srparedon – editorials (archive)

October 2007

Read the gay community’s responses to news of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s arrest in a Minneapolis airport toilet and you will find three levels of political understanding.

First, there are those gleeful that a politician who has opposed measures to outlaw anti-gay discrimination as well as gay marriage was himself evidently caught looking for man-on-man sex. As with the similar “scandals” involving Ted Haggard and Mark Foley, it is indeed tempting to take pleasure at the unmasking of evident hypocrisy. But hypocrisy amongst politicians is hardly news, and sanctimonious gay clucking does not change the… Continue reading →

September 2007

The last few decades of American presidential politics sorely test those eager to find an arc of social progress in history’s unfolding.

In 1972, candidates debated a guaranteed national income; in today’s new über-Gilded Age, concerns of the poor are rarely even mentioned in national policy discussions.

In 1978, sitting President Jimmy Carter could — and did — urge decriminalization of marijuana; today, candidates vie for who can sound toughest and endorse ever-harsher penalties for all drug “crimes.”

And while JFK could enjoy White House sexual dalliances confident that his sex life… Continue reading →

August 2007

Upon taking the oath of office after the resignation of the disgraced Richard Nixon, President Ford assured a Watergate-weary nation, “our long national nightmare is over.” Unfortunately, our next president, saddled with Bush’s on-going calamities abroad and at home, will not be able to offer such easy reassurances. Nixon’s subversion of the Constitution seems petty compared to Bush’s thuggish despotism. Indeed, it seems inevitable that many aspects of the Bush nightmare will long remain American realities.

We can hope, though, that the next administration will shed the mendacious fear-mongering that has so poisoned the recent… Continue reading →

July 2007

What do we mean when we say that someone is gay or that someone is straight?

The popular model of sexuality contends that sexuality is

· generally binary (either one is straight or gay, with few truly indeterminate “bisexuals”)

· determined early in life (perhaps even genetically coded)

· immutable.

Most modern scientists, jurists, and even philosophers embrace a view of sexuality wherein the population can be divided into heterosexuals and homosexuals (and a very few bisexuals). While the relative sizes of these categories might be debated, the prevailing model holds that individuals end… Continue reading →

June 2007

On May 3, the US House voted to extend existing federal hate-crime law to include crimes committed because of a victim’s gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

Predictably, many gay groups lauded the vote, and are rallying to advance companion legislation in the Senate.

Such enthusiasm is woefully misplaced. While hate-crime laws may provide an irresistible organizing tool (for who wants to be positioned as being “for” hate?), they are a civil liberties disaster. The rights of the gay community, of all Americans, are better served by vigorous opposition to hate-crime laws and… Continue reading →

May 2007

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales personifies the incompetence, thuggery, and proto-fascistic tendencies that will mark the current administration as the worst-yet in American history. Sworn in to uphold the Constitution, Gonzales has instead dedicated himself to furthering the political interests of the Cheney/Bush cabal at the expense of both domestic and international law. He must go. If Gonzales will not resign, the Congress should impeach and convict him for abuse of power and gross incompetence.

When the then-Republican Senate approved Gonzales’s nomination in February of 2005, they did so knowing he favored abrogation of the Geneva… Continue reading →