire society suffers. That is the reason why I am involved, That is why, this is such a big issue for me. And while we aren't there yet concerning racial prejudice, while we aren't there yet in terms of feminism, we are a long way from being there when it comes to our attitude towards the gay.
I am a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, straight, American male. These things are a part of me. Some of these characteristics are innate, meaning that they are a part of my genetic makeup. The others are acquired, meaning that my circumstances of birth or the way I was brought up determined that this is what I would be. I had no choice over any of these characteristics. I could choose to change some of them, (but not all of them,) yet I have seen no reason to do so. They don't define the totality of my character, but they do help to define me. And...I am proud of each one of those characteristics. I am proud of the accomplishments of my race; even though I am both knowledgeable enough and intelligent enough to be shamed by some of it's evils. The same applies to my sex and sexual orientation, my faith and my nationality.
When we reach the point that the red, the black and the yellow can say something similar to the above about him or her self and not be suspect of being anti-white...
When we reach the point that the woman can say something similar to the above about herself and not be accused of being a bull-dike...
When we reach the point that the gay can say something similar to the above about him or herself without being accused of trying to convert the world, THEN I will rest! For now, I am compelled to speak out against all prejudice, no matter the victim.
I pray that you will feel compelled to take up this fight as well. This has been my prayer as I worked on this booklet. Is Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, compelling you to speak as well, in answer to my prayer? If so, you will not be able to rest until you have done your part. Also, if so, I am convinced that you will be working to help achieve the goal expressed in that famous prayer:
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
On Earth, as it is in heaven.
AMEN
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