More Than Politics

Written by Alex Knepper on Tuesday November 17, 2009

A 10-year-old Arkansas boy is refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance until he - or rather his parents - believe the phrase "liberty and justice for all" applies equally to gay and lesbian citizens.

What are liberals teaching their children about homosexuality?

If they were enlightened and educated, they would be teaching the following: homosexuality involves the sexual and emotional attraction to members of the same sex. It is not a lifestyle. It is not an ideology. It is not an agenda.

It is with with great disturbance, then, that I relay the case of a 10-year-old Arkansas boy named Will Phillips who is refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance because he believes -- or, rather, his parents believe -- that the phrase "liberty and justice for all" does not apply to gay and lesbian citizens.

I have long been concerned, as a gay man, that there isn't really any mass movement in this country dedicated to speaking the truth about homosexuality. For as much 'progress' gay men qua gay men are purported to have made in the culture, it has usually come at the expense of the truth: we are more accepted, alright -- accepted as accessories for successful urban women, or as fashion designers, or as super-fabulous, promiscuous socialites. The gay man who does not choose to take part in this minstrel show is usually shut out of the media. Author Bruce Bawer long ago described this sad phenomenon: one may encounter twenty gay men on the way home from work, but the only one that anyone will register as gay is the flamboyant activist. And what sort of attitude does that breed?

Now, there is nothing evil about being effeminate or involved in political activism. One obviously has the right to live the way one pleases without fear of being emotionally terrorized. But the subculture-oriented among us are a shockingly smaller portion of us than the media would have you believe -- they are simply more visible. The rest of us blend in, trying to live our lives just like other men. We don't organize into a mass movement because we don't have any serious complaints: the lack of marriage equality is regarded as an inconvenience, not an oppression. 'Hate crime' laws are viewed as unnecessary, if not draconian. Property rights are valued above government schemes to somehow 'force' equality. We're concerned with political issues that have something to do with aspects of our lives beyond our sexual orientation. And we love America.

Category: News