Just as I was writing the Buse story (here) the Clay news broke.
Um, was there ever any question? YAWN
Showing posts with label gay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gay. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Hypocrite of the far right (for today): Mark Buse
Posted without comment (until later, of course):
John McCain's Chief of Staff, Mark Buse, is Gay
UPDATE: My thoughts here
John McCain's Chief of Staff, Mark Buse, is Gay
UPDATE: My thoughts here
Thursday, September 18, 2008
An open letter to the family of Ray Boltz
Recently I received a comment on one of my posts about Ray Boltz. It said it was from a family member of Boltz. It was very kind and it asked that I not publish the comment but gave me permission to use it if I wished. Since my comments are moderated I decided not to publish. Instead I am writing that person (and others in their family) this letter in hopes that they return to my blog and see it.
To the family of Ray Boltz,
As a child and young adult I had many of Ray’s CDs. They brought me comfort and joy in some very dark hours of my life. I even saw Ray in concert once and remember how joyous I felt in that auditorium. He truly touched my life through his music.
I am a gay man and at the age of twenty, while living in Washington DC, the path that was my life split in two. Down one road I could continue to hide who I was, ashamed and alone, so as not to upset my family, most of whom were (and are) evangelical Christians. Down the other road I could pursue truth, and live honestly and openly just as God had created me to be, and accept the consequences that such honesty would bring. The decision was not easy, and in fact in many ways my coming out was not even my own doing.
I know the shock and even pain that my decision caused many in my family. My mother had to deal with not only a gay son but also with the knowledge that her ex-husband, my father, was gay as well. I cannot even begin to imagine what a woman with her beliefs, albeit misguided, went through. The grieving process was probably too much to bear at times.
When I asked my little brother, then just a boy, how my being gay made him feel he responded with tears in his eyes “It makes me love you less”.
He has since grown out of that childlike mentality. Now that little boy is a sophomore at NYU and has no issues with the fact that he has a gay brother.
But even today, over eleven years later, the relationship with my mother is strained due to my being gay. I harbor so much resentment and anger at her for holding on to beliefs that have been repudiated by some of the world's most learned Biblical scholars, not to mention science and common sense and the Bible itself. And the pain that her beliefs cause me is still as raw as it was in the beginning.
I imagine she harbors some anger at me as well. And sadly, she may spend the rest of her life carrying around the needless baggage of antiquated beliefs. It is those very beliefs that caused me to walk away from the church and never look back. It is those beliefs that have caused millions of shepherd boys and girls to walk away.
Which brings me to the purpose of this letter.
I have no idea what each of your beliefs are regarding homosexuality. Actually, for the purpose of what I want to convey, your beliefs are beside the point.
You may be grieving the Ray you thought you knew. You may not know what it is you are supposed to do now (although, as I understand it you all have known for a little while now). I am sure that so many tears have been shed and there are, even now, so many questions yet unanswered.
It’s ok.
It’s ok to curse the heavens and God and everything in between and it is even ok to be angry at Ray. But know this.
He is still the same man. He is still the same man of God. He is still the same man who moved hundreds of thousands of people to a closer relationship with their Heavenly Father. And above all else, he is still the same man who loves you all with all his heart. And I assure you that if there was anything – anything -- he could have done to change himself he would have without hesitation.
And know something else as well.
When I came out I packed up my Christian music CDs, including Ray’s. I could no longer listen to the music of people who believed my very existence to be an abomination. I could no longer praise the God they were praising.
When I heard the news about Ray on Monday I began to cry. And while I was crying I listened to “The Anchor Holds” over and over and over again. And in the end I was on my feet singing with Ray, praising God for the first time in years. The shepherd boy that had walked away from the church so many years ago because he no longer felt welcome, that boy, now a grown man, felt welcome to sing again.
I can now sing those songs, standing with my eyes towards the heavens and remember that no matter what stands in my way, no matter what the religious leaders tell me, no matter what people think of me, no matter how disgusting they think I am, I am still worthy enough to praise God.
That is the gift Ray Boltz gave me on Monday. He gave me permission…
permission to praise God again
Thank you for sharing Ray with us. There are, yet still, many lives to be changed,
Jon-Marc McDonald
To the family of Ray Boltz,
As a child and young adult I had many of Ray’s CDs. They brought me comfort and joy in some very dark hours of my life. I even saw Ray in concert once and remember how joyous I felt in that auditorium. He truly touched my life through his music.
