"THE HOMOSEXUALIZING OF AMERICA"

Tuesday night, LARRY KING LIVE's intro asked "IS HOLLYWOOD HOMOSEXUALIZING AMERICA?", prompted no doubt, by the wins of CAPOTE, TRANSAMERICA and BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN at the Golden Globes. Larry's guests included a Baptist minister, a religious talk show host, the gay former mayor from Wyoming (where gay-bashing fatality Matthew Shepard hailed from), and a religious, openly gay actor/talk show host. Though Larry can be a bit dull, he was really "on" last night and confronted the evangelists with lines like "Don't you think you might learn more by looking at it rather than looking away from it?" Neither of the evangelists had seen BROKEBACK and didn't intend to. Well, fuck you, conservative assholes! BROKEBACK is now the #1 movie in America. I have to give the American people credit for having more open minds to our open legs than I had previously imagined.

The conversation meandered to Matthew Shepard and gay marriage, and the guests never really focused on Hollywood's "homosexual agenda" which the show's title sought to investigate. But just by asking the question "IS HOLLYWOOD HOMOSEXUALIZING AMERICA?" is so ludicrous! I'd say the same even if I weren't a proud cocksucker. As a friend pointed out, if 1 in 10 people are gay, then around 1/10th of all movies, tv shows, books, etc. SHOULD be gay-themed, based simply on the laws of proportion. And Hollywood has always pushed conservatives' buttons with controversial themes like anti-government/establishment films, extra-violent films, films about abortion, religion--basically anything conservatives weren't ready to deal with openly yet. Today, religious freaks squawk about the HARRY POTTER films as occultish. There's really no end to their nerve, and they'd love to see us return to a Puritan era morality with, as both reli-goons expressed on Tuesday, NO sex, even heterosexual, permitted outside of marriage. Larry's christian guests also opposed divorce. Oh, and no dancing or playing cards on Sundays. My own mother was not even allowed to use scissors on Sundays as this might be construed as "work" on The Lord's Day--so this ye olde mindset is not that far behind us. (Please refrain from old age jokes about my mom--or me!) Is this really in synch with the way the country feels? The country which features bikini-clad babes in every video and "out-of-wedlock" dating show? Of course it's not! It's just that the tv news media, far from being part of the mythical "left-wing conspiracy"--which by the way consists of about 2 newspapers and one radio station-- gives these religious nuts the microphone to voice their concerns more often.

And if the truth be told, it's the CHRISTIANIZING OF AMERICA which is really taking place. Hey, there's $ in it. Three gay/transgendered movies winning awards are just a tiny back-step on this country's path to "righteousness", which includes a huge surge in Christian-themed movies, tv shows, cartoons, and even rock groups! Name a gay rock group, for chrissakes! (OK, besides, Scissor Sisters and Le Tigre, which didn't hit that big in the US anyway. And Clay Aiken and Ricky Martin aren't groups. Meow!) Have you ever heard such a ridiculous uproar as the one this past December over "holiday" versus "Christmas"? During the Terri Schiavo saga we even saw christian pharmacists ignore the law and their job's very serious responsibilities by refusing to prescribe "morning after" pills because they don't approve of abortion. They felt they answered to a higher power than any law made by man. What's next? Pharmacist's refusing to dole out AIDS meds because HIV is caused by sinful homosexual, promiscuous or IV drug use life-styles? Separation of church and state is officially a thing of the past: Bush even claims god told him to go to war. Ignore the facts and research (or just don't do any or alter what reseach you actually do to suit your needs) and follow the advice of god.

Well how about this, you fucking assholes? What if god doesn't exist? Then a fairy tale, as occultish as HARRY POTTER, complete with miracles and burning bushes and walking on water and Armageddon, yes a fairy tale is running the nation! INTO THE GROUND. And I'rmageddon sick of it! If god does exist and was speaking to Dubya, you'd think he could've given him better advice on not desecrating God's earth with global warming, killing people in a war that's based on a lie, and he might have even tipped him off about Katrina, the tsunami, Sago, the fires in Oklahoma--SOMETHING to indicate that Bush and God were indeed homies. God might also have reminded him about that biblical passage that states it is "harder for a rich man to get to heaven than for a camel to get through a needle in a haystack"--or whatever it was. At any rate, separation of church and state is one of the principles upon which this (once) great nation was founded--and it's under siege from the evangelicals' agenda. The gay agenda just wants marriage and AIDS meds. Well, and sterile gerbils. And leave those gloryholes open in bus stations, for chrissakes! (It's my best angle.)

