A local citizen recently shared on a Facebook page called “Voices of Montezuma county uncensored” a post highly critical of the Black Lives Matter movement. It claimed that “the truth” about BLM is that “they want to defund the police, they want to overthrow the government, they are a Marxist organization, they are pro gay and pro abortion” and a few more wild things.
Although all the various accusations deserve to be addressed, it’s the “pro gay” one that most mystified us here at the Four Corners Free Press. What, we wondered, what does it mean to be “pro gay”? And if you can figure out what it means, is there anything wrong with it?
We’re assuming that by “gay,” the author of this post means people who are not traditionally heterosexual. It’s very difficult to get any definite facts about what percentage of the population is “gay” because they don’t have identifying marks stamped on their face or anything, but estimates vary from 1 percent to more than 5 percent of the population. Gays have honorably served in the military and some have given their lives in the service to this country. There are gay actors, writers, poets, musicians, politicians, and top athletes. There are also gay doctors and nurses, chefs, waiters, grocery-store employees, teachers, postal workers – all types of human beings, in other words. Removing gays from the world, or even from the local area, would be a bit like pulling pieces from the stack in the game of Jenga. At some point the whole structure would collapse.
But the implication of this post is that it’s bad to be “pro gay,” so gayness must be an undesirable characteristic to have. (Neither the original post or the person who shared it explained why this should particularly involve Black Lives Matter.) Therefore we assume it would be preferable to be “anti gay.” What would that mean? Well, if you’re “anti gay” you probably dislike or fear gay people. You don’t want them anywhere around. You certainly wouldn’t want a social lunch club that might offer support or comfort to gay students to exist in the local school district.
If you are “anti gay” you probably think that being gay is a choice people make (though why they would voluntarily take this path, considering the undeserved censure that surely accompanies it, we don’t know). You probably believe that gays have the power to lure heterosexual people into likewise choosing to be non-heterosexuals. And then the human race might cease to exist because there wouldn’t be any babies born. (Of course, this might be cause for other species to celebrate.)
It’s been well established, of course, that gayness is not a choice. However, whether one is “pro gay” or “anti gay” clearly is up to individuals.
We still don’t know what the supporters of this Facebook post mean by “pro gay,” but we are certain that anyone who is “pro gay” doesn’t believe any of that “anti gay” nonsense. Instead, they believe that gay people are people like anyone else.
We have gotten no feedback from BLM organizers about whether they are “pro gay.” But we at the Free Press are happy to say unequivocally that we are. And we hope you are too.
