Last Friday, as I was preparing for a friend’s birthday party, the word came down from on high that Obama’s Department of Justice had filed a brief in the case of Smelt v. the United States. The brief cites a number of cases in which states determine independently of any federal law who can marry within their borders. I won’t recite the brief or the particular criticisms of it. Plenty of people have blogged about it, from Pam’s Houseblend (terrific) and New York Law School professor Arthur Leonard on Leonard Link (getting there, maybe). Even the New York Times thought the brief was a slap in the face to the GLBT community. Pam also makes the point in one of her entries that progressive straight people are not getting it, and are getting in the way with their defense of Obama. What I want to point out is something from Goldhagen’s thesis that I believe applies to the current situation of GLBT people in America: the history of gay-hating is so long and deep in America, that despite trends which may suggest the country is getting over it, the pernicious hatred of the GLBT community continues and is at a boiling point. Think Weimar Republic. Looks promising, and then…
Many people in America are commenting on the rise of hate groups, but they point toward the recent actions against Dr. Tiller in Kansas or the shooting of the guard at the Holocaust Museum. These are indeed acts of terror and hate. I don’t want to dismiss them. But it is important that we do not assume hate always manifests in a shooting. It comes upon us more subtly.
It came upon us on January 20, 2009 when Obama chose to have a gay-hater deliver his invocation, and he laughed at us. It came upon us when in Congress Virginia Fox said Matthew Shepard’s death was not a hate crime but a hoax. It comes with every soldier dismissed for being gay or lesbian. It stands out in the 26 states that have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. It is there every time a census worker erases a gay marriage. It is present in the media attention given to Carrie Prejean, Miss California, whose beliefs are not only exactly the same as President Obama’s, but whose visibility is nearly as great.
For every court victory GLBT people win, more hatred starts to simmer. With every state that allows marriage equality, the hate becomes more palpable, as groups like the Knights of Columbus or the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) throw precious dollars at ad campaigns that feed, cloth, house, or ease the suffering of no one. As young people who taunted at school for being gay kill themselves, it grows less necessary for hate groups to kill us. Some of these young people may not have been gay, but the perception is enough–and not just the perception that they are gay, but the perception that being gay is so awful it merits one’s own destruction.
So let’s get rid of this crazy Hope’n'Change™ denial about what is really going on. There is a gay-hater in the White House. We don’t need to explore whether he hates gays because it is politically expedient or because deep down he has issues. It doesn’t matter. His actions matter. His words matter too, of course. Many people point to his explicit promises for gay civil rights and say, be patient. But let’s remember that to argue against gay marriage, he invoked his Christian faith, as if somehow being gay is anathema to all Christians, or that no Christians could support gay marriage. That’s insidious, and powerful.
Germany was one of the most cultured nations in the world when Hitler became its chancellor. It had begun to create equality for Jews; increasing numbers were given posts at universities. Many Jews identified at nationalistic Germans. One of them was Edith Stein, and she yet she tried in vain to warn others about what was happening in Germany. There were many people in denial about how powerful the forces were that were gathering in Germany.
I know that people will read this post and dismiss it as conspiracy theorist or hysterical. To them, I have nothing to say, except feel free to tell me I am wrong or misguided. I welcome all opinions here.
I am someone who believes in vigilance. And right now, when we can be dazzled by gay weddings, we also need to remember the gay cabarets that made the Weimar Republic seem like a safe haven. We have economic conditions that are becoming more stark. We have a long history of gay hate in the US. And we have a president who will apparently, like water, find the path of least resistance.
[This post is entitled Part II because after the election I wrote a piece by the same name.]
4 Comments
June 17, 2009 at 2:24 pm
It feels to me like people don’t get it about Obama. I do see some gay guys in LA finally catching on, but most of them worked to get him elected. And there will still be that mentality four years from now that GLBT voters need to vote Democratic because we can’t vote Republican, unless we’re more into money and internalized homophobia than anything else.
June 18, 2009 at 4:18 pm
I don’t think this is too extreme. AMERiblog is saying the truth and finally Salon published an OpEd worth reading.
To everyone saying Obama has more important issues to deal with, what exactly has he done about them?
Our troops are still in Iraq.
Obama defended kidnapping, torture, and indefinite imprisonment.
Obama expanded the illegal war into Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Guantanamo is still open as are the other torture camps.
Obama helped give over $780 billion in taxpayer money to corrupt Wall Street corporations.
Obama lobbied the Supreme Court to reverse it’s decision allowing defendants the right to have an attorney present during questioning.
Obama continued FISA.
Obama nominated a 6th catholic to the 9 member Supreme Court which paves the way to overturning Roe v. Wade.
Obama increased the faith based initiative which gives our tax revenue to churches.
You might think he needs more time but I sure don’t.
The time to fight is now.
June 18, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Great post Jack. I’m going to repost it to SoCal Voice! Thanks for being a lone voice in the dark. Your voice is important and should be heard!
June 18, 2009 at 10:51 pm
I don’t think you are off-base at all. One of the striking things about the Holocaust is that so many people who were targeted by Hitler imagined that they were safe because of status, or that the German people’s good will would not allow them to become victims, or that Hitler was a just a politician who would not actually follow through on all that vile rhetoric. But usually, people mean what they say. That is why it’s important to look carefully at what Obama promised. He said he supported civil unions, but he knew gay people were pushing for marriage, so that was a statement of “no support.” He said he would ask Congress to repeal DADT and DOMA. He did not say when, and he did not say he would push hard. He said he believes states have the right to decide marriage, and that is exactly what is argued in the Justice Dept’s brief. DOMA is actually a kind of protection for having a federal constitutional amendment, because it serves a function of saying there will be no national recognition of gay marriage. He is crafty, but if you listen, he is telling you exactly what he intends. Just like he introduced legislation to cut Medicaid and Medicare BEFORE he had a health care reform bill in. He said he was against universal health care when he ran against Hillary, and he meant it.