I am a gay man and at the age of twenty, while living in Washington DC, the path that was my life split in two. Down one road I could continue to hide who I was, ashamed and alone, so as not to upset my family, most of whom were (and are) evangelical Christians. Down the other road I could pursue truth, and live honestly and openly just as God had created me to be, and accept the consequences that such honesty would bring. The decision was not easy, and in fact in many ways my coming out was not even my own doing.
I know the shock and even pain that my decision caused many in my family. My mother had to deal with not only a gay son but also with the knowledge that her ex-husband, my father, was gay as well. I cannot even begin to imagine what a woman with her beliefs, albeit misguided, went through. The grieving process was probably too much to bear at times.
When I asked my little brother, then just a boy, how my being gay made him feel he responded with tears in his eyes “It makes me love you less”.
He has since grown out of that childlike mentality. Now that little boy is a sophomore at NYU and has no issues with the fact that he has a gay brother.
But even today, over eleven years later, the relationship with my mother is strained due to my being gay. I harbor so much resentment and anger at her for holding on to beliefs that have been repudiated by some of the world's most learned Biblical scholars, not to mention science and common sense and the Bible itself. And the pain that her beliefs cause me is still as raw as it was in the beginning.
I imagine she harbors some anger at me as well. And sadly, she may spend the rest of her life carrying around the needless baggage of antiquated beliefs. It is those very beliefs that caused me to walk away from the church and never look back. It is those beliefs that have caused millions of shepherd boys and girls to walk away.
Which brings me to the purpose of this letter.
I have no idea what each of your beliefs are regarding homosexuality. Actually, for the purpose of what I want to convey, your beliefs are beside the point.
You may be grieving the Ray you thought you knew. You may not know what it is you are supposed to do now (although, as I understand it you all have known for a little while now). I am sure that so many tears have been shed and there are, even now, so many questions yet unanswered.
It’s ok.
It’s ok to curse the heavens and God and everything in between and it is even ok to be angry at Ray. But know this.
He is still the same man. He is still the same man of God. He is still the same man who moved hundreds of thousands of people to a closer relationship with their Heavenly Father. And above all else, he is still the same man who loves you all with all his heart. And I assure you that if there was anything – anything -- he could have done to change himself he would have without hesitation.
And know something else as well.
When I came out I packed up my Christian music CDs, including Ray’s. I could no longer listen to the music of people who believed my very existence to be an abomination. I could no longer praise the God they were praising.
When I heard the news about Ray on Monday I began to cry. And while I was crying I listened to “The Anchor Holds” over and over and over again. And in the end I was on my feet singing with Ray, praising God for the first time in years. The shepherd boy that had walked away from the church so many years ago because he no longer felt welcome, that boy, now a grown man, felt welcome to sing again.
I can now sing those songs, standing with my eyes towards the heavens and remember that no matter what stands in my way, no matter what the religious leaders tell me, no matter what people think of me, no matter how disgusting they think I am, I am still worthy enough to praise God.
That is the gift Ray Boltz gave me on Monday. He gave me permission…
permission to praise God again
Thank you for sharing Ray with us. There are, yet still, many lives to be changed,
Jon-Marc McDonald
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Why Ray Boltz Matters...And James Dobson Does Not
Reading the various responses from so called “Christians” over the admission by Ray Boltz that he is gay is enough to make one sick. I expected the outcry to be swift and brutal and the Christianists do not disappoint. Actually, when it comes to their vile condemnation of gays, the Christianists never disappoint.
You know, it’s the usual dribble from people who are unable to think for themselves. Instead they regurgitate old arguments that can be, and have been, refuted time after time.
But when one chooses to “bury my head in the sand” as my mother proudly proclaims, then when revelations such as Boltz’ come out, instead of responding analytically, with reason and deliberate contemplation, Christianists simply become the dog of Pavlov, conditioned to spit out automated responses.
Actually, they are more like the dogs of Dobson, the seemingly perennial leader of the far right. Dobson, from his perch high atop the Colorado mountains, separates the venial sins from the mortal sins for his followers lest they be burdened with such a difficult task.
Yes, Dobson regularly says that everyone’s a sinner and all have fallen short…blah, blah, blah. But this is just another case where his actions are in conflict with his words. Actually his words are in conflict with his words. And no one, including Dobson’s most devout worshippers (Tom Minnery, say what?), can square Daddy D’s obsession with gay people with the totality of the Bible, no matter how hard they try.
