The Struggle Continues
By Brian Katcher
For the past ten or so years, the debate has raged: should the government of the United States recognize marriages between homosexual partners? For those of you who’ve read my books, you can predict my answer will be a big ‘hell, yea.’ However, that is not the point of this blog. Instead, stroll back with me to my early high school days of 1990.
Twenty years ago, the concept of being ‘out and proud’ was very much limited to the big cities. Almost no celebrities would admit to what was then considered a deviant lifestyle. The few well known gay celebrities, such as Rock Hudson and Freddy Mercury, were usually only outed after contracting AIDS (still considered a ‘gay’ disease at the time).
In my Midwest experience, it would have been unthinkable for a teenager to acknowledge being a homosexual. The idea of a gay/straight alliance, one actually sponsored by the school, was laughable. In popular culture, homosexuals were promiscuous, effeminate men there for comedic relief.
As far as same-sex marriage went, that came under the heading of pure science fiction. As far as the federal, state, and almost all local governments were concerned, a long-term homosexual relationship counted for nothing. What’s more, homosexuality itself was a crime in almost half the US states. Illegal. Two adults having a consensual sexual relationship could be charged with sodomy. The last of these laws were not struck down until 2003.
Now, let’s compare. Today, it’s hard to keep track of who’s gay in Hollywood. No one really cares anymore. A revelation that would have destroyed an acting career in 1990 is page five news in 2010. That Neil Patrick Harris guy (he cracks me up) recently had a guest spot on Sesame Street, that’s how little it matters now.
I’m pleased to note that many schools in the United States have ‘Gay/Straight Alliances’, or other organizations that promote tolerance and understanding. It would have been almost impossible to get a club like that off the ground in the late eighties/ early nineties.
What I consider even more amazing is the fact that five US states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut) actually recognize same-sex marriage. You younger people may be thinking that’s only ten percent of the states. For those of us of a slightly older generation, however, it’s, ‘Holy cripes, that’s ten percent of all the states!’ While the movement has suffered defeats in Maine and California, I believe that within twenty years, all states will recognize all adult marriages as legitimate.
It’s not just in the US, either. Did you know ten countries allow same-sex marriage, including South Africa? When I was a young guy, that country still kept most of their population as slaves. It’s amazing what twenty years can do. And while I’m not a fan of separate but equal, about ten other US states and seventeen countries allow civil unions (partnerships similar to marriage, but not quite). In fact, only one country in western Europe does not recognize same-sex unions at all (Italy, I’m looking in your direction).
So what’s the point of all these figures and memories? For about the past one hundred years, homosexual = pervert. Now, in just ten or fifteen years, the world is realizing that about one in ten people simply like other guys/girls.
There’s still work to be done. Homosexuality is still a crime in many parts of the world, and a capitol offense in some parts of Africa and the Mid East. But I like to think that in fifty years, people will look back and be amazed at how intolerant we used to be. Be part of that change.
Brian Katcher was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1975. He attended the University of Missouri, Columbia, before dropping out of society and bumming around Mexico for three years. He’s worked as a fry cook, a market researcher, a welding machine operator, a telemarketer (only lasted one day), and a furniture mover. He lived on an Israeli military base one summer, and once smuggled food into Cuba. When he’s not writing, he works as a school librarian. He lives in central Missouri with his wife and daughter. He still hasn’t paid the parking ticket he got in West Virginia in 1997. Visit Brian's website, here.