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S/he said: Proclamations, homophobia and Jane Lynch

Compiled by Howard Israel

"If a disgust response can be evoked, it will tend to stay around. Think about the ramifications for gay marriage. If children are taught that homosexuality is disgusting, they will want to stay far away from it. As their moral sentiments develop, they will begin to see homosexuality as a contaminant in society. When thinking about the sacred institution of marriage, they will feel the threat of this impurity (as) something they want to keep clean. It's pretty easy to mobilize them against this threat because the feeling is long-lasting and easy to activate with a political sound bite."
– Joe Brewer, in a column titled "Why Conservatives Hate You: How Our Politics Relies on Creating Disgust for Opponents," http://www.alternet.org, June 1.

"LGBT Americans have enriched and strengthened the fabric of our national life. From business leaders and professors to athletes and first responders, LGBT individuals have achieved success and prominence in every discipline. They are our mothers and fathers, our sons and daughters, and our friends and neighbors. As we honor the LGBT Americans who have given so much to our nation, let us remember that if one of us is unable to realize full equality, we all fall short of our founding principles. Our nation draws its strength from our diversity, with each of us contributing to the greater whole. By affirming these rights and values, each American benefits from the further advancement of liberty and justice for all."
– President Barack Obama, in a presidential proclamation declaring June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month, http://www.whitehouse.gov, May 28.

"The best way not to 'seem' homophobic is not to be homophobic. Keeping your child away from his friend's home because his parents are gay is a homophobic choice: You're treating this couple as an undesirable 'other.'"
– Carolyn Hax, advice columnist, answering the mother of a 6-year-old who prevented her son from playing at his friend's house because the friend's parents are gay, Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com, June 3.

"Marriage has become the central cause of the public, legal battle for LGBT equality. Some have questioned this emphasis, noting – with some justification – that this focus diverts attention from other issues of more significance for the lives of many in the community … . But that's where we are, and we're there for reasons that are echoes of the focus of women's rights groups on voting, and of African-American activists' emphasis on desegregation. All of these movements have targeted state-sponsored discrimination; actions that are uniquely indefensible, especially in a country that puffs itself up, relentlessly, about equality and liberty."
– John Culhane in a blog about anti-gay activist and same-sex marriage opponent Maggie Gallagher, http://wordinedgewise.org, May 27.

"When was the last time you had sex? What kind of sexual experiences have you had? Do you like pornography? Do you like children? Do you like children more than you like people your own age?"
– Questions asked to determine the sexual orientation of all prospective seminarians seeking a life as a Roman Catholic priest, in an article titled "Prospective Catholic Priests Face Sexuality Hurdles," http://www.nytimes.com. May 30.

"It's not like she's marrying out of her species or anything."
– Actress Jane Lynch, in the announcement of her marriage to clinical psychologist Lara Embry, about the differences in their professions, http://www.nytimes.com, June 2.

"Certainly African gays and lesbians deserve the same amount of support. But they haven't gotten it yet from the African-American community and I don't think they will. The silence of the black American community during the persecution of their African brothers and sisters serves to remind me that no one person or group owns the patent to struggling for the right to live free and in dignity unencumbered by someone else's ignorance. It also reminds me that even though no one owns this right, there are so many people ready to squander it."
– Alvin McEwen, in his blog titled "African-American hypocrisy, silence hurting African gays and lesbians," http://www.huffingtonpost.com, June 2.

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