More folks to bite

Poking at the gay conservatives is like kicking a hornet nest. The little buggers are suddenly swarming in all over. They don't sting near so bad though. Maybe it is more like walking into a cloud of gnats: you find yourself wanting to swat at them but quickly realize it won't do a hell of a lot of good and just walking away is probably the best that can be done. I'm almost at that realization, but I'm not always so enamoured with sane living so I'll keep swatting for a while. Besides, it will help me flesh out some of my vague feelings of irritation towards certain mind sets.

Picking at the malcontent has sent a few irrate homo republicans my way (welcome, kids) and their comments are entertaining and their links appreciated.

Theprism warden writes an interesting post objecting to my perpetual suprise at republican homos:

"People are shocked by gay Republicans and conservatives? I am shocked as hell by gay liberals and Democrats. They are the ones being selfish by putting their delicate sexual sensibilities before the vital questions of government, country, and civilization.

"There is more to this world than me and who I date. Perhaps someday I'll get married. Perhaps not. That is my choice, and I will make it whether the government approves or not. I will continue to be a homosexual. To this day, I still go to the clubs, and have gay friends, and probably live up to the promiscuous stereotype a little more than I ought to. But I also work hard and want to keep my money. I want better health care, not a shittier national system. I want freedom for everyone, no matter where they are in the world. I want the boot of the American military to smash the faces of the Islamofascists over and over and over again. I want the bigots and the racists in both political parties exposed and shamed.

"If someone finds all this horrifically confusing, well kiddo, have a popper and nap. It's on me."

I'll take the nap, but you can keep the poppers. I'd sooner huff gasoline.

As much as a wish to bite people suggest a perhaps violent inclination on my part, invoking a boot smashing a face in a political context is pretty loaded imagery which somewhat makes my stomach turn.

You may be very sure that my sexual sensibilties are anything but delicate and if you trouble yourself to read through my blog will see that my issues with gay politics focus more on people being humans first and foremost and criticising the impediments to individuals being allowed to live their lives to their fullest rather than pet gay causes. My objection to homophobia is the same as my objection to racism: it is all bigotry. It is all Us vs. Them. That is what it all boils down to and how one regards this dichotomy tells very much about us. It is the hammer or the nail quandry. pm tells in his post about tearfully rejecting mainstream gay culture (well, the politics anyway) after being upset with gay friends being insensitive and critical of the US after 9/11. Oddly, my experience with gay people discussing 9/11 was much different, but I certainly heard my fair share of folks discussing why the attacks happened and what we do internationally that would provoke retaliation. No one I have ever spoken to has ever said anything close to condoning the attacks though or being happy that they happened and while I have been and certainly will continue to be critical of this country, that is because I am invested in it. It is my country and what we do is a reflection of me. I have a personal stake in it just like everyone else in this country and I am going to try my damnedest to make sure that what is done in my name is done right.

Back to hammers and nails, it seems that pm's awakening made him want to be the hammer. 'Somebody did me wrong, I want to hurt them bad!' He isn't alone. bush campaigned and won on blowing up brown people. I guess because the other half of his appeal was proclaiming he didn't like gay people too, I kind of feel like it is crazy for gay folks to lack the empathy to denouce revenge and demand results instead.

If the choice is hammer or the nail, I want more choices. I'm not so dumb as to really think there are no gay republicans, I just expect more out of people so I will maintain my shock and repugnace at their appearance. If the republicans that are in office really were doing a good job other than their stance on gay shit, sure, I might be sympathetic, but the truth is they have done a miserably bad job. We are less safe, less economically sound, more beholden to foreign powers, and the economic divide has deepened.

There are few arguments for supporting them.

1) One is that you want to get back at those Islamofascists for what they did to us. If you want to blow THEM back into the stone age and destabilize a region, republicans are the folks for you. You feel scared and hurt and want to beat someone up to feel tough. Lame, but it appeals to more than a few.

2) gay people make you uncomfortable. I don't give a damn what softpedalled remarks the vice president made about gay marriage, the gay marriage amendment had one purpose: to put into the national discourse that gay people matter less. it had a clear purpose and was used to great effect through out the campaign. This isn't about gay marriage, this is about planting in the minds of upset and angry people the idea that gay people matter less under the law and its corollary that crimes against gay people matter less under the law. They weren't subtle with their message. This is why I can't stomach other gay folk who are willing to support these assholes.

3) You want the economic divide to be more pronounced. This has been the main focus of their actual policy, if not their rhetoric. Their main thrust has been the consolidation of wealth in to fewer hands and the deepening of the divide between the haves and the have-nots. They want less regulations, less public accountability and more corporate consolidation.

I disagree on all three points, so I dont' support them (I support military action against al queda and the over-throw of the taliban, but I also demand that it be done right and it hasn't been). I can understand the selfish desire of the wealthy to put more distance between themselves and the poor (I can't conscience it, but I can understand it),but I refuse to understand the gay folks who overlook how their party treats them. I get pissed off and angry at the democrats too, but their party message on race and gender and sexual orientation isn't an overt message of 'stay in your place, boy, or we'll put you back there!'

I sat on my roof sunday night looking at the towers of light coming up from ground zero and I am said a prayer for peace and understanding in our time. Perhaps picking fights with republican homos and family members (one recently quit speaking to me; good riddance) isn't the quickest way to bring that about, but there is a difference between wanting peace and embracing apathy. It was nice for a moment to look at those light shooting up into the sky and find a moment of quiet and remember while their is so much cruelty and hate in the world, perhaps there is more kindness and love. True or not, it is the assumption I am working with and I will continue to be distraught (if not suprised) to find it lacking in places where I hoped to find it.