Home › Forums › Open Discussion › On Palin and being gay in 2008
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September 24, 2008 at 10:37 pm #588172
ZenguyParticipantThis is an article written by a friend that I believe needs exposure, it is long but worth reading.
The other day I went to the Facebook page of my 16-year-old gay nephew, who lives in a rural area of a Red State.
Among his pictures was a shot of him and a female friend, frozen in mid-air, leaping, barefoot, arms flailing, frolicking in a gorgeous grassy park.
I surprised myself by getting a little choked up. And it wasn’t even the fact that, at 37, I no longer have much of a vertical leap.
I found myself thinking about how amazing it is to see that joy in him. It’s heartening to know he can get that much air underneath him. He must feel a freedom and lightness I never felt at that age.
My nephew came out when he was 14. That’s two years younger than I did as a teenager, and I lived in the middle of New York City. He lives at least 150 miles from the closest large city, in a conservative area that one might assume would be a stifling locale for a gay teen.
It is, and it isn’t. He has many friends, plays on the soccer team. When he came out, he said he received a ton of support from other students. These would have been unheard of 20 years ago.
This reaction is clearly generational. I’m not sure if young people really understand this generational gap, that people in their mid-30s and up came of age in a time before not only Will & Grace, but Waylon Smithers of The Simpsons, too.
Twenty years ago, coming out meant a likelihood, rather than a chance, of being rejected by family members and friends.
So I am heartened to see my nephew celebrating a moment of joy, but not simple enough to think it’s the whole picture. What less idyllic moments, not captured by a camera, might have led him to write in one of his brilliant, intense poems the haunting line: “boys hate boys who like boys.”
It’s not easy, traveling this path, feeling different than one’s family. At best, even these days, being a gay teenager is a harrowing trip with sketchy maps. At worst, it’s deadly.
My nephew is faced with anti-gay messages constantly. But no anti-gay slur is as powerful as one with a thunderous applause track underneath it.
This morning, I read an Associated Press article about Sarah Palin’s church promoting an event that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.
The article quotes an insert in the bulletin of Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed since she was a child: “You’ll be encouraged by the power of God’s love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality,” it reads.
Focus on the Family, a national Christian fundamentalist organization, is conducting the “Love Won Out” Conference in Anchorage, about 30 miles from Wasilla. While Palin has not publicly praised the “pray away the gay” movement, her church certainly has. And she hasn’t condemned it.
I worry about the message the current “Palin mania” sends our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. Imagine these teens watching a throng of delegates from around the country applaud and adore this woman, and then reading about how Palin’s addition to the Republican ticket has energized the party, mostly because of her conservative views and willingness to “tell it like it is.”
I can’t get the image out of my head: delegates in funny hats celebrating Palin, who delighted the crowd with a joke about the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull. Lipstick, apparently.
That’s the image I have, juxtaposed against the one of my airborne nephew. And I’m concerned about the meanness of the latter overwhelming the joyfulness of the former.
Imagine you’re my nephew, opening the newspaper and finding out that the church the vice presidential candidate attends promotes the idea that he is a sick person who must pray to be changed. Now, imagine again that convention hall and all the screaming, cheering people.
How does this impact a gay teenager?
I guess the question is: where does Palin stand on this issue? It’s surely hard to separate a very religious woman from her church. That same argument was made about Barack Obama and his pastor, Jeremiah Wright. And rightfully so. Wherever one stands on Wright’s rhetoric, the voting public had a right to know Obama’s relationship to it.
Does Palin believe that gay can be prayed away? That it should be?
If nothing else, it seems to me that this “pray away the gay” agenda is a risky gamble, especially for people who seem to believe so strongly in the sanctity of life. If prayer doesn’t eradicate his orientation, what are his other options?
According to a survey conducted this year by the Washington, D.C. public school system and funded by the federal government, LGBT high school students are four times as likely to contemplate suicide than their heterosexual counterparts. A 1999 study in Massachusetts estimated that 33 percent of gay youth will attempt suicide. This is an astronomical figure, and even with the relative improvements for LGBT youth in the past decade, it is not surprising.
I know there are many in our country who see nothing wrong with the “pray away the gay” agenda. I can’t do anything to change that.
But what of the people who should know better, who have gay friends and relatives and have come to understand that I never made a choice to be gay, and neither did my nephew?
How can these people support someone whose ideologies are so destructive toward LGBT teens? In the same way that some evangelical Christians can find no middle ground with those who are pro-choice, shouldn’t those of us who know how dangerous and damaging homophobia can be have no middle ground for those who support such agendas?
Are we, as individuals, helping make the lives of gay teens easier, or are we supporting the forces that make them much harder?
There are so many possible punchlines to Palin’s joke from her convention speech, some funny, many horrifying: what’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?
I’d like to think that while a hockey mom could be tough, she could also be loving.
I’d hope to believe that a hockey mom would also know when she is contributing to the destruction of her offspring. Especially if the sanctity of human life is such a big part of her platform.
I mostly hope a hockey mom wouldn’t want to harm that delightful, jumping young man.
