“I am not gay. I love my wife, my family. I care about friends and staff and Idaho. I love serving this great state.”
So said Senator Craig in a press conference last week, and I completely understand where he’s coming from. There was a time in my life when I thought I couldn’t possibly be gay, because homosexuals were men who lived hate-filled lives of terrible depravity. Like Senator Craig, I thought my love of family, love of friends, and love of nation were de facto evidence of my heterosexuality — never mind the fact that I was attracted to men.
This is the terrible lie of the political Religious Right, a lie accepted hook-line-and-sinker by “family values” Senators like Larry Craig. They honestly believe homosexuals are less-human than the rest of us “good people.” Those gays, they think, don’t have feelings or families, and therefore don’t deserve human rights like the rest of us.
It’s an easy lie to accept, if we believe we’ve never met someone whose sexuality differs from our own, and it’s a lie that destroys us all — straight, gay, Democrat, Republican, tearoom foot-tapper, and missionary man alike.
But there’s one thing that can stop the destruction, and that’s honesty. The more of us who come out of the closet and live openly and honestly, the more people will see us as the brothers and sisters, mothers and sons, uncles and aunts we really are. The more people will recognize that we’re all human, and that none of us is subhuman, whatever our sexual preferences or non-preferences.
The best response any of us can have to Senator Craig and his brand of hypocrisy is to be completely and openly ourselves. And, who knows, maybe the scandal-ridden “family values” Senators will someday follow our lead. Because, as any tabloid journalist can tell you, there’s no way to blackmail someone who has no secrets.
Did you see the woman in Newsweek who finally was able to come out at age 88? She ended it with:
"I owe a lot of credit to people who are comfortable enough in their own skins to say, "This is who I am." Shall I be hunted for trying to tell my story now, when many might still not wish to address it, or shall I, perhaps, be congratulated?"
I congratulate her with teary eyes and a smile. I celebrate every time someone comes out - as an lgbtq or as an ally. If only all people of the world could have the courage to say "this is who I am" without defiance or arrogance, but simply as an acknowledgement of Self and as a request to be seen as truly who we are.