A rant about heterosupremacy - Democratic Underground

kevinbgoode

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Thu Dec-21-06 01:52 AM
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A rant about heterosupremacy

(crossposted from General Discussion)

Now ya know I just posted these comments at another site as part of a discussion about how the new governor of Wisconsin is going to try to "soften" the blow from one of those hideous heterosupremacist amendments passed by the "people" to exercise tyranny over their fellow gay citizens during this last election.

I'm not going to pretend to be understanding of the heterosexual viewpoint in this rant. Frankly, I'm rather sick and tired of seeing all of the supremacists conducting the "debate" over marriage in the pages of our newspapers, on the broadcasting outlets, and in the legistlatures - and too tired of rarely seeing much of the viewpoint of the people these stupid amendments affect published with any level of passion.

One reason we don't get to express our anger in the "mainstream media" is because the heterosexual-controlled media is wary of offending the "religiously correct." And by "religiously correct" I mean those nutcases who pass their hate and bigotry off on a selective interpretation of some rather dubious biblical verses. . .and they get away with it because the rest of us LET them get away with their hypocrisy.

There is a double standard instituted in this whole debate. On one end, the christo-fascists are free to express any contrived piece of dreamed-up junk science as justification for their positions - and when that fails, they just haul out and interpret the Bible for the rest of us as if we aren't citizens of a free country capable of forming and choosing our own religious beliefs.

But this tyranny has to end. I am sick to tears of listening to a bunch of straight people whine about how they should have the right to "vote" on whether the person I might love can make a damned health decision for me without requiring me to carry around a ridiculous file cabinet of paperwork and hope some stupid fundie in a hospital is in the mood to accept it. What the hell interest should any heterosupremacist REALLY have in the basic universal life experiences that a gay couple handles in everyday life? The point is - they DON"T. And I refuse to believe that someone with some personally chosen "deeply-held" "religious" beliefs has more invested in whether I can make my own damned funeral arrangements than I do.

We've beaten around this bush long enough - and in doing so we are on the verge of permanently alienating some 20 million of our own citizens because of our need to impose tyranny on SOMEONE other than ourselves. So what if some people don't like the idea of seeing two guys kissing? So what if some guys have a problem when they project the imagined sexual behaviors going on in the house next door where two gay guys are sleeping? Does that really warrant the ridiculous tyranny of denying the utter and basic human right to control the destiny of our lives simply because some OTHER people think we are "icky?"

Now here is what I will NEVER understand. I'm supposed to be respectful of people who consciously "choose" a "religious" belief - and then accept their right to impose that belief on others - but who I am (whether it be born or not) isn't worthy of that same respect, even though I'm supposed to live under the same damned constitutional protections as everyone else. So when we explain what the discrepancies are, the heterosupremacists trot out their "holier-than-thou" crap and scream they have to protect their "special legal rights" because everyone knows that only heterosupremacists have such universal life experiences as getting ill or dying. The rest of us are supposed to be punished by the state for encountering those moments in our life experiences - as if there is supposed to be some earthly payment for not adhering to some stupid-ass con-servative CHOSEN "religious" interpretation. Well f*ck THAT.

I have no intention of sitting in the back of anyone's bus. And I'm not asking for anyone's "tolerance." Fu*k that crap too. I'm an American citizen by birthright, and if the Religious Right doesn't like it, that's too damned bad. I happen to think they belong in mental institutions, but of course we aren't allowed to state that in our media because everyone knows that we aren't allowed to offend con-servatives. . .only conservatives are real Americans who the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution exclusively to protect.

Well, here is the ranting comments I posted in that other discussion forum:

And we've been much too careful for the last two years about calling this situation exactly what it is - tyranny. This heterosupremacist attitude that only married people should be entitled to have control over their lives and relationships is not only against the framework of our own freedom of association, but is obscene in the methods being used to maintain supremacist control over our lives.
There are times when we have to step up to the plate and not be afraid to call these people what they are - and bigots is just the polite form. They are every bit as tyrannical as the very king and Parliament this nation fought to gain independence from - and they are just as determined to maintain some ridiculous sense of special rights for themselves just because some American "Christian" ayatolluh's business is completely dependent on propagating a caste system.

