Gay Rights As Civil Rights

There's been a lot of coverage this past week over the recent vote in Maine repealing gay marriage in that State. I know that much, if not most, of the funding on both sides of the issue came from outside Maine, and that fact bothers me. I don't like the idea of "outside" money being used to sway "local" opinions on a referendum. I get lots of emails soliciting financial support for lobbying efforts around the country, and I generally don't participate, unless it's for something that is on my ballot. I don't want people in other States telling me what I should do, and I don't want to tell them what they should do. That said, I do support the right of gay couples to marry.

Those that oppose it seem to focus on the "sanctity" of marriage, but that argument seems to be fallacious when one considers that the majority of heterosexual marriages in this country end in divorce. If marriage is sacred, why have we made it so easy to dissolve one?

At any rate, it's hard to rationally counter the shouting of the religious right on this topic, unless you're comfortable with debating the finer points of biblical texts. Burt Constable's column "Don't remember the Maine vote, just keep eyes on gay prize," does a good job of it with a discussion of Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell, a retired, black, heterosexual, Methodist minister who is a new member of the Board of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).

This week's vote in Maine against gay rights was disappointing, but Caldwell calls it another example of "letting the majority determine the rights of the minority." If not for court decisions upholding the rights of the minority, some states still might vote to ban interracial marriage or integrated schools, Caldwell notes.

You might expect a retired minister to be fluent with biblical texts, and Rev. Caldwell, who was an active participant in the fight for civil rights in the early 1960s with Martin Luther King, does not disappoint.

People who use the Bible to deny rights to gays, "use the Bible to sustain their bias," Caldwell says. "And that, to me, does great damage to the sacred book for those of us who are Christian. I say we've done damage to the depth and breath of scripture when we have used the Bible as a book to bash people."

There is a certain calming influence to Rev. Caldwell's words. He urges us to be steadfast and not be discouraged and to continue to seek equality for everyone. He paraphrases a Martin Luther King quote "Today we know with certainty that segregation is dead. The only question remaining is how costly will be the funeral":

Caldwell says the days when civil rights belong only to the heterosexual population are dying. "We're in the funeral-making with heterosexualism," Caldwell says, employing a word he lumps in with racism and sexism. "We just have to figure out how long that will be."