by Lady Liberty
08/18/2003

I don't support gay rights per se. But I do support equal rights. What I mean by that is that I don't believe any group, whether it be based on skin color or sexual orientation, should get any kind of preferential treatment. But I also consider it to be both unconstitutional and morally reprehensible to actively discriminate against people for such reasons.

Some people think that homosexuality needs to be an exception in the arena of discrimination because they consider such behavior to be sinful. They have every right to that belief. But others, including a significant number of religious institutions, don't have a similar mindset. Witness, for example, the recent Episcopal election of an openly homosexual priest to the level of Bishop. They, too, have every right to that belief. Just as we don't discriminate against people for their beliefs in this country, neither should those people use their beliefs as a rationale to actively discriminate against others.

Personally, I think that if you consider something to be sinful, you shouldn't do it. And as far as looking down your nose at those who do, well, there's plenty of precedent in religion for you to ignore the fact that others don't consider that same thing to be wrong. For example, some Christian denominations think gambling is a sin. Yet Catholic bingo nights are all but an institution in some places. Some religions take issue with dancing or the consumption of alcoholic beverages. But you don't see people praying in front of the nightclub or demanding that anyone who has a cocktail or two on any given evening be summarily fired and run out of the neighborhood because those who drink or dance might "influence the children".

Homosexuals have been openly struggling against discrimination for some time now. The recent Supreme Court decision concerning sodomy laws in the state of Texas was a great victory not just for homosexuals but for every one of us who values the few shreds of privacy the government still grudgingly permits us. (The justices rendered their decision based on constitutional implications of privacy and not on religious grounds, which has a substantial contingent jumping up and down and worrying that the decision will suddenly result in dramatic increases in the incidence of incest or polygamy, something which has not happened in states that don't discriminate against homosexual activity .)

Gay marriage is another issue that's not likely to leave the judicial forefront any time soon, particularly not since Canada has decided in favor of permitting the legal relationship of two persons of the same gender. But it would behoove everyone, particularly politicians, to recall that marriage is a religious term, and its definition should be up to individual faiths. The government should neither demand nor demean marriage, but should facilitate some sort of contractual relationship between consenting adults. Whether that relationship is "blessed" by some religion or another is none of the government's business, and frankly, it's none of anybody else's business, either.

Having had a number of gay friends, and having dealt with some very painful situations accordingly, I rejoice when people simply stop caring about what goes on in the bedroom of a homosexual couple. Things are they way they should be when they instead concentrate on whether or not the couple are good and decent people who contribute to the local economy and society, who treat others with kindness, and who mind their own business just as others are minding theirs.

Events like the annual Gay Days at Walt Disney World and the various Gay Pride parades in cities across the country were intended as occasions when homosexuals could have a good time in a celebratory atmosphere as well as an opportunity to show heterosexual America that they were just like everybody else in many ways. They, too, enjoyed amusement park rides and flower-covered floats. They, like most of us, take summer vacations or appreciate a good party. I've personally attended a few Gay Pride parades in years past, and had a really good time. But it seems that things have changed over the years, and not for the better.

According to an article  published by Cybercast News Service, a Christian group was more than a little upset that Disney World let homosexuals hold Gay Days. Although Disney doesn't specifically endorse the event - held annually since 1991 - it certainly approves. After all, it gains as many as 100,000 visitors to the park for Gay Days, and publicity is rarely a bad thing for a venue like Disney World. And so, because it just couldn't stand the thought of homosexuals being at the park at the same time some poor defenseless little child might be there to see them, the Christian group decided it was going to videotape all of these disgusting people in an effort to curtail any future such events.

I was appalled at this group's so-called Christianity because it was obviously of a hate-filled variety. But then I read about what the group found, and I took a look at some of the video tape it compiled. And although I still believe the group would be perfectly happy to discriminate against all homosexuals, I'm convinced it had some cause to do so against some of those in attendance at this year's Gay Days, and that it has some complaints against Disney World that are entirely valid.

According to the reports, although guests at Disney World must wear shirts and shoes at all times, a number of those in attendance at Gay Days were shirtless, and some were even nude. Incidences were captured on video of men grabbing each other's groins or buttocks, and openly engaging in simulated sex acts. All of this was happening in full view of the families and children who happened to also be in attendance during the Gay Days event. Disney says it does enforce the rules, but one of the cameramen taping the activities says that it was he who was approached by Disney security instead, and that the security personnel asked him to put the camera away.

On the heels of the release of the video and accompanying report, people are now protesting a planned Gay Community Day at a Philadelphia Phillies game. In a story  posted on the WorldNetDaily  website, although this is the first such event at Veterans Stadium, it is said that some people are worried about a strong homosexual attendance at the game because of an incident in Philadelphia earlier this year when 11 homosexual men were arrested after a father and son walked into a department store restroom and saw them engaging in sex acts there.

Certainly, there's not a one of us who, when we love someone, doesn't hold our lover's hand, or kiss our lover good-bye and hello on the front porch or as we enter and leave our vehicles. These public displays of affection are part of the fabric that binds us to our partners and that shows the world our pride in our partners and the relationship we have. I contend that identical displays of affection are acceptable in public for homosexual couples as well, something with which the religious group mentioned above would almost certainly strenuously disagree.

But where I draw the line, and where I find myself in the unusual situation of actually agreeing with this fundamentalist Christian group, is the behaviors described - and shown! - at this year's Gay Days. And where I stand with the Philadelphia protesters is in the disgust and outrage I feel about grown men being so irresponsible and selfish as to engage in sex acts in a very public restroom where anyone of any age could walk in at any time.

Do I think homosexuals should be treated just the same as everybody else? Yes, I do. But first, I think a certain segment of that group is going to have to start behaving just the same as everybody else, or face the same consequences the rest of us would. That's not discrimination. That's true equality. And it's clearly past time a little equality started getting applied.

Lady Liberty