Bigotry, Thy Name Is Texas

I consider myself a man of peace and compassion and, hopefully, tolerance, but all of that is tested so completely when I read about sheer and unadulterated bigotry writ large. From the intolerance evinced by supporters of Proposition 8 in California, to the anti-Christian homophobic vitriol of the Westboro Baptist Church, to those who feel the need to denigrate the President of the United States with epithets and thinly-veiled racism. But now my hackles are raised, my teeth set on edge, and bile has reached my throat, so great is the venom in my blood. For, Republicans in the "great" state of Texas have decided that homosexuals, and those who "conspire" with them, are now an enemy to be hounded, arrested, and driven to ground.

The Texas GOP has published their 2010 State Republican Party Platform, and it outlines, in detail, how Republicans in Texas are to go about destroying homosexuals and obliterating the "idea" of homosexuality, not just in their state, but in the entire United States. In addition to the usual screeds about the "defense of marriage" as a solemn union between "one natural man and one natural woman," but instead of stopping their, they call on Congress to enact such legislation as to make this the law of the United States.

But it gets better. In their own words:

Family Values – We affirm that this section is a response to the attacks on traditional family values. These include well funded, vigorous political and judicial attempts by powerful organizations and branches of the government to force acceptance, affirmation and normalization of homosexual behavior upon school children, parents, educational institutions, businesses, employees, government bodies and religious institutions and charities. These aggressive, intolerant efforts marginalize as bigots anyone who dissents.

The hypocrisy is so obvious as to be farcical. Not only do they intend to deprive American citizens of Constitutional rights, and override the judgment of any other State of the Union that approves of gay marriage, they intend to go on the offensive, to attempt to marginalize, de-legitimize, and brand homosexuals as societal rejects, and they will brook no dissent. Sound familiar?

And as if that were not enough:

Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable “alternative” lifestyle in our public education and policy, nor should “family” be redefined to include homosexual “couples.” We are opposed to any granting of special legal entitlements, refuse to recognize, or grant special privileges including, but not limited to: marriage between persons of the same sex (regardless of state of origin), custody of children by homosexuals, homosexual partner insurance or retirement benefits. We oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values.

Not only will they deny homosexuality as a fact of life, but they would strip homosexuals of their basic freedoms, and make it possible for those with an intolerant and malevolent bent to attack homosexuals without fear of criminal penalty!!!

This pathetic, inflammatory, bigoted, and, frankly, un-American set of "principles" is the lowest ebb of American society. It is a declaration that the basic principles of freedom and liberty as espoused in the Constitution of the United States, only belong to those of certain classes of people, and those classes shall determine who else may partake of them. It as if the execrable parts of the Constitution -- those enumerating the actual human value of a Negro slave -- were to be re-written for homosexuals, and re-instituted. It seeks to undo the progress this nation has made in creating a union of equal humanity, with liberty and justice for all. It is a repudiation of all America has fought for and stood for, and is spit lobbed onto the graves of all those who died to defend her.

The Republican Party of Texas has decided that open homophobia in State government is preferable, and that they are to be arbiters of what is good and right in this nation, to which I say that I would prefer to declare war on one State in this nation, and take up arms against my fellow Americans, rather than to submit to the tyranny this platform would impose. Not normally prone to violence, I would gladly take up arms to defeat such blatant hatred, cloaked in the tattered fabric of "God and Country." There is no room in a nation of patriots and freedom-loving citizens for their ilk, and I, for one, refuse to countenance such backward and bigoted thinking.

No matter what your beliefs, no matter how you feel, no matter what convoluted and contentious view of the world you may hold, the freedom, liberty, and justice that is part of the fabric of this nation, is something to which each and every American citizen is entitled. You may wish no part of it, you may think them heathens or worse, you may decide to cling to words of your maker, but that gives you no right to deprive others of their Constitutionally-guaranteed rights. To do so is tyranny, and a nation born of tyranny, that fought for independence from tyranny, has no business imposing it upon its citizens. Let it be known, that in the United States of America, such injudicious and unconscionable destruction of individual freedom and liberty shall not stand.