I'm Not Gay*...About the Size of the Package, uh...

the economic stimulus package, that is

* meaning happy, carefree, merry, bright or lively

I'm really worried about the size of the upcoming economic stimulus package. To call it big, or even huge, is not helpful, since conventional size references don't give the true history-making scale. For metaphor, if the spending of the New Deal was a Shetland Pony, the BushCheney years was a Budweiser beer wagon draft horse, and the 2009 stimulus package, a metaphorical Babe the Blue Ox. It's just too dang big according to me, but too small according to Paul Krugman, and just about right according to the NYT editorial page, but they realize that at some point, once the recovery begins, taxes are going to have to go up, and they want President Obama to start talking it up, the sooner, the better.

But like a kid pulling your sleeve when you're trying to remember where you parked your car, a troubling local issue keeps clamoring for attention; Cleveland's new Domestic Partner Registry. It was passed late last year, by a city council concerned about the impact on economic growth in an already depressed region, of the amendment passed several years ago to the state constitution, banning gay marriage. In the hope of attracting (or at least not repelling)people who might either move to Cleveland or remain here, with some assurance that they not be hounded with anti-gay hostility, city council passed a registry modeled on the registry passed in Cleveland Heights over a decade ago. So far in Cleveland, we have not seen burning crosses on the lawns of new gay neighbors, but it is not a city or a state known for championing a positive environment for so-called alternative lifestyles. So city council thought that the registry would be good for business by signaling friendliness to the world outside. A signal that gay people would pick up on like a secret wink in an airport men's room enticing them to Cleveland, the new mecca for bright and merry pursuits in the city of lights and magic.

Then, as the season of of peace and goodwill began, and in the nick of time to save the lost morals of the city, an army of onwardly marching Christian soldiers rode in - in the form of a posse of local pastors led by self-promoter extraordinaire, Reverend C. Jay Matthews. They were armed with petition forms calling for signatures to repeal the registry, proclaiming in the Letters to the Editor column of the Plain Dealer, that we are going the way of Sodom and Gomorrah. The petition drive failed miserably, but the men of the cloth vow to march on.

To its' credit, the editorial board of the PD and several of the regular columnists have been stalwart in their defense of the registry and the rational and humane thinking that went into it, but this morning the tide in the Letters to the Editor had begun to turn. Cases in point:

"Our neighbors to the north in Canada already are subject to "hate-crime laws" that make it illegal to preach certain verses in the Bible that condemn homosexuality as a sin. Similar laws, which seek to supress our First Amendment rights as they relate to the "free exercise thereof" are being mulled over in Congress at present."

"You say homosexuals harm no-one, but I disagree. They are probably all very nice people, but their moral thinking and moral actions are leading them to perdition."

"this whole "gay" movement has led this nation to moral bankruptcy. When did this group steal the word "gay" from the lexicon? Call them "homosexual" because that is what they are. Gay used to mean happy, carefree, merry, bright or lively."

"There may be many intellectual and creative homosexuals, but that certainly doesn't make their lifestyle right."

"I believe that the Rev. C. Jay Matthews does understand how a gay-friendly Cleveland affects his community. I belive Rev. Matthews understands the effects being gay-friendly had on Sodom and Gomorrah."

"A society that accepts homosexuality will only encourage more of it."

"May we in this nation who believe in what our founding generations believed in and lived by rise up and let our voices be heard. May the truth of God's word be spoken in compassion and love; just as salt stings, it also heals. May those with ears to hear and eyes to see understand."

Can the torches and pitchforks be far behind? It put me in mind of the civil rights principle behind the Domestic Registry "issue." A principle redeemed by the blood, sweat and jailtime of every civil rights worker, union organizer, feminist or differently abled person from the end of the Civil War to the passage of the Voting Rights Act and beyond; that the law of the land is responsible for protecting the rights of so-called minorities from the tyranny of the majority. It is not about a homosexual agenda seeking to take over the country with color-coordinated place settings and fabulous wardrobes, with shoes to die for. It's about protecting people from intolerance.

It is commonplace in the Islamic world, especially in this era of Islamic conservatism, to punish homosexual behavior by death. It would be nice to regard such primitive thinking as unimaginable in the world of the modern Christian west. However, Christians have had no trouble justifying the death penalty for a wide range of crimes in addition to such contemporary capital crimes as rape, kidnapping, and murder. Death has also been the preferred punishment for apostasy (abandonment of the faith), heresy, blasphemy, witchcraft, astrology, adultery, ''sodomy or homosexuality,'' incest, striking a parent, incorrigible juvenile delinquency, and, in the case of women, ''unchastity before marriage.''

So I don't think it is surprising that "gay" people in Ohio are not feeling particulary happy, carefree, merry, bright or lively, and I can hardly blame them for not waiting for the choreographed version of Kristalnacht before deciding to get out and/or stay out of town.

DHL

Images by: DHLarsen - Euclid Creek Reservation - January 11, 2009, No. 1 & 2