Kueer Kultur Rant: Rainbow Rights

Rant:
Rainbow Rights in the Fatherland, oops, I mean Homeland

By Ruben Lipshitz July 26, 2002
The United States of America is one of the only major countries, other than red China and Russia, that does not have an official state religion. It is most interesting that these three countries are among the most repressive and backward when it comes to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights. In the ‘Christian’ countries of Europe, where government funding pays for the maintenance of churches, GLBT rights are enshrined in the laws of the European Union. The EU high court just ordered the United Kingdom to implement the right of transsexuals to marry. Canada is about to recognize Gay and Lesbian marriages. Even tiny Israel has more national gay rights than America, despite the immense power of the Ultra Orthodox political parties there where, again, the government pays for religious education. In Israel, being gay is ‘no excuse’ for not serving in the military; they must serve along with everyone else. The gay lover of an Israeli serviceman killed in action gets full benefits, just as a wife would. The examples of enlightened rights around the civilized world are endless.

Here in the United States, of course, where the separation of church and state is the bedrock of our democracy, politicians are terrified of enacting GLBT rights for fear of the response of the religious right. Something is very very fishy here. In other western countries, where religious institutions are funded by governments, GLBT rights were introduced without any fuss at all. Could it be that in order to get funded, religious organizations are required to butt out of people’s business and stick to serving the religious needs of parishioners who desire them? Could we, in America, possibly have it all wrong? Here, of course, religions cannot get a penny of government money because they discriminate, teach hate, oppress those who are different amongst their flocks, and flagrantly try to force their beliefs on how to live onto others; most undemocratic. Of course, if they were funded by the federal government they would absolutely not be allowed to do any of that shit. They would not be able to utter a peep about public policy. Are we beginning to get a purse lipped picture here?

The repulsive Republicans in power in America, now, want to throw out the separation of church and state and fund religious schools and institutions. The religious right is summarily rubbing its hands together awaiting the money. Well well, they all better be careful what they wish for, right? Oh, of course, the Republicans want to write into law an exception so that they can continue to discriminate in hiring and serving queers and anyone else they don’t like; but, that would violate every concept hard wired into the constitution. Just imagine the U.S. government dictating to church bodies the excruciating rules of egalitarian politically correct conduct in everything they do, because its being done with government money. Pulpit sermons would have to be previewed and approved by 16 government agencies prior to being permitted to be promulgated. Sorry, Padre, but subsection 616.3c of title IVX prohibits you from saying that squishy bush-bumping is a sin; and anyway your church is in violation of equal opportunity laws, you have to hire at least 10% more Black lesbian women as preachers before we can permit further sermons in your parish.

So, should we purse our lips in anticipatory glee and let the reptiles enact laws which would end the separation of church and state in America? Of course not. Unlike the small minded men in power today, the founders of this nation understood that over time different factions will come to govern and they set up a system that would endure and maintain democracy continuously. The changes being contemplated will not result in American rainbow rights, of that you can be sure. The conglomerate men who want to make these changes do not have the integrity of their European counterparts. To say that they cannot be trusted is a monumental understatement.

But then, the Europeans remember what had happened not so long ago there. As we shrug in apathy while the reptiles make ‘minor changes’ in laws in the name of national security; the Europeans look on in horror, remembering how the Nazis began their reign of terror by at first making small little changes to people’s freedom ‘for the good of the country’. Then the arrests began. First they came for the Communists and took them away. Well, people shrugged saying, "after all they must be trouble makers and anyway I’m not a Communist so why should I care." Next the Socialists were rounded up and arrested and taken away and people said, "well, who needs them, good riddance, and anyway, I’m not a Socialist so who cares." And so it went with nobody really bothering to say much in protest. By the time they began systematically sending all the Jews to Death Camps, people had gotten used to the way things were, and had gotten used to being a bit worried about daring to say anything. And when they finally came to take away ordinary good Christian Germans who had dared to express some concern about what was going on, it was too late; there was no one left to speak on their behalf.
{The concept of the above paragraph is based entirely upon the words of the Rev. Martin Niemoeller best known for his indictment against apathy:
"First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."}

Back to the present. In the past year they have captured a bunch of filthy evil terrorists in Afghanistan and held them incommunicado for indefinite interrogation in Cuba. Well, good; lock the bastards up and throw away the key. Who could possibly be against that. More recently they have caught and arrested a couple of people who are actually American Citizens with ties to the fucking evil terrorists; they too were whisked away without the usual rights people have in this country. Yeah well, they are really foreigners, and anyway who cares about people with funny sounding names.

Hmmm, and once it becomes OK to just take away anyone, who do you think they will come for next? They arrested the homosexuals in Germany even before they came for the Jews, you know. Oh look, time to go shopping; the hell with this shit.

-Ruben Lipshitz,
a queer whose grandparents were murdered in Auschwitz