By David W. Shelton | October 5, 2011 |
Despite a general “live and let live” policy by most Tennesseans, a
few outspoken troglodytes have sullied the state with new assaults and
bullying against gay residents. Worse yet, these assaults are from
“leaders.”
I’ve long understood that there are members of my family, friends,
neighbors, and acquaintances that “disagree” with “homosexuality.” I
get that. Unfortunately, recent events in Tennessee have revealed a
far darker element regarding how people treat their gay neighbors,
events that bring to the forefront exactly why it’s so important to
support gay-straight alliances in our schools.
Tennessee has a long history of questionable laws, policies, and
history — which resulted in outlandish spectacles like the Scopes
Monkey Trial. It’s home to the very roots of the Ku Klux Klan. Even
the atomic bomb was created in Tennessee. Sure, it ended World War II,
but the legacy of Oak Ridge haunts the entire world.
It’s ironic, really. Nashville is one of the most diverse medium-sized
cities in the country, and Clarksville is home to people from around
the world. The arts in Middle Tennessee is growing in its recognition
and popularity. “Culture” is our middle name. Unfortunately, in many
parts of our state, our first name is “Bigoted.”
Bigotry Defined
Yes, yes, I know what some of you are thinking. “Great. Another
liberal throwing around the word ‘bigot’ and branding anyone who
disagrees with homosexuality as one…” You see, that’s just it. I’m not
talking about simple “disagreement.”
Since the Webster’s dictionary definition of “bigot” is a little
vague, I’ll present my own: “Any person who takes action to oppress or
strip the rights of an individual or group who has a different view
than their own.” The key phrase here is “takes action.” You can
believe that gays are going to hell all you want. In fact, shout it
from the rooftops. Shout it into megaphones while holding up “God
Hates Fags” signs while you’re at it. Hey, it’s a free country. No one
will stop you. Not even the Supreme Court.
But the moment you step into a voting booth to strip away the rights
of another human being, or when you do all you can to prevent anyone
who’s different from you to participate in a public forum, you are a
world-class bigot and deserve complete and utter contempt. But let’s
be a little more specific here. Our proud state hates recently
produced some glorious examples of the just how hateful we can be.
We’re the Tennessee Volunteers, after all. We don’t just have an
opinion, we act on those opinions, no matter how asinine that opinion
might be.
For example, we gallant Tennesseans rallied around stupid, bigoted
idea like a “marriage protection amendment” with 81% of the vote (in a
state where more than half of its marriages end in divorce).
Never mind the fact that marriage in Tennessee has been dropping like
a rock in the last 20 years. According to the CDC, marriages per 1000
in our state has plummeted from 13.9 in 1990 to 8.4 in 2009. Divorce
rates have shown a similar decline. About half as many people in
Tennessee get divorced as those that get married. So what do
Tennesseans do? Keep them homuhseckshuls from gettin’ married! That’ll
solve it! Ridiculous.
2008 was a banner year for bigotry in the state, but that doesn’t mean
that it stopped there. Last year’s oh-so-brilliant effort to put an
end to talking about homosexuality before the 9th grade made us a
laughing stock. The year before saw yet another attempt to prevent
gays from adopting children (since leaving children in the system and
without a home is so much better than being placed in a loving home of
parents who really understand what it’s like to be rejected).
Tennessee Taliban?
Things have changed in this new decade. 2010 brought with us a new
level of fringe reich-wing basket cases and spittle-laced soapboxery,
and that’s just the beginning. Merely voting to suppress gays isn’t
enough for some people in our state anymore. Now they have to take
matters into their own hands.
Some students at Madisonville, Tennessee’s Sequoyah high school want
their school to join along with 17 other schools in East Tennessee
that have a gay-straight alliance. Obviously, having a club where gay
and questioning teens supporting each other and their peers against
bullying is a terrible thing, so the principal is reportedly blocking
every attempt at starting the club.
Nathan Carroll, a senior at Sequoyah, is reported to be spearheading
the charge to start a GSA. The principal, Maurice Moser, threatened to
“punish” or suspend any student found with a petition to start the
club.
But that’s not all. Moser told LGBTQNation reporter Jamie McGonigal
that “the only reason the GSA was not possible was due to the fact
they couldn’t find a faculty sponsor.” He also told the reporter that
he had assisted other clubs with finding one, and became “flustered
and combative” when asked why he didn’t help the GSA to find a
sponsor.
This week, the ACLU reported that Moser allegedly assaulted a student
for wearing a t-shirt that read, “GSA: We’ve got your back.”
According to the ACLU statement, a teacher ordered Sigler to cover up
the shirt in the future after he wore it Tuesday. Sigler, knowing he
had a right to wear the shirt, wore it again Friday, and resisted an
order to remove the shirt.
Sigler says that Moser then ordered all students out of the classroom,
except for Sigler’s sister Jessica, who refused to leave. According to
both students, Moser then grabbed Sigler’s arm, shoved him, and
chest-bumped him repeatedly while asking “Who’s the big man now?”
