The Midterm Elections

I'm still a bit shell-shocked, but now that the stinking haze of battle has lifted, the view from the foxhole looks hopeful.

As much as I try to brace myself against the onslaught of Republican gay-bashing that always happens around election time, I can't help but take it personally. Gays are a threat to no one but themselves, i.e., when they hide in the closet and cowardly suck up to their oppressors: the Republicans who hate them and would just as soon they didn't exist. (I learned that lesson during the "Silence = Death" era of Ronald Reagan, and things haven't changed much since then, if not in some respects gotten worse.) I have no special place in my heart for self-loathing, Republican gays. As I've watched Rep. Mark Foley and the Rev. Ted Haggard crash and burn, I'm glad to see they're finally starting to get their comeuppance. I look forward to more of these outings. Those clandestine forays out of the closet can get you into a heap of trouble, especially if you're a professional gay-basher by day. "Oh what a tangled web we weave . . . ."

And, on that topic, here's an interesting tidbit from The Jewish Week via Americablog:

Then, as if things could not get worse, there was the disgrace of [religious right leader Rev. Louis] Sheldon’s own friend and colleague, Rev. Ted Haggard, the Colorado mega-church leader and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an even bigger pillar of Republican support on the Christian right. Sheldon disclosed that he and “a lot” of others knew about Haggard’s homosexuality “for awhile ... but we weren’t sure just how to deal with it.”

Months before a male prostitute publicly revealed Haggard’s secret relationship with him, and the reverend’s drug use as well, “Ted and I had a discussion,” explained Sheldon, who said Haggard gave him a telltale signal then: “He said homosexuality is genetic. I said, no it isn’t. But I just knew he was covering up. They need to say that.”

Yeah, if it were ever to come out that homosexuality has nothing to do with Satan, these guys would be out of a job. (But wait. Isn't that what genetic researchers have been saying of late????)

The last I read, Haggard will be undergoing a spiritual "restoration."

"I see success approximately 50 percent of the time," said H.B. London, vice president for church and clergy at Focus on the Family, the conservative Christian ministry in Colorado Springs. "Guys just wear out and they can no longer subject themselves to the process."

Those who fail "end up selling cars or shoes or something, and being miserable and angry the rest of their lives," London said.

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"I'm sure there will be those who lay their hands on Pastor Haggard as an act of faith, calling on the act of God to restore and heal," he said. "The prayer can be therapeutic, the laying on of hands can be ceremonial."

Harrumph. The process Haggard has subjected himself to can take five years. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

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So it appears America has regained its senses. I must say I never lost mine. Then again, I tend to watch the Republicans closely, since so much of what they say and do (or, in some cases, don't say and don't do) can affect the lives (or bring about the deaths) of gays. And mostly they're against us. I have to forgive my fellow Americans for not being quite so vigilant, but maybe they should have seen it coming. The current Republican administration rises to power under a cloud, against the will of the voters. Rather than humble himself, George Bush believes that he, like Moses, has been sent by God to lead the people. And it only goes downhill from there. Need I go on...

At last we have some checks against this self-styled divine rule of kings.

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On an entirely different note, made a great batch of lasagne today. Started last nite, making the sauce.