Satire & Religion & Politics — Oh My

Gay - Why We Still Fear That Word. And Why Older White Males Have Historically Been Afraid of It.

Today, we need to understand how important this one fact really is and what’s behind it

As a people, we are modern. We are firmly rooted in the 21st Century, with Space Labs and “missions” to Mars.

We have electric cars, cellphones and drones that fly hundreds of miles to photograph wildlife or destroy human life.

We are modern and yet, we are firmly rooted in the past as well. Where some are driven to resurrect the passions and religious fervor of those who lived more than 2500 years ago.

Who rode their oxen and plowed their fields with sticks and buried their children young, and who still pass on their views of life and God and worship that we follow today.

And as we innovate and strive for better, longer and more fulfilling lives, why do we then look to the past, the distant past and to words written over two millennia ago, to guide us spiritually?

Why not draw from their technology as well? Their view of marriage, of women and childrearing? Borrow from their medical practices for the control of disease or care for the elderly?

Why is it only religious advice and guidance that is pulled from the past and then only those portions that deal with issues that we still haven’t come to terms with, 2500 years later?

Do we still consider them relevant and timely?

Leviticus 18:22

“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”

Leviticus 3:7–3:8

“If he presents a sheep as his offering, he must present it before the Lord. 3:8 He must lay his hand on the head of the offering and slaughter it before the Meeting Tent, and the sons of Aaron must splash its blood against the altar’s sides.”

Alan Turing died by his own hand in 1954, of cyanide poisoning. His housekeeper found him dead in his home. He was 41 years old.

Alan Turing was brilliant, dedicated and invaluable in helping Britain and thus the United States defeat the Nazis by leading a team of mathematicians, scientists and cryptographers at Bletchley Park, England that cracked the Enigma machine. The device used by the Germans to encode messages throughout World War II.

Their work saved countless lives and brought a swifter end to the war. His work and insight into computing helped bring about the age of computers only a few years later. And though praised by many as the war came to an end, those accolades did little to prevent the man from being arrested and charged in 1952 with committing Gross Indecency.

You see — Alan Turing was gay. And in 1952 England, engaging in such behavior was illegal and punishable under the law.

He was not a traitor. He was not a criminal by any standard. Just a man going about his life. And despite everything he did to help his country, Alan Turing was forced to admit to these charges in open court and was later sentenced to chemical castration (DES) instead of going to prison

On March 28, 2022, Florida’s Republican Governor DeSantis signed into law, the Parental Rights in Education bill, commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Going into effect on July 1, the bill mandates that teachers are prohibited from providing any classroom instruction on “social orientation or gender identity” to K-3 students.

It further mandates that for older grades, teachers can teach these topics in an “age-appropriate” manner, as defined by the state board of education. Also provided by this law are a parent’s right to sue districts if they believe that any of the teachers or teachings are in violation of the law.

On Monday, April 4, 2022, the Lt. Gov. of Texas, Dan Patrick, stated that it was his intention to prioritize the passing of a bill that mimics the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida. 3

Why did either governor deem it necessary to create a law to monitor how children learn about social orientation or gender identity at this time?

What actual problem were they solving by constraining teachers in this way? And by giving every parent the right to file lawsuits to make sure the teachers stayed in their own lanes?

Whether you agree with what is behind this law or what age is appropriate for a child to come into contact with such information, are more restrictive and repressive laws really the only way for a society to act when dealing with that same word again?

“The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

“I can resist everything, except temptation.”

If you’ve laughed, smiled, or rolled your eyes while reading these quotes or others, then you’ve met Oscar Wilde.

Born, Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde on 16 October 1854, in Dublin Ireland, Oscar gained great popularity in the 1890’s with his plays and novels:

· The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

· The Picture of Dorian Grey

· The Canterville Ghost, and others

He is also the second of two men noted here whose career and life were cut short because he was gay, and gained great notoriety by having an all-too-public affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, in 1890s England.

His affair led to a confrontation with the Marquess of Queensberry (yes, the originator of the rules of modern-day boxing) and also father of Lord Douglas, which then led to a rather ill-conceived lawsuit filed by Oscar Wilde against the man.

