The big news is from the Pope, who has announced the blessing of same-sex couples. This is not gay marriage. It is an acknowledgement that LGTQ+ people are humans to be accepted within the Roman Catholic church and should not be condemned. He hedged on whether homosexuality is still considered a sin. This is a major step, and it is one that has upset a lot of bishops.
Unfortunately, most of the news has been about the continuing war against the transgender community. It’s a big battle in the schools, in GOP politics, and access to health care. The religious right continues to promote the idea there are only male and female genders and that it is not possible to transition. Gender identity and gender expression range across a wide gambit of personality characteristics. It’s not just a question of genitalia, which seems to be the obsession of the bigots.
Bad Gays: A Homosexual History by Lemley and Miller
a review by John Suddath
From the preface of the book: “Homosexuals are … widely consigned to the same category of things as drugs, the category of illicit dirty things that people have to be protected from … since the homosexual is continually taught by the world around him that his natural home is the sewer, the homosexual is uniquely equipped to discover what truly belongs and doesn’t belong in the sewer.”
This English book traces the history of 15 infamous gays starting with Hadrian, the Roman Emperor. The author summarized the theme of the book as: By examining the interplay of their lives and their sexualities, this book investigates the failure of homosexuality as an identity and a political project. Which is an explanation of the title: Bad Gays.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Of course, that’s not true. Words can be hurtful, particularly when hurled as an epithet. I sat in on a discussion recently about the use of queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary, intersex, inquiring, and questioning. The handful of people could not agree among themselves. The interpretation and meaning of the words was very personal and had a different connotation for each of them. Depending upon their experience, the history of the words was different.
That’s not even getting into the quagmire of the use of pronouns. Obviously, it’s a very personal decision, and people are sensitive about it. Therefore, in many circumstances people are asked to identify their preference so there is no misunderstanding. I guess the answer is, “just ask first.”