election day

There's a lot at stake in these mid-term elections, and Colorado--my home-- is no exception.

I am going to step back from the weighty issues that usually pepper this blog and say a few things here about what today means to me as a (legally) married lesbian taxpaying homeowner.

First, context. Once revered and seen as one of God's chosen people, the reverend Ted Haggard has fallen from grace--swiftly. Haggard was "outed" by a gay male prostitute who claims that he had sex with Haggard monthly for three years and also helped Haggard obtain crystal meth, a drug that is commonly used to heighten the sexual experience.

Initially, Haggard denied the claims. He said he didn't know this man, this "Mike Jones." A day later, he copped to knowing Jones and buying meth ("I was curious") but said he threw the meth away. Now Haggard has lost his pulpit and left town with his wife and five kids. The elders of Haggard's New Life Church claim that he was not removed because he had gay relations; he was removed because he committed an "immoral" act--adultery.

"When there is a relationship outside marriage - regardless of who it is with - it is immoral. It didn't matter to us if it was a male or a female, if it were bestiality. It would have been immoral." --the Rev. Michael Ware, senior pastor of Victory Church in Westminster, CO

Ah, once again, engaging in bestiality isn't close behind engaging in gay sex.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4614255

Here's the thing. If Haggard were man enough (yes, gay men are real men too) to come out of the closet and admit to being gay, he could single-handedly blow huge holes in the Religious Right's argument that being gay is a choice. Instead, Haggard uses words like "darkness" and "repulsive" to describe his illicit affair with a gay male prostitute. Yeah, if I were having sex with a prostitute, I'd probably feel a little icky. But that's not the "darkness" that Haggard refers to. His "darkness" is all about attraction to the same sex, and we are to believe that the only way to see "light" is to be heterosexual.

Haggard will undergo a "restoration process," which is supposed to prove (or disprove) whether or not Haggard is gay. Make no mistake that if those involved in Haggard's "restoration" find that he is, indeed, gay, "restoration" will become "devastation." Haggard will be forced to exorcise his "gay demons" and be "healed". Thank goodness Christ was a heterosexual so we can point to our Lord and Savior as an example of a good straight male who happened to be the son of God.

From Haggard's letter to his congregation:

"There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all of my adult life. For extended periods of time, I would enjoy victory and rejoice in freedom. (I would lie to myself and my family and my friends. VICTORY!) Then, from time to time, the dirt that I thought was gone would resurface, (what are you, a window?) and I would find myself thinking thoughts and experiencing desires that were contrary to everything I believe and teach. Through the years, I've sought assistance in a variety of ways, with none of them proving to be effective in me. (Oh really? could it be because you're GAY?) Then, because of pride, I began deceiving those I love the most because didn't want to hurt or disappoint them. The public person I wasn't a lie; it was just incomplete. When I stopped communicating about my problems, the darkness (i.e. The Truth) increased (fought for light) and finally dominated me. As a result, I did things that were contrary to everything I believe. Because of the negative publicity I've created with my foolishness, we can now demonstrate to the world how our sick and wounded can be healed (like lepers?), and how even disappointed and betrayed church bodies can prosper and rejoice."

I am appalled by this rhetoric. It sickens me to think that there are thousands upon thousands of people in Colorado and beyond who take hate-filled words like Haggard's to heart. And all of this on the eve of election day, when voters in Colorado will decide whether or not committed GLBT couples will receive the same basic legal rights afforded to heterosexual couples. And then there's Amendment 43, which proposes adding a new section to Article II of the Colorado Constitution that defines marriage in Colorado as only a union between one man and one woman. The ads touting 43 are terribly offensive to me--just watch this:

http://www.cofamily.org/smp/media_player.htm?&playMedia=video%7CGenerations

Then there's this comment, pulled from the mouths of ignorant idiots who call themselves Colorado Family Action: "But the fact is that gay people are already treated fairly and equally to all other citizens."

What the fu...? My wife can still be fired from her job for being gay. Matthew Shepard was not murdered because he was wearing an ugly sweater. The military's policy of "don't ask, don't tell" is not just lip service. Prosecuting hate crimes against GLBT persons is a joke; most states don't even recognize the fact that GLBT hate crimes exist. How can anyone say that I am treated fairly and equally as a lesbian? Hell, I'm not even treated fairly as a woman! I still make an average of 25% less than a man, regardless of my position or experience.

I could write about these issues all day, but I actually have a job and there's much work to be done. I do feel, however, that if the citizens of my state choose to amendmentement 43 and vote down Ref. I, my wife and I will be seriously talking of leaving. We're done living in a place where our love is seen as a disease that needs to be cured. We're sick of Dobson and his ilk. We had to leave our own freakin' country in order to marry, and that in itself was a huge blow to our feeling "at home" in the good ol' U.S. of A. But now it's all in our backyard, and make no mistake--in light of the Haggard debacle, myriad (brainless) voters are going to seize on the need to keep the Homos in Check and vote yes on 43 and no on I. Should this happen, my heart will break. And we will all lose.