The lawsuit resulted in a trail, which ended in Wilde and Douglas being found guilty of Gross Indecency and being sent to prison. Wilde was sentenced to hard labor from May 1895 to May 1897.

Though Wilde survived his release from prison, the toll on his physical health and general well-being eventually contributed to his shortened life and death in exile, on November, 30 1900. He was 46 years old.

On May 2, 2022 a draft opinion from the Supreme Court was leaked and made public through the national press.

There was outrage. There was hand wringing and clutching of pearls as Justice Samuel Alito laid out his plan to right a great wrong in American Jurisprudence. And once again a single issue polarized the nation.

On the left, disbelief that a law, Roe v. Wade was being considered for demolition. Knocked down like a derelict building on Main Street that had once served a great purpose, but was now an eyesore in desperate need of gentrification.

On the right, disbelief and anger that there was a leak. That the powers of the court must now be marshalled to find the culprit and punish them.

As to Roe v. Wade — meh.

Laws exist to control a society. To give it order and structure and provide its citizenry with predictable goals and consequences.

But what happens when they don’t?

What happens when influences seep in from behind the façade; when religious morals masquerading as rights and civil liberties make their way into legislatures and surface as instructions on how we should behave and what we should think?

When the beliefs of the minority become law for the majority then that fading line of separation between church and state becomes nothing more than a suggestion whose time has come?

Alan Turing lay with another man and was punished for it.

With the post WW II world reeling from millions dead and an economy still in tatters in England, the courts still found time to dishonor a hero.

“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” Leviticus 18:22

Oscar Wilde was creative and adventurous and often colored outside the lines but he too transgressed and was punished for it.

And while society and its courts focus on maintaining order and decency in our world, they often manage to overlook the odd inconsistency within its ranks.

In the case of Oscar Wilde, the fact that Sir William Wilde, (Oscar’s father), had produced three children out of wedlock, with two different women before marrying Oscar’s mother.

Victorian society saw no real problem with men fathering children out of wedlock. Such things were inevitable.

While in 2022, six justices of the Supreme Court bring religious views and morality front and center, thinly disguised as legal correction, and an entire segment of our political structure can only manage a tut-tut — leaks from this august body must not be tolerated.

Final Thoughts

Laws are fine. Laws are necessary. Without them, anarchy ensues or something even worse, the necessity for common sense and reason to play a greater role in our society.

“Don’t Say Gay” is not the worst bill ever written into law. The recent voter restrictions set in place by GOP legislatures across the country are not the worst bills to be written into law either.

But they should scare each and every one of you.

Because they are instructions. Manuals on how citizens must behave. On which subjects are good and fair and which ones are not.

They assume teachers in Florida and elsewhere have a hidden agenda (unlike those writing the bills) to indoctrinate our children into becoming something that is morally inconsistent with a certain group or set of religious beliefs.

They are afraid of something; their actions betray this. But of what?

Why is the silent majority being told to follow doctrines set 2500 years ago as religious dogma and asked to accept them as 21st Century principles?

The separation of state and church was written into the constitution primarily in the first amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The two parts, known as the “establishment clause” and the “free exercise clause” respectively form the textual basis for the Supreme Court’s interpretations of the “separation of church and state” doctrine.

Are we starting to see why the founding fathers included this?

Why this firewall between where we pray and where we live and govern needs to be kept strong.

The US Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not a list of suggestions but a living breathing framework for our democracy. That august body whose sole purpose is defending them needs to be reminded of this.

They need to turn away from the past and look to our nation’s needs in the present.

“Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance. And I have no doubt that every new example, will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together. [Letter to Edward Livingston, 10 July 1822]” ― James Madison

“Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?” ― Sandra Day O’Connor

George J. Ziogas Dr Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Karen Madej The Secret Aspirant Jenine Bsharah Baines James Knight Paul Myers MBA Rebecca Romanelli Caroline de Braganza Melinda Blau Esther George Adelia Ritchie Stuart Englander Claire Kelly Salvatore Cagliari J.D. Harms

For another great article on Oscar Wilde check out this from Linda Caroll

Or other stories from Joe Luca