Anyway, when something such as the Ray Boltz story breaks, it is religiously wired in the evangelical’s brain to start their symbolic salivating. Before you even read the comments, you know what they will say. And what they say speaks to their horizontal faith, not their God inspired convictions.
Often times they attempt to avoid the religious underpinnings of their bigotry by instead using the words of homosexuals against homosexuals. The most frequently used, and outrageously hilarious, is the book “After the Ball”. This book, by two homosexual marketers, is often cited by the Devout Dobson Do-Nothings as “evidence” that there is, in fact, a homosexual agenda. If you go to a “Love Won Out” conference (a conference aimed at gays who want to “pray away the gay” and those that love them) you will hear references to the book continuously.
In fact, if you were to only listen to Dobson’s Army of Mental Midgets (yep, I’ve settled on that one. The DAMMs from here on out), you would think “After the Ball” was a gay-manifesto that every homosexual had hidden under their mattress for quick reference in case they forget what the “agenda” is.
The book, written in 1989, is proof positive that the gays are using things such as AIDS to garner sympathy for the cause (because, you know, AIDS is an endearing sort of disease). At least that’s what the DAMMs and others such as Robert Knight would have you believe.
But the truth is I, and most of my fellow homos, would have never even heard of the book if it were not for the repetitious citations by the far-right. In fact, I have never even seen the book except once at Strand Bookstore, a used book bookstore, on sale for .75 cents.
That doesn’t stop Papa D from getting his vestments in a wad, though. He believes that the book is a “play-book” to elicit sympathy from the unsuspecting, pure as the driven snow, American public.
This, of course, is intellectually lazy and Dobson knows it. He just knows the DAMMs do not. Taking his continual citation of “After the Ball” to its logical conclusion would inevitably lead to his opponents citing any of the thousands of outlandish books written through the ages by so-called Christians calling for everything from ethnic cleansing to war.
But Dobson depends on the ignorance of his followers. He not only depends on it, he banks on it, literally. The lemmings that worship at the alter of the Dobson empire have made him not only an extremely powerful and dangerous man, but an extremely wealthy man as well.
Ray Boltz’ music has touched millions of people. He is still the same man he was ten years ago. The difference is now we all know. Nothing has changed about Ray Boltz the man. Nothing, except that he has shared with us a burden he has carried within for too long.
Instead of throwing out his music, or waxing poetic about loving the sinner and hating the sin, perhaps the Christianists could try something else. Perhaps they could try simply loving. Period. No conditions, no attachments, just pure, vertical, God-like love. Perhaps they could quit quantifying so called sins and start getting down to what the Bible really does, and does not, say about homosexuality. Perhaps they could tell Daddy Dobson to shut the hell up, tell him that he no longer gets to claim the banner of Christ because he has sullied that banner in the slop for too long. Perhaps there will be a leader, a shepherd boy if you will, that will rise up out of the dust bin of the religious right and call God’s people to a fuller understanding of all of his children. Perhaps those who got teary eyed every time they heard “Thank You” will whisper a prayer of thanks for Ray Boltz instead of praying for Ray Boltz. Perhaps, on the other side of tomorrow we will look back at this dark time in our nation's history and shake our heads in disbelief that someone as spiritually deficient as James Dobson could have even existed, much less influenced so many to hate.
Perhaps…but not likely.
You know, it’s the usual dribble from people who are unable to think for themselves. Instead they regurgitate old arguments that can be, and have been, refuted time after time.
But when one chooses to “bury my head in the sand” as my mother proudly proclaims, then when revelations such as Boltz’ come out, instead of responding analytically, with reason and deliberate contemplation, Christianists simply become the dog of Pavlov, conditioned to spit out automated responses.
Actually, they are more like the dogs of Dobson, the seemingly perennial leader of the far right. Dobson, from his perch high atop the Colorado mountains, separates the venial sins from the mortal sins for his followers lest they be burdened with such a difficult task.
Yes, Dobson regularly says that everyone’s a sinner and all have fallen short…blah, blah, blah. But this is just another case where his actions are in conflict with his words. Actually his words are in conflict with his words. And no one, including Dobson’s most devout worshippers (Tom Minnery, say what?), can square Daddy D’s obsession with gay people with the totality of the Bible, no matter how hard they try.
