Nate Knows Nada

From over at Andrew Sullivan’s site:

WAR WAS NOT THE ISSUE:
I have to say it’s almost funny that for the past few months, I’ve been
harangued about the selfishness of gays who put their issues ahead of
pressing matters like the war, and yet the exit polls show something
rather different. The gay vote for Bush was – amazingly – only slightly
down on 2000. Many of them obviously thought the war or the economy was
pre-eminent. But for evangelicals, the issue of “moral values” trumped
the war! It wasn’t about the war on terror for the Bush base. It was
about the war on gay unions. Oh, the ironies.

So ask me what it’s like to be a member of the
only minority group that it’s still acceptable to hate in public. 
It sucks.  Substitute “black” for any of the langauge used in
passing the eleven anti-gay initiatives the other day.  Sound
anything like Jim Crow?  It should, because majorities in this
country are abusing the power of the ballot box to punish minorities.

What I find funny is that among the evangelicals I grew up within,
there was a constant refrain about the seculars and the humanists being
against us, persecuting us, trying to destroy God for us, trying to
restrict our freedoms, and so on.  And I know that this language
and perceived persecution continues for evangelicals.  But they’re
just proven their power, they control the instruments of government,
and they are asking for more, more, more.  But they can’t even
follow one of the most basic rules of their faith: “Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you.”  Even though I don’t see any
real evidence that conservative Christians are under attack from a
culture set on destroying them, many of them would do to us exactly
that which they claim has been done to them.

I’m not surprised by this hatred and hypocrisy, but it seems necessary to point it out.

Sullivan concludes by noting that we are right.  And I note that
Sullivan’s words ring more true with the Gospel of Christ than any bile
from the mouth of a fag-hater.

STAND TALL: But
one more thing is important. The dignity of our lives and our
relationships as gay people is not dependent on heterosexual approval
or tolerance. Our dignity exists regardless of their fear. We have
something invaluable in this struggle: the knowledge that we are in the
right, that our loves are as deep and as powerful and as God-given as
their loves, that our relationships truly are bonds of faith and hope
that are worthy, in God’s eyes and our own, of equal respect. Being gay
is a blessing. The minute we let their fear and ignorance enter into
our own souls, we lose. We have gained too much and come through too
much to let ourselves be defined by others. We must turn hurt back into
pride. Cheap, easy victories based on untruth and fear and cynicism are
pyrrhic ones. In time, they will fall. So hold your heads up high. Do
not give in to despair. Do not let the Republican party rob you of your
hopes. This is America. Equality will win in the end.

The Kingdom of God never proves easy or
quick.  But its justice for the downtrodden and mercy for all roll
irresistably on, “casting down the mighty from their seats and exalting
the humble and meek.” 

I just sometimes wish that the day would get here sooner.