I’d love to just chalk this up to small town buffoonery, but when this
kind of behavior is not only accepted by “leaders” in the community,
but is displayed by the leaders in the community, there’s a deeper
problem at work. The problem is simple: Bigots think they’re safe.
If this doesn’t prove that a gay-straight alliance is needed at
Sequoyah High School, I don’t know what would. In fact, we should have
a GSA in all of our high schools.
It’s not just restricting the rights of a support club either. Now we
have a church beating up a gay couple in the West Tennessee town of
Fruitland (hold the jokes, please). In a clear act of oh-so-Christian
love, Jerry Pittman, Jr. and his boyfriend were attacked when
Pittman’s father — the church’s pastor — said “sick ‘em,” inciting at
least two deacons to pummel the young men as they attempted to attend
a church service. From the WBBJ article:
“My uncle and two other deacons came over to the car per my dad’s
request. My uncle smashed me in the door as the other deacon knocked
my boyfriend back so he couldn’t help me, punching him in his face and
his chest. The other deacon came and hit me through my car window in
my back,” said Pittman.
He said bystanders did not offer assistance. He said the deacon yelled
derogatory homosexual slurs, even after officers arrived. He said the
officers never intervened to stop the deacons from yelling the slurs.
These people will point to global bad guy Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran
and they decry that country’s treatment of its citizens. But when we
have a pastor inciting church deacons to beat up his own son, I really
don’t see much of a difference. They’ll try to pass a law to prevent
Sharia law from being allowed in Tennessee, but ignore their own brand
of hyper-religiosity. Pot, meet Kettle.
Who’s Persecuting Whom?
Maybe there’s a reason that bigots think they’re safe in Tennessee. No
one speaks out against them. No one shames them. No one exposes them
in their laid-bare ugliness. The amazing thing is that for some
reason, the far-right “religious” political groups have actually
convinced their flock that THEY are the ones being persecuted. In
fact, the National Organization for Marriage, after a pathetic-poor
attendance on their bus “tour,” announced the creation of a new arm of
their “ministry” that will act as a “marriage anti-defamation
alliance,” where apparently, right-wing people are somehow being
“defamed” or otherwise harmed as they fight tooth and nail to prevent
gays from having stable, monogamous, healthy relationships. Or
something.
“My sense is that there are too many of us who believe that marriage
is the union of husband and wife to stigmatize or marginalize if we
come together,” said Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of National
Organization for Marriage.
No, Maggie. You’re not stigmatized because you believe something.
You’re stigmatized because you are doing everything in your power to
prevent same-sex couples from enjoying the rights that you have with
your husband.
The right-wing Heritage Foundation has “documented” a number of
incidents revolving around the campaign and passage of California’s
Proposition 8, an amendment that wrote discrimination into that
state’s constitution — that was found to be unconstitutional, and is
going through the motions of appeals before it finally gets to the
United States Supreme Court.
Gay marriage was passed by the California legislature, and called for
by the state supreme court. However, California’s network of bigots
banded together to put an amendment on the ballot, and raised millions
for advertising campaigns. The site reports a plethora of events like
keyed cars, scraped bumper stickers, and stolen yard signs (like that
never happens in a campaign).
Apparently, it’s okay to use the “proposition” system in California to
try to strip rights from people, and they’re surprised when people get
a little miffed about it. This is the same system that was used in the
late 1970s in an failed attempt to keep gay teachers out of California
classrooms.
In a brief review of American history and its treatment of gays, it’s
important to be reminded of the fact that in the past (and present)
gays are beaten, abused, attacked, bullied, and sometimes even killed
just for being gay. The modern gay rights movement began in Stonewall
a gay bar in New York City after repeated raids by police. In fact,
“sodomy” in many states was listed as a felony at one point. This
isn’t a matter of simple inconvenience, these men and women were going
to jail just for being alive and, sometimes, engaging in consensual
sex.
Gays weren’t sent to the back of the bus, they were sent to jail, or
even to the gallows. In Virginia’s early statehood, sodomy was a
capital offense.
When we compare this to keyed cars, it’s clear just who is really
being persecuted and oppressed. Even today, some Tennessee legislators
are working to push anti-gay “laws” that have no other purpose but to
strip the rights of a class of people. One of these laughing-stock
inducing bills includes a “don’t say gay” bill that passed the Senate
only after it was reworded to say that “any instruction in public
classrooms will be limited exclusively to age-appropriate natural
human reproduction science.” in Tennessee schools until the 8th grade.
So much for the three R’s. Our kids may not be able to read, but they
will at least know how to get busy.
Now, more than ever, it’s important for moderate, considerate people
in our state to get politically active. If you’re thinking to
yourself, “well, I’m not like those bigots,” then great. Stop talking
to yourself and get involved in the political process. It’s time to
drown out the insanity of the blowhards with a little common sense.
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