Win some, lose some. Just after New Yorkers bring to over 35 million the number of Americans living in states where they are free to marry same-sex partners if they wish, Rhode Island has backed off granting their citizens the same rights. This, despite the fact that New York has a Senate controlled by Republicans and Rhode Island’s is controlled by the Democrats.
And right off from the start, let’s say this. Why, why, why are we STILL talking in this country about “granting” rights that ought to be self-evident? Why are we a country that had to “grant” people with dark skin the right to vote alongside people with white skin? Why did we have to “grant” women the right to vote along with men? Why are we so agonizingly slow to recognize we can actually be what some in this country like to claim we already are – a beacon of freedom to the world, the world leader in human rights?
There is an explanation for the apparent paradox that Republicans in New York allowed gays a little more dignity this week while Democrats in Rhode Island dragged their feet. The explanation lies in the fact that Rhode Island is 60% Catholic and much of that population is comprised of old folk. The majority of Rhode Islanders polled are in favor of giving their gay and lesbian brothers and sisters full equality. The latest figures are 50% in favor, 41% against. And ironically, nationally, at least, a higher percentage of Catholics are in favor of same-sex marriage than the population as a whole. But the power of bishops to influence how citizens or legislators vote in this nation where church and state are allegedly kept separate can still override majority opinion, once the bishops put their mind to manipulating the political system.
The tide has turned on the issue of gay rights in this country. Increasingly, people are becoming aware that every moment spent fussing over whether people who love each other should share the civil right to make a contract of responsibility for each other is a moment when we are not dealing with corruption in politics, the financial disaster that came with deregulation, what to do about our dependency on burning coal and a list of other problems that seems to go on forever. But the Catholic Church has its priorities, and we continue to let them call the shots for the rest of us.
Shame on us. When are we going to stand up to the bishops? When are we going to say once and for all, “Mind your own damn business, you guys. Keep your cotton-pickin’ hands off my body, my children, my house, my right to have what any other American has. Rule your own adherents, if you wish (and if they let you), but leave us the hell alone!”
Most of the modern world has lost its patience with the meddling ways of organized religion. People are flocking out of churches as never before. They’re fed up. But once again we’re slow on the uptake when they try to turn that liberation on its head. We now have to hear the line that it’s the Christians that are being dissed. They are the ones whose rights have been taken away.
But look at this right they’re demanding – the right to demonize. The right to point a finger and say, “You are not clean. You are not free of sin. You are not like us.” And because you are not what I know God wants you to be, I’m going to make sure your way of life gets no respect. I’m going to insist we not “grant” you the same rights as other citizens in the body politic.
Politics, we all know, is the art of compromise. Many are saying that we need to see the glass as half full in Rhode Island. After all, gay people are being allowed to form domestic partnerships. It wasn’t that long ago when even that was a radical proposition. How quick we are to move the goal posts, we’re told. Take it easy. Little by little and we’ll all get there. But compromise is for when Jack Spratt’s wife wants the fat and he wants the lean. It’s not for when the bishop wants to run my life and I don’t want him to.
In both New York and Rhode Island there has been compromise in “granting” the same rights to LGBT folk that others have. To satisfy the church, we have written into law that bakers will not be required to bake wedding cakes for gay couples if they find themselves in any way put off by gay couples for religious reasons. And in Rhode Island, Catholic hospitals will be allowed to say no to a gay partner of a dying man who wants to carry out the heartbreaking decisions they have made together on how to proceed at the end.
The Bishops will decide instead.
Wake up, America.
When are we ever going to throw these bums out?
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