HIGH GEAR/MAY 1978

Page 8

GAY? YES. IMMORAL? CRIMINAL? NO!

By Mitchell Menegu

When the Rev. Mr. Angwin of St. Paul, Minnesota, spoke to his anti-gay supporters after the vote that repealed a four-yearold ordinance which prohibited discrimination on the basis of "affectional

or sexual preference," he celebrated a victory over those he described as "immoral," and "criminal." I reject his language. Despite his training in theology, I challenge his having adequate knowledge more importantly, humankindness to make such judgments authoritatively.

and

secret.

I am immoral only when I destroy the idea of the best essence of humanity. Having been aware of my sexual orientation since I was about six years old, I would be violating my own essential nature not to

experience life as a gay man, to pretend for the sake of the fear and blindness of the rest of society tha: I am something other than what I know myself to be. That would indeed be im-

moral.

black person who used them anyway was, in the broad sense of the term, acting as a criminal. Law ideally has the function of protecting society, but it often becomes a

vehicle for displaying the unreasoned fears and deep-set prejudices of the society, as the notorious Nuremberg Laws of the Third Reich. testify.

In one sense, in their anti-gay statements which were a form of discrimination on the basis of sexual preference, the Rev. Mr. Angwin and his followers were breaking a law then operative in St. Paul and might therefore be called "criminal." I confess that I don't believe that to be true, although I do condemn their ac. tions. Therein lies the opposite idea that the term "criminal" is easy to reject. Criminal behavior is absolutely determined by human decisions. As the St. Paul situation itself shows, it is subject to constant redefinition.

do behave immorally, probably in the same degree as the rest of humanity, I reject the contention that being gay and living gay are essentially immoral. To be immoral is to act without responsibility to others. If I engage in sex with another gay man, even if it is only a one-night stand, if we enjoy each other with concern equally for our own and our partner's satisfaction and humanity, our behavior is not immoral. If I display my feeling for another gay man by the kind of behavior common publicly among members of families and among heterosexual couples, by touching, embracing and lightly kissing, I am affirming his human value to me and am therefore not immoral. If I do not perform sexual acts in public, even though I may be free and imaginative in my sexual behavior in private, I am not immoral. Showing sexual interest in another man is not immoral so long as I do not try to force myself on him; no matter what his sexual orientation is, my inMR. AND MRS. BRYANT, CONT'D terest is flattering and my acceptance of his decision, whichever his choice is, affirms his human right to select those with whom he wants to be intimate. When I function usefully in society as a mailman, physician, teacher, mechanic, lawyer, performer or accountant, my declaration that I am also a gay man who is contributing to society is not immoral and Conceding that gays can and should not have to remain

Let us consider the implications and validity of the charged words that he used. Both terms are relevant only in terms of sets of criteria which are either made by men or, granting the idea of divine inspiration, interpreted by men. As such, they are relative terms, even when one agrees that society as a unit has held in common certain standards that make more specific the abstraction of the language. These criteria, despite what people at any given time may think, are not absolutes. Consider, for example, matters of dress. Only a century ago a woman who exposed her lower limbs was considered immoral; today even Anita Bryant appears in public in a bathing suit that covers only her torso.

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The term "criminal" is paradoxically both easier and more difficult to reject. It is more difficult because at any given. time in any given society there are laws enacted, the defiance of which may be branded as criminal behavior. When, for instance, racial laws in southern states proscribed blacks' drinking from certain fountains or occupying certain toilets, a

that belief, while at the same time not practicing what you preach.

"But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those in his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel." (I TIM 5:8)

For the past 18 years, Anita Bryant has been Mr. Anita Bryant's $1,000,000 meal ticket. It has been Mrs. Anita Bryant who earned the money that! keeps Mr. Anita Bryant in the manner to which he has become accustomed, with him in the background "managing" her career. It has been Mrs. Anita Bryant who does the talking in interviews, while Mr. Anita Bryant remains in the background, "managing" her career. And it has been Mrs. Anita Bryant who has done all the speaking in churches, while he remains in the background "managing" her career. Mr. Anita Bryant has had through Mrs. Anita Bryant what he could never have had on his own. As a friend less kindly put it: "On the South Side of Chicago, we call that pimping!" So, should Mrs. Anita Bryant's sinister stand of evil and hatred cost her even more of that income than it already has, I see nothing wrong with Mr. Anita Bryant getting off his fat butt and going to work as does every other man in, this country to support himself and his family.

And there is one thing neither' Jesus Christ nor I could stand: "Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts:

"Which devour widows' houses, and for a show make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation." (ST

LUKE speaking)

24:46-471) (Jesus

****

"... Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (MATT 6:24) Anita Bryant does. to the tune of FOUR.HUNDRED.THOUSAND.

DOLLARS.

So if you have the gall, as did one young man, to walk up in a gay bar and with a conspiratorial wink tell me you had a "screwdriver" before you left

•

As more states repeal sodomy laws; gay sexual acts lose any taint of criminality. But even where the laws have not been repealed, a gay person can reject the pejorative description of his behavior with the same justice that led American Revolutionaries to reject the law of the crown, on the basis of individual conscience.

I reject the terms used in St. Paul. I reject them because I respect myself. I respect myself because I am convinced that I act responsibly to all the men, women, children and institutions that I deal with. I am concerned with all people's right to fulfill themselves completely. To the best of my ability, I avoid letting my self-interest interfere with the legitimate interests of others. I seek to connect rather than to separate people. I am gay. But "immoral" and "criminal"? No!

home, I'll tell you the same thing I told him: You don't deserve to be in that bar. Even if you, yourself, believe that you can escape the dragnet Anita Bryant wants set up, there will be others who will not escape. You are contributing, if not to your own death, at least to mine and those of the patrons of that bar that you came in to meet. You don't deserve their company: take your business elsewhere a straight bar.

He's the

hero-

that's

the hero!!

right,

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