Anyway, when something such as the Ray Boltz story breaks, it is religiously wired in the evangelical’s brain to start their symbolic salivating. Before you even read the comments, you know what they will say. And what they say speaks to their horizontal faith, not their God inspired convictions.
Often times they attempt to avoid the religious underpinnings of their bigotry by instead using the words of homosexuals against homosexuals. The most frequently used, and outrageously hilarious, is the book “After the Ball”. This book, by two homosexual marketers, is often cited by the Devout Dobson Do-Nothings as “evidence” that there is, in fact, a homosexual agenda. If you go to a “Love Won Out” conference (a conference aimed at gays who want to “pray away the gay” and those that love them) you will hear references to the book continuously.
In fact, if you were to only listen to Dobson’s Army of Mental Midgets (yep, I’ve settled on that one. The DAMMs from here on out), you would think “After the Ball” was a gay-manifesto that every homosexual had hidden under their mattress for quick reference in case they forget what the “agenda” is.
The book, written in 1989, is proof positive that the gays are using things such as AIDS to garner sympathy for the cause (because, you know, AIDS is an endearing sort of disease). At least that’s what the DAMMs and others such as Robert Knight would have you believe.
But the truth is I, and most of my fellow homos, would have never even heard of the book if it were not for the repetitious citations by the far-right. In fact, I have never even seen the book except once at Strand Bookstore, a used book bookstore, on sale for .75 cents.
That doesn’t stop Papa D from getting his vestments in a wad, though. He believes that the book is a “play-book” to elicit sympathy from the unsuspecting, pure as the driven snow, American public.
This, of course, is intellectually lazy and Dobson knows it. He just knows the DAMMs do not. Taking his continual citation of “After the Ball” to its logical conclusion would inevitably lead to his opponents citing any of the thousands of outlandish books written through the ages by so-called Christians calling for everything from ethnic cleansing to war.
But Dobson depends on the ignorance of his followers. He not only depends on it, he banks on it, literally. The lemmings that worship at the alter of the Dobson empire have made him not only an extremely powerful and dangerous man, but an extremely wealthy man as well.
Ray Boltz’ music has touched millions of people. He is still the same man he was ten years ago. The difference is now we all know. Nothing has changed about Ray Boltz the man. Nothing, except that he has shared with us a burden he has carried within for too long.
Instead of throwing out his music, or waxing poetic about loving the sinner and hating the sin, perhaps the Christianists could try something else. Perhaps they could try simply loving. Period. No conditions, no attachments, just pure, vertical, God-like love. Perhaps they could quit quantifying so called sins and start getting down to what the Bible really does, and does not, say about homosexuality. Perhaps they could tell Daddy Dobson to shut the hell up, tell him that he no longer gets to claim the banner of Christ because he has sullied that banner in the slop for too long. Perhaps there will be a leader, a shepherd boy if you will, that will rise up out of the dust bin of the religious right and call God’s people to a fuller understanding of all of his children. Perhaps those who got teary eyed every time they heard “Thank You” will whisper a prayer of thanks for Ray Boltz instead of praying for Ray Boltz. Perhaps, on the other side of tomorrow we will look back at this dark time in our nation's history and shake our heads in disbelief that someone as spiritually deficient as James Dobson could have even existed, much less influenced so many to hate.
Perhaps…but not likely.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
When others see a faggot boy, God may see King: Ray Boltz comes out of the closet and admits he's gay
UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST:
Ray Boltz, a contemporary christian musician who sold over 4.5 million albums, has come out of the closet.
“I’d denied it ever since I was a kid," Boltz, 55, told the Washington Blade. "I became a Christian, I thought that was the way to deal with this and I prayed hard and tried for 30-some years and then at the end, I was just going, ‘I’m still gay. I know I am.’ And I just got to the place where I couldn’t take it anymore … when I was going through all this darkness, I thought, ‘Just end this.’”
I am honestly crying while writing this. The courage it takes for anyone to come out is remarkable. But the brutality he will face from the Christianists for disclosing this will be close to unbearable. His songs will cease being played, he will be rejected at Churches and, as one commenter on Christianity Today put it:
That's their God for ya, Ray! Reject until you repent!
What can be said? We are known by the fruit we bear. So, being a great musician and exalting the Lord is not enough. Repentance is necessary. We read about a man who committed sexual sin in 1 Corinthians-the church was to reject him until he repented. Likewise, Ray should be ignored but welcomed back whenever he truly repents.
