Don't let this drag you down

Well, the voters of Missouri decided that they want bigotry enshrined in their constitution. I am really bummed about this, of course. One would hope in a new millineum that the values of freedom and individualism that first gained popular ground hundreds of years ago would guilt people out of their all-too human urge to exclude others to make themselves feel special and to use the force of law to control people who they don't understand.

I believe that Americans value freedom and individuality. I believe even that we know that in order to protect our basic values we must respect diversity and keep our noses out of other people's business. The forces of bigotry work by reaching past people's value systems and going straight after their human nature. It's human nature to want to be a superior person by virtue of birth--that's why the heroes in fairy tales are princes. In this case the inborn tendency that grants automatic superiority is heterosexuality. And those of us who are arguing for equal rights are thumbing our noses at their own view of themselves and saying, "Who died and made you king?" And some people are extremely loathe to give up the fantasy that their own superiority is innate.

A lot of people reject the comparison of the gay rights movement to the civil rights movement since the goals are different. But the comparison is useful because the opposition is pretty much the same. The homophobic bigots see themselves in the same way that the racist bigots saw themselves in the South for so very long. There are a number of different cultural narratives to explain different beliefs, and the narrative being used to justify homophobia is the same narrative as the one used to justify racism, just with different characters this time around. It's a very powerful narrative and we ignore it at our peril.

The basic outline is this: There is a threat from below to the "good" people(whites to racists, straights to homophobes). The threatening group (blacks or gays) is singling out a Symbol of Innocence and Purity for a sexualized attack. It is up to the strong members of the righteous group (white or straight) to protect the weak innocents by keeping the threatening group out of the institutions and spaces that the threatening group might encounter the pure innocents and sully them. If that means that the threatening group is therefore blocked from their equal rights, well that's a shame, but no price is too high to pay to protect the innocents.

In the racist viewpoint, the Symbol of Innocence is white women, and don't doubt it for a second. The entire system of segregation was bolstered by paper-thin arguments for the protection of the innocence of white women. To this day, racist men in the South will hint around their "duty" to protect innocent white women from this threat that exists only in their minds. The KKK admits to cherishing the myth of the pure white woman and the lecherous black man.

In the updated, homophobic version of this myth, children have replaced white women as the Symbol of Innocence. Straight people, particularly parents and especially Christian parents, are the exalted protectors of the innocent. And just as it was assumed that most, if not all, black men would rape a white woman if given half a chance, it is now assumed that all homosexuals will molest children unless the protecters are vigilant. This myth is drawn on constantly, creating ever more complex justifications for bigoted policy. For instance, the myth is used to argue against same-sex marriage like this--if gays are allowed to marry, they will become more acceptable to society overall which means that one day people will feel comfortable leaving gays alone with children. Same-sex marriage is seen as a step in the ultimate goal of molesting children. That's why there is so much ink spilled to redefine marriage as an institution to protect children--the idea is to wed the idea in people's minds that gays are struggling for the right to hurt children.

We cannot get discouraged by setbacks like this. They are inevitable when your opposition has powerful mythology on their side. But there is good news. The amendment got 71% of the vote, but that doesn't mean 71% of the population actually approves. The religious right is really good at getting out the vote for measures like this, which creates an artificial sense that their numbers are bigger than they are.

Gay activists need to just keep at the work that they are doing to build a counter-story, that they are in a struggle to secure the rights that everyone else takes for granted. Just keep on reminding people how shameful bigotry is. They are getting the message, slowly but surely. And as that bigotry recedes and gay people have an ever-more open place in society, more people will see the myth that gays molest children as the lie that it is.