Finally, there is also an element of extreme dis-ease in the American personality, despite endless explicit (and violent) television shows, movies, advertising, porn and the socially sanctioned objectification of both sexes, that assures we remain deeply uncomfortable with the idea of sex in general. Gays are not the bogeyman, but rather fear of individual sexual expression outside the established power structure of church and state that serves the few and maintains forced order. It is as if under the Abercrombie & Fitch and J Crew and behind the wheels of BMW's, half of our population while benefiting from advanced technology and the immutable laws of science, are still seventeenth century puritans clad in black with forbidding hats and a still more forbidding look in their eye that says condescendingly, I feel guilty inside about my sexual needs and desires, so everyone I see must be guilty too"
It's a nuclear judgment that appears to penetrate to the atoms and informs all we do and the flavor of our civilization. It's this unsettling disconnect and lack of unity between the spiritual and the physical that qualifies as one of what Bill Maher on his HBO Real Time show calls Big Old Dead Ideas - things that we simply need to get past by honestly questioning our own intentions, analyzing our behavior and taking responsibility for ourselves first before moving to attempt to exercise our demons of sex, procreation and power by piling them onto the backs of others making others ugly and unworthy of God's love, so we then will feel relieved of the effort and necessity of compassion.
This leads to both neuroses and to prejudice. It a childish thing when childish things need to be put aside for the higher good and advancement of our country. We need a new Renaissance of Wholeness versus segmenting ourselves into boxes that we are then trapped in.
The real education reform should begin with instilling an idea of the person in our young that is large enough to contain both the idea of self worth and freedom of expression. Kids are ahead of the curve anyway thanks to the Internet, music and alternative media. Why not encourage exploration instead of denial? Life can be much richer when as the doctor in EQUUS suggests: Worship everything you see and more appears!
Dr. Emilie Cady once wrote: Desire is God tapping at the door of your mind, trying to give you your greater good. Catherine Ponder in her book called Dynamic Laws of Prosperity states: If you suppress those deep desires, they have no constructive outlet and often turn into destructive channels expressed as neurotic tendencies, phobias, tension, or perhaps as suppression that finds outlet through alcoholism, mental illness, drug addiction, sexual imbalance or other negative actions.
As far as marriage goes, I have been partnered for two years with an amazing man. I adhere to the Platonic idea expressed in his Symposium regarding procreation that says: The purpose of love is giving birth in beauty (or joy in company), whether in body or soul. The true love of the gods (or God) belongs to anyone who has given birth to true virtue and beauty and nourished it, and if any human being could become immortal, it would be he.
This opens up an altogether different idea of a relationship bearing fruit in ways other than producing offspring. I enjoy the freedom I have claimed for myself, as well as the long, painful but also exhilarating legacy of the journey of gay people into the bright light of freedom.
However, I like being a rebel and now of all times, we need more rebels and not conformists. The term transgressive has long been deemed negative, but it's not a bad thing to transgress against what is wrong or even evil. I want sex and love and travel and art and to take in the whole world. I do not require a society's or a corrupt government's sanction to be worthy. I do not need to be married.
BUT, for anyone who does desire that path, that personal choice certainly deserves the status of a legally protected right as an expansion of our living Constitution. This can only strengthen our understanding of our founding principles, increase our compassion and multiply the stability of our republic. Hopefully, all of our leaders will one day learn to apply all those lessons of empathy learned from coping with differences to make, enforce and truly interpret the law and end up on the side of freedom.
The time is now. Never waste a crisis, and never let surface things delude us and keep us from focusing on our true purpose and the opportunities present in every moment of life. Speak up for, or speak out against this opinion, but for all our sakes, please make sense!
To read more of Chris Keith's writing, visit the Weblog: www.seeingpastred.blogspot.com
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