But I grew up listening to his music. "Watch the Lamb" and "Thank You" are songs that nearly every Evangelical Christian can recite.
I pray his courage allows others within his industry to come out as well. Lord knows there are more closeted gays in the conservative church than any where else!
Good on 'ya, Ray! Jesus is smiling even though some of those who claim his name are not.
Thank you, Ray, for living your truth. There are many lives that will be changed!
UPDATE: I should note that I was briefly a part of a children's christian singing group, Power Source, that was made famous for a time by a Ray Boltz song Dear Mr. Jesus
Friday, March 7, 2008
Happy one year, babe!
Today is our (Ric and me) one year wedding anniversary. I made a little video for him.
Friday, April 13, 2007
The Original Broadway Edna, Brilliant He
By HARVEY FIERSTEIN
Published: April 13, 2007
New York Times
AMERICA is watching Don Imus’s self-immolation in a state of shock and awe. And I’m watching America with wry amusement.
Since I’m a second-class citizen — a gay man — my seats for the ballgame of American discourse are way back in the bleachers. I don’t have to wait long for a shock jock or stand-up comedian to slip up with hateful epithets aimed at me and mine. Hate speak against homosexuals is as commonplace as spam. It’s daily traffic for those who profess themselves to be regular Joes, men of God, public servants who live off my tax dollars, as well as any number of celebrities.
In fact, I get a good chuckle whenever someone refers to “the media” as an agent of “the gay agenda.” There are entire channels, like Spike TV, that couldn’t fill an hour of programming if required to remove their sexist and homophobic content. We’ve got a president and a large part of Congress willing to change the Constitution so they can deprive of us our rights because they feel we are not “normal.”
So I’m used to catching foul balls up here in the cheap seats. What I am really enjoying is watching the rest of you act as if you had no idea that prejudice was alive and well in your hearts and minds.
For the past two decades political correctness has been derided as a surrender to thin-skinned, humorless, uptight oversensitive sissies. Well, you anti-politically correct people have won the battle, and we’re all now feasting on the spoils of your victory. During the last few months alone we’ve had a few comedians spout racism, a basketball coach put forth anti-Semitism and several high-profile spoutings of anti-gay epithets.
What surprises me, I guess, is how choosy the anti-P.C. crowd is about which hate speech it will not tolerate. Sure, there were voices of protest when the TV actor Isaiah Washington called a gay colleague a “faggot.” But corporate America didn’t pull its advertising from “Grey’s Anatomy,” as it did with Mr. Imus, did it? And when Ann Coulter likewise tagged a presidential candidate last month, she paid no real price.
In fact, when Bill Maher discussed Ms. Coulter’s remarks on his HBO show, he repeated the slur no fewer than four times himself; each mention, I must note, solicited a laugh from his audience. No one called for any sort of apology from him. (Well, actually, I did, so the following week he only used it once.)
Face it, if a Pentagon general, his salary paid with my tax dollars, can label homosexual acts as “immoral” without a call for his dismissal, who are the moral high and mighty kidding?
Our nation, historically bursting with generosity toward strangers, remains remarkably unkind toward its own. Just under our gleaming patina of inclusiveness, we harbor corroding guts. America, I tell you that it doesn’t matter how many times you brush your teeth. If your insides are rotting your breath will stink. So, how do you people choose which hate to embrace, which to forgive with a wink and a week in rehab, and which to protest? Where’s my copy of that rule book?
Let me cite a non-volatile example of how prejudice can cohabit unchecked with good intentions. I am a huge fan of David Letterman’s. I watch the opening of his show a couple of times a week and have done so for decades. Without fail, in his opening monologue or skit Mr. Letterman makes a joke about someone being fat. I kid you not. Will that destroy our nation? Should he be fired or lose his sponsors? Obviously not.
But I think that there is something deeper going on at the Letterman studio than coincidence. And, as I’ve said, I cite this example simply to illustrate that all kinds of prejudice exist in the human heart. Some are harmless. Some not so harmless. But we need to understand who we are if we wish to change. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should confess to not only being a gay American, but also a fat one. Yes, I’m a double winner.)
I urge you to look around, or better yet, listen around and become aware of the prejudice in everyday life. We are so surrounded by expressions of intolerance that I am in shock and awe that anyone noticed all these recent high-profile instances. Still, I’m gladdened because our no longer being deaf to them may signal their eventual eradication.