Bill Konigsberg is an openly gay sports writer and GLAAD Media Award winner. He is the author of the novel Out of the Pocket, about a high school football player coming to terms with his sexuality.
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Bill Konigsberg
Website: http://www.billkonigsberg.com
Blog: billkonigsberg.blogspot.com
September 24, 2008 at 10:55 pm #641046
soclwrkrinmotnMemberZenguy, alas, we truly do know where Palin stands on these issues.
And thus, I am definitely not a supporter of Palin.
September 24, 2008 at 11:05 pm #641047
JenVMemberMcCain’s chief of staff Mark Buse just came out… I wonder how he feels about his boss’ & Sarah Palin’s opinion on his sexuality…?
September 24, 2008 at 11:15 pm #641048
GenHillOneParticipantOkay, my head is spinning today…I read your post as “Sarah Palin on Being Gay” – LOL. “Huh? What??!!” Now THAT would be a bombshell.
September 24, 2008 at 11:17 pm #641049
guidosmomMemberWow! Great article. Thanks for sharing.
I have to say, my partner told me about Palin’s “Pray away the gay” event at her church. My first thought was this must be a funny SNL Palin clip.
September 24, 2008 at 11:19 pm #641050
CaitParticipantA beautiful and shocking article… I wholeheartedly agree. Perhaps I should start praying away the “dumb broad-ness” in her honor.
September 24, 2008 at 11:23 pm #641051
ZenguyParticipantYou go Cait!
September 24, 2008 at 11:42 pm #641052
mellaw6565MemberI’ve never understood the “Log Cabin Republicans” either. Seems very oxymoronic.
September 25, 2008 at 12:16 am #641053
JoBParticipantthanks for sharing this…
I am going to join cait… i think Sarah’s case of stupidity may be too far advanced for prayer to do much.. but i am willing to try:)
September 25, 2008 at 1:02 am #641054
ZenguyParticipantYep, you cannot pray away stupid…I have tried for the last eight years…nope he’s still there!
September 25, 2008 at 3:01 am #641055
angelescrestParticipantIf it were just stupidity. But there’s a mean but charismatic allure to this woman that speaks volumes of those who support her and her disrespect of fellow human beings. (And animals, too!)
I won’t even say her name; it gives her too much validation.
September 25, 2008 at 5:52 am #641056
credmondParticipantAlso inexplicable is the belief of many of these fundamentalists that the Bible is the end-all, be-all of their philosophical, ethical and moral foundation. And, yet, that same bible warns us of
1 Lust
2 Gluttony
3 Greed
4 Sloth
5 Wrath
6 Envy
7 Pride
but it doesn’t seem to be within these fundamentalists’ belief system to look at themselves and “judge not.” Personally, I’d be much happier if there were magic and some wizard threw lightning bolts, of the kind which vaporize whatever they strike, toward all these individuals. Saying, all the while, “I smite thee, who follows not my commandments.”
September 25, 2008 at 5:55 am #641057
FullTiltParticipant“What’s the difference between a pitbull and a hockey mom? One is a slobbering, smelly, hairy animal and the other is a pitbull.” Chris Rock
September 25, 2008 at 5:57 am #641058
credmondParticipantOn the other hand, Sarah Palin has introduced a new level of national comic relief the likes of which Dan Quayle could only hope to achieve. Spiro Agnew also comes to mind as a Republican version of the village idiot. Perhaps they are finally closing the gender gap with the nomination of Sarah Palin – at least this village idiot is actually NOT A WHITE OLD MALE. (Okay, Danny boy wasn’t that old, but he acted like any other SPWM).
September 25, 2008 at 7:16 am #641059
JanSParticipantDoes anyone remember the Quayle Quarterly? Hopefully (should I say G-d willing) we won’t have to have a Palin Quarterly come January.
Did anyone see a transcript of her interview with Katie Couric? OM effing G…what an idiot…
September 25, 2008 at 2:48 pm #641060
kParticipanthere’s just a little somethin’ about sarah palin and prayer. saw it on countdown yesterday. figured it might shed some light on the role of religion in this woman’s life. not sure if it’s laughable or terrifying, but i’m sure she feels this can be done with those of us who are gay.
September 25, 2008 at 11:04 pm #641061
ariettaParticipantangelescrest, I have to admit I feel the same about not speaking her name. I call her White Trash Floozey (aka WTF). :) Or if I’m feeling generous I call her Tonya Harding.
September 25, 2008 at 11:15 pm #641062
ZenguyParticipantI like Caribou Barbie and Blunder Woman…lol
September 25, 2008 at 11:25 pm #641063
squareeyesParticipantari and Zen, thanks for the laugh!
September 26, 2008 at 12:42 am #641064
ariettaParticipantCaribou Barbie, omg!! I am so stealing that. :-D
September 26, 2008 at 3:17 am #641065
angelescrestParticipantOh, you are too generous, Zenguy, as Barbie these days is a vet, a doctor, a bilingual teacher–all of the things this blight with her absolute lack of human decency (and education!) could never be.
September 26, 2008 at 3:30 am #641066
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