One of my fondest memories of college--besides the time the basketball team molested me in the locker room--was of a bright gay student debating some religious types at a public library circa 1982. The reli-goons were quoting the anti-homo parts of the scriptures and this queen stood up and said "Do you speak ancient greek?". Everyone else in the room had to admit that they didn't. This queen then said something to the effect of "Well, I have a degree in it, and you are mutilating the original Bible's meaning." Gasping palpably, they had no retort for that fucking linguist queen. In fact, the Bible they were quoting from was commissioned by an openly gay faggot, King James I, who was referred to at court as Queen James! I came across this interesting article on line, called THANK A HOMOSEXUAL FOR YOUR BIBLE.

"QUEEN" JAMES, AUTHOR OF THE BIBLE


WWW.LIBCHRIST.COM

Among other things, it claims that:


The Hebrew Old Testament clearly documents a sexual relationship between the prophet Daniel and a man named Ashpenaz, and indicates that God put Daniel into that relationship.

Much to the embarrassment of the Vatican, the Catholic theologian Boswell has uncovered proof that, up until the fourteenth century, the church was routinely performing wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples.

The social tides in Europe began to turn against homosexuality around the thirteenth century. Up until that time, there was no organized opposition to homosexuality, either from society or from the church. 

The religious tide did not turn against homosexuals until after the social tides. The change in society's attitude toward homosexuals was the only reason the church stopped marrying them and began to persecute them. 

Boswell found that same-sex marriage continued in certain parts of eastern Europe until the nineteenth century, and that in a few villages, they still continue. 

There is absolutely no condemnation of homosexuality in the Hebrew Old Testament.

There is absolutely no condemnation of homosexuality in the Greek New Testament.

All English translations (one of the earliest being 1611 AD, more than 200 years after the social tide turned against homosexuals, and more than 100 years after the church stopped performing most homosexual weddings) have been deliberately mistranslated to make it appear that God condemned homosexuality.

The Hebrew and Greek scriptures never connected Soddom and Gomorrah with homosexuality. The idea that those cities were destroyed for homosexuality is a man-made notion and is unsupported by scriptures.


Fascinating! So there's actually a precedent for gay weddings within the christian tradition! But through twisting the translations, conveniently omitting some facts, and overlooking the many contradictions between the two testaments, contemporary christians have pieced together a patchwork doctrine which reflects what their narrower views. So that the same gays who were married by the church for centuries, are now declared sinful! Even if you believe in god or the Bible's teachings, this has nothing to do with either. Apparently, the original Bible had nothing against gays.The anti-gay bias in the english translation of the scriptures, if you buy these quotes, is man-made.

Though King James I's gayness is well-documented, I'm sure that these scriptures and their interpretations are hotly disputed. The Bible is translated, re-translated, edited, ad infinitum/nauseum. My real question is WHY? It's a dusty old book which often contradicts itself and needs to be shoved up evangelicals' crusty, self-righteous assholes--maybe then they'd discover the joys of being gay. This is 2006! Don't you dare attack me armed only with some book of myths by dozens of different authors, supposedly inspired by a god I don't even believe in, written long before there was any understanding of a fucking printing press, much less electricity or space travel or the world of enlightenment that's come to pass in the last couple thousand years! Yet perhaps the Bible's authors did understand sexuality, and from these quotes, gays were accepted and married when the book was written, on up to the 13th century! And why isn't god speaking through any more disciples to create new chapters of the Bible? The Pat Robertsons who claim to communicate with him today talk bullshit--calling for assassinations and gloating over "god-sent" hurricanes and heart attacks like Sharon's.