When Leonard Pitt's column ran in our local newspaper this morning (and what a shock that our local rightwing rag would even print it) there had to be at least one christo-fascist commenter whining about how we "choose" to be "unnatural". Typically, I sent an online comment right back, challenging him to talk about how he projects sexuality in terms of his own experience - meaning apparently he chose the more "correct" one. You can't choose anything unless you have the notion that you can be something else - it's time to make these supremacists whining this crap to start spilling their tales of conscious selection.

As for third class status, Wisconsin can forget my support. When the people of an entire state are so stupid and so willing to sell out a basic human right to determine my own damned burial arrangements or let a partner make a simple hospital visitation, there isn't much of a way to put lipstick over the bruises.

But I do blame our own community for much of this defeat. I know we have an uphill battle, but until we are willing to tell our stories - and tell them loudly - and insist our local media give us the right to say something about our OWN experiences, this situation ain't gonna change too soon. And I've read those experiences even here on the Blend - those comments in a thread the other day which talked about how families accepted or rejected our relationships are exactly the kinds of stories that need to be told to everyone.

We shouldn't have to continue attempting to overcompensate for being gay by trying to be better principled human beings than those lowlife trash who pass themselves off as "religious" people with a "moral" foundation. The only damned foundation these people have is to give themselves as much of a step up in life as possible at the expense of as many other people as possible.

There has never been a real "debate" over marriage, period. Straight people are too insecure to actually examine statutes dealing with such matters as life, property, health and death - and they most certainly don't wish to discuss their abhorrent behavior when they strip a gay relative's home of every possession and toss a partner out into the street because the good Lord told them being "gay" was a sin. But it is high time this discussion was handled - not just for gay Americans, but for every single person in this country.

Families are (and have never been) ideal structures where everyone gets along famously, no one abuses anyone or beats their children, and no one abuses their spouse and destroys any love that should naturally be there. And we all know the fundies are at the heart of the perpetration of those dysfunctional homes - there are too many stories of children and spouses abused and neglected by one member of a family joining some nutcase church and hauling home the nose of a meddling minister (or worse, his peepee) into that home environment.

It isn't rocket science for any American to relate on his or her own experience and understand that there are millions and millions of people in this country who just don't have the ideal 1950's television sitcom life. And it sure as hell ain't rocket science to figure out that in every damned family in this country, a funeral is nothing but the backdrop for the heavy-handed greed ensuing over anything of mortal and monetary value. We've all seen it - and so has every single official "family" member. The laws in their present form do not protect the people they are created to serve. And when those who have been awarded the only right to form relationships based on an image (and regularly break their vows without legal/social penalty)are also given absolute control over the lives of all other members in a family, then the "family" associations are promoting nothing but tyranny.

I've got one thing to say - when the minority of heterosexual white men who run this damned country are willing to let THIS member of the MAJORITY of the REST of the population vote on THEIR rights, I'll listen to their argument about voting to make my community second class citizens. They should have their turn at getting dragged behind the back of a pickup truck, or strung up on a tree branch...or having a judicial system shake its head when a woman murders one because he hit on her (and reduce the charge to manslaughter) because she was protecting her treasure, or watching them cope with some black landlord telling them they can't move into the neighborhood because of the history of white male rape, or how about the chance to tell someone that they can't come into a business because we don't want to see some fundie nutcase praying at the dinner table of the restaurant?

This country has two choices and we are rapidly getting to a crossroads. We either learn how to accept and respect and get along with everyone who is a citizen of this nation, or we continue to let con-servatives perpetuate their paranoia about needing to rule over everyone based on nothing they have merited by hard work or dedication. This is one person who is tired of being the target, the scapegoat, the catch-all for every moan and gnash of teeth by a bunch of losers who use my community to raise money and gain power.

I might vote Democratic, but I have a few words for our party as well. I wasn't born in this country or educated in the same classrooms as your children to be told that I need to always be patient until we can figure out some way to appease a bunch of loser con-servatives. I don't need to hear this empty crap about how "everyone should be treated with respect" and then the next week have some fundy cousin walk into a courtroom and exhume the body of a gay partner and move it to an undisclosed location simply because the law pretends we don't exist. If we believe every American is entitled to basic human dignity, then its time to pay attention to what this system has done to us.

And frankly, as far as the wingnuts and the fundies are concerned - we KNOW they CHOSE their beliefs, and they can damned well change their choices much easier than I can pretend another sexual/relationship orientation just to be able to have some control over my life.