Ask Auntie Pinko
July 19, 2001

Dear Auntie Pinko,

When will all the rigmarole over granting lesbians and gays civil rights end? Will we ever be given "equal protection;" including civil protection(s)? And when will our unions (not marriages - ugh), be recognized? Oy! It's almost enough to drive a queer girl straight!

Thanks in advance,

S. Clarke
Van Nuys, CA

Dear Ms Clarke,

Every now and then, someone asks Auntie Pinko a question I am utterly unable to answer. (Imagine that!)

I wish I could answer your question with some conviction, or even some logical basis. However, Auntie Pinko is handicapped in this case. This is because I can find no actual logic in opposing the affirmation of gay and lesbian civil rights, only justifications rooted in non-logical sources like religious doctrine, or emotional responses such as fear.

First, let me explain a term I used, quite deliberately: the affirmation of civil rights for gays and lesbians. Just as with African-Americans, the Constitution (in Auntie Pinko�s humble opinion) does indeed already guarantee your civil rights. There is no place, anywhere in that document, which states that everyone is entitled to freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, the right to be safe from unreasonable search and seizure, etc., except gays and lesbians, African Americans, etc.

Thus, your rights do, in fact exist - you are entitled to equal protection under every law in America.

I can hear the bitter laughter welling from millions of throats. Anyone who has felt the cold shoulder of economic and social discrimination solely based on some characteristic that places them in a particular population group knows exactly how hollow that "entitlement" really is.

Which underscores the importance of legally affirming the civil rights of any population group that experiences such discrimination, and providing them with due process for redress against such discrimination. Because without such redress, civil rights are a meaningless sham. (I know you�re already aware of this, Ms Clarke, but let me soapbox to bring the rest of Auntie Pinko's readers up to speed, as it were.)

So what is preventing our society from affirming your rights? And the rights of millions of Americans' gay and lesbian sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, friends and colleagues?

Auntie Pinko knows the answer, I simply don�t understand the answer, and that is my blind spot. That is what keeps me from making a really satisfactory response to you, S. Clarke.

The answer is ignorance and fear. The idea that being a lesbian is some sort of morally-reprehensible "behavior," instead of simply the way your sexuality is wired, seems to be the root of the ignorance. (Although Auntie Pinko also fails to see the moral reprehensibility of any specific sexual behavior which does no physical damage and impacts only the adults who consent thereto - but that�s another column altogether.)

This ignorance is compounded with the illogical notion that being sexually-oriented toward one's own gender is automatically synonymous with pedophilia. The origin of, and logic behind, that one completely escapes Auntie Pinko. In other words: "huh?"

And since Auntie Pinko refuses outright to believe in a God who discriminates against any human on the basis of the physical or sexual characteristics with which S/He endows them, the doctrinal arguments are a mystery to me as well.

The best hope for gay and lesbian Americans is the continuing crusade against ignorance and intolerance in all its forms. And since the Democratic Party has made this crusade a centerpiece of our ideology for more than half a century, I would suggest that any gay or lesbian American who values their civil rights over fragile and potentially transitory economic benefits might find us a more comfortable political "home" than the GOP.

Even at that, progress can be slow. There is ignorance and intolerance in our own Party's ranks. And we carry an agenda too large to give any issue, even a very important one, the priority of effort it merits. Nevertheless, we at least understand the value of affirming civil rights - a concept that the GOP not only ridicules, but often fights tooth and nail. Think about it.

Thank you for writing to Auntie Pinko!

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