November 03, 2004

Ohio in the Balance

Give the devil his due: it was brilliant to appeal to the social issues that a president cannot legislate to steer the voters away from real issues. Ohio seems to be a case in point in this legerdemain that requires a suspension of disbelief or a willingness to be distracted from more substantial moral issues. The definition of marriage as a legally binding covenant between a man and a woman is the case in point. Like all contracts, the issues that define them have to do with the dissolution rather than consummation of the compact. Divorce law, especially issues of child custody, are impacted. Certainly no fairminded person would deny a couple - regardless of sexual orientation - the rights of inheritance, power of attorney, and others that are associated with marriage. Finally I don't believe that this is the point: Social conservatives tend to equate morality with their genitals rather than with the intrinsic value of human life.

We are involved in an immoral war in Iraq. Why has that not incensed the social conservatives. Is it because they are powerless and the war is distant (at least until their sons and daughters arrive home in body bags) and homosexuality is a closer "enemy" that threatens their perceptions of the world? I have to wonder about the value of human life. How many Iraqis have been killed for no good reason. Is that not an immoral abuse of power? Why was this war prosecuted? How about more pressing issues like the economy? Gas is nearly $3.00 per gallon. Who is making the profit on the oil purchased with Iraqi and American blood?

Sex is something that we all enjoy. I have had partners in the triple digits (hard to believe, but true). I experimented with same-sex eroticism and confirmed that I am as straight as they come (no pun intended). There are several women that, in retrospect, I wish I had not had relations with. There are some that I barely remember. Others are very dear to me. What does it matter where I put my penis? My lover and I are the only ones that are concerned about that. She knows that it is for her alone and that I am happy being faithful to the woman I love. But I digress. That I've had some sexual experience does not make me a bad person. There are a couple of events that I truly regret.

I have come to see sexual expression as something that is undervalued and trivialize, much like human life. Here is where I agree with social conservatives: how this is lived is where we part company. I have no wish to see legislation to define who may sleep with whom and how. Is anal intercourse immoral? How about fellatio? How about threesomes? The funny thing is that in any threesome there is one person of one gender and two of the other: is there not a sense of homoeroticism here? I don't care who sleeps with whom so long as they are consenting adults. There are practices that I find difficult, some even offensive to my sensibilities. There are none that should be legislated. This is personal freedom.

Marriage and divorce fall into that category. The irony is that social conservatives tend to support marriage. To limit a gay couple (of either gender) to a committed and stable relationship is to limit the sexual immorality that is perceived to appertain to homosexual lifestyles. It would follow that social conservatives would support gay marriage. But in the sleight of hand that is conservative politics it is just not so.

It seems that the devil had demanded his due: the soul of the country and we are all the poorer for having confused sexuality for morality that values the human life above all actions or choices.

Sad to say, the "defense" of marriage became the point that may have cost Mr. Kerry the election. Who would have thought that where men put their penises would be more compelling than the state of the economy, the unwarranted and dastardly lies told to the American people to justify a war that has shed blood for no other reason than to line the pockets of the Saudi royal family, the Bush family, and others involved in blood for oil.

Today I am ashamed to be American.