The real point is that you cannot harbor malice toward others and then cry foul when someone displays intolerance against you. Prejudice tolerated is intolerance encouraged. Rise up in righteousness when you witness the words and deeds of hate, but only if you are willing to rise up against them all, including your own. Otherwise suffer the slings and arrows of disrespect silently.
Harvey Fierstein is an actor and playwright.
Published: April 13, 2007
New York Times
AMERICA is watching Don Imus’s self-immolation in a state of shock and awe. And I’m watching America with wry amusement.
Since I’m a second-class citizen — a gay man — my seats for the ballgame of American discourse are way back in the bleachers. I don’t have to wait long for a shock jock or stand-up comedian to slip up with hateful epithets aimed at me and mine. Hate speak against homosexuals is as commonplace as spam. It’s daily traffic for those who profess themselves to be regular Joes, men of God, public servants who live off my tax dollars, as well as any number of celebrities.
In fact, I get a good chuckle whenever someone refers to “the media” as an agent of “the gay agenda.” There are entire channels, like Spike TV, that couldn’t fill an hour of programming if required to remove their sexist and homophobic content. We’ve got a president and a large part of Congress willing to change the Constitution so they can deprive of us our rights because they feel we are not “normal.”
So I’m used to catching foul balls up here in the cheap seats. What I am really enjoying is watching the rest of you act as if you had no idea that prejudice was alive and well in your hearts and minds.
For the past two decades political correctness has been derided as a surrender to thin-skinned, humorless, uptight oversensitive sissies. Well, you anti-politically correct people have won the battle, and we’re all now feasting on the spoils of your victory. During the last few months alone we’ve had a few comedians spout racism, a basketball coach put forth anti-Semitism and several high-profile spoutings of anti-gay epithets.
What surprises me, I guess, is how choosy the anti-P.C. crowd is about which hate speech it will not tolerate. Sure, there were voices of protest when the TV actor Isaiah Washington called a gay colleague a “faggot.” But corporate America didn’t pull its advertising from “Grey’s Anatomy,” as it did with Mr. Imus, did it? And when Ann Coulter likewise tagged a presidential candidate last month, she paid no real price.
In fact, when Bill Maher discussed Ms. Coulter’s remarks on his HBO show, he repeated the slur no fewer than four times himself; each mention, I must note, solicited a laugh from his audience. No one called for any sort of apology from him. (Well, actually, I did, so the following week he only used it once.)
Face it, if a Pentagon general, his salary paid with my tax dollars, can label homosexual acts as “immoral” without a call for his dismissal, who are the moral high and mighty kidding?
Our nation, historically bursting with generosity toward strangers, remains remarkably unkind toward its own. Just under our gleaming patina of inclusiveness, we harbor corroding guts. America, I tell you that it doesn’t matter how many times you brush your teeth. If your insides are rotting your breath will stink. So, how do you people choose which hate to embrace, which to forgive with a wink and a week in rehab, and which to protest? Where’s my copy of that rule book?
Let me cite a non-volatile example of how prejudice can cohabit unchecked with good intentions. I am a huge fan of David Letterman’s. I watch the opening of his show a couple of times a week and have done so for decades. Without fail, in his opening monologue or skit Mr. Letterman makes a joke about someone being fat. I kid you not. Will that destroy our nation? Should he be fired or lose his sponsors? Obviously not.
But I think that there is something deeper going on at the Letterman studio than coincidence. And, as I’ve said, I cite this example simply to illustrate that all kinds of prejudice exist in the human heart. Some are harmless. Some not so harmless. But we need to understand who we are if we wish to change. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should confess to not only being a gay American, but also a fat one. Yes, I’m a double winner.)
I urge you to look around, or better yet, listen around and become aware of the prejudice in everyday life. We are so surrounded by expressions of intolerance that I am in shock and awe that anyone noticed all these recent high-profile instances. Still, I’m gladdened because our no longer being deaf to them may signal their eventual eradication.
The real point is that you cannot harbor malice toward others and then cry foul when someone displays intolerance against you. Prejudice tolerated is intolerance encouraged. Rise up in righteousness when you witness the words and deeds of hate, but only if you are willing to rise up against them all, including your own. Otherwise suffer the slings and arrows of disrespect silently.
Harvey Fierstein is an actor and playwright.
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