Ok. This is a hard one. Call it my Dr. Phil moment. And I'm preaching to myself now, too, because few of us are strong enough to be unaffected by the notion, ground into our heads as impressionable youngsters, that we should be ashamed of ourselves because homosexuality is "a sin." Hell, even straight women are often made to feel that overly sexual behavior is wrong, which is why many long-married women have never had one orgasm. Whether we get it from church or from society at large (which often gets it from church), gays are steeped in shame from the moment we become aware that we're different. To reveal the true "us", is to be despised, an outcast. This deep, early damage which corresponds with our development as sexual beings probably plays a big part in the self-destructive behaviors many glbt folk engage in like crystal abuse and bare-backing. (Excuse me, I lost my train of thought. Lemme do another bump.) Recently confronted with whether or not I needed to take an AIDS test, I had to confront the buried notion, that on some level I felt I was "bad" and deserved the disease. And I know I'm not alone: an english AIDS magazine just sent me a questionnaire and the first question was "Is AIDS God's revenge?" I was shocked that this question would come from a magazine about AIDS. Who's writing the questions--Donna Summer? (FYI: Donna shocked her huge gay audience by reportedly suggesting/stating/hinting/whatever that AIDS WAS god's revenge on gays. If true, now that infection rates of black females have surpassed those of gay men, I wonder who god's avenging now, BAD GIRL?) But here's an idea which might reverse some of that damage. I'm not religious myself, but let's assume that you are gay, religious, you know that you are a decent person, but you really can't reconcile yourself with the way that the mainstream church frowns on your sexual orientation.


DONNA SUMMER'S GAY STYLISTS GET REVENGE ON HER WITH THIS ROTTED LOOK!


WHAT ARE THE MAINSTREAM CHURCH'S NEGATIVE IDEAS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALS BASED ON?

According to the quotes from this article, which indicate that the church married gays freely until SOCIETY, not GOD, put pressure on the church to conform with SOCIETY's, not GOD's, changing values. Wow! Maybe god has approved of us all along! Maybe the scriptures indicate that god wants us to be joined in holy matrimony. But then centuries ago, society turned on us, re-translated the bible, and those in power pronounced us "sinful" and pulled the butt plug on same-sex marriage. Are you gonna buy it? Don't you feel that you are right within yourself, and that god made you the way he and his all-powerful self wanted you to be? And take a look at those in power today, who claim to serve god while serving their own greed. Is falsifying evidence to launch a war which has killed thousands christian in any way? Or does it deliberately ignore THOU SHALT NOT KILL? Why should the powers that were, who turned against homosexuals hundreds of years ago, be any less suspect than the powers that be, today? Bush does act like a king from the Midle Ages, who can lie, spy, torture or anything else he wants since he's annointed by god.

Larry's religious panelist's referred to one "absolute transcendent eternal truth" which "said don't engage in that (ie: gay) behavior." THERE IS NO ONE TRUTH! THERE IS NO ONE RELIGION! How can these freaks be so pompous? Well, it doesn't matter how. They are that pompous, and we've got to shout them down with the same righteous indignation they use to denounce us. We've got to be as organized as they are in our condemnation of their narrow-mindedness, since their disapproval is now a major policy-making force in our country, touching on everything from depriving us of the benefits of stem-cell research, to denying a woman's right to choose, to denying the accepted theory of evolution in favor of a system which better lines up with their fairy tale.

One of Larry's gay guests was a christian, who wrestled with the christian idea that homosexuality is a sin until he formulated his own way of talking to god which worked for him--a loving, forgiving god who embraces his sexuality. I think it's interesteing that this gay actor molds god to make him say what he wants to hear, just like the evangelicals, the suicide bombers, and Pat Robertson do. Remember, if you are a christian, you have certain BELIEFS--something you believe, but can't prove. No matter how strongly you FEEL that god is a part of your life, there is no fact that backs up the existence of a higher power. Oh, I know many will say "How could you explain the sunset, the planets, the seasons, the intricacies of a butterfly's wings, if there's no god?" I can't. But just because I'm mystified by the universe doesn't mean I have to invent an old man with a long white beard who lives in the sky to explain everything that's beyond my comprehension. So, I'm definitely not going to base my life or notions of right and wrong on an ancient, contradictory, mis-translated book of fairy tales inspired by "him." NEXT!

PS: Thanks for listening. My psychiatrist took the week off to try to get her license back after a malpractice suit.