’80s sitcom heartthrob turned evangelical Kirk Cameron made his stance on gay rights, and gays in general, crystal clear in an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan last night. Survey says: definitely not pro! After Morgan broached the topic, Cameron deflected by making reference to Christine O’Donnell’s gay-marriage-induced walkout of last summer, but the Growing Pains star eventually shared his views: “I believe marriage was defined by God. Marriage is almost as old as dirt, and it was defined in the Garden between Adam and Eve. One man, one woman for life till death do you part. So I would never attempt to try to redefine marriage. And I don’t think anyone else should either. So do I support the idea of gay marriage? No, I don’t.”…. “I think that it’s…unnatural. It’s detrimental and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.”
I love America. It’s a place where a person can believe what they will and voice whatever opinions pop into their pointy l’il hair. Freedom of religion, thought, and speech…very good things all, no? The correspondingly beautiful thing is that freedom of religion, thought, and speech goes both ways. Kirk Cameron has every right to voice his hateful, bigoted, nothing-even-faintly-resembling-the-teachings-of-Jesus-Christ thoughts…and we have every right to call him out for all the above.
The truth is that no matter how much hate Cameron attempts to spread, and no matter how fervently he attempts to cloak it in his hateful, bastardized version of Christianity, he can’t hide the fact that he’s on the wrong side of history. Cameron may think that Teh Gayz will destroy civilization; that’s his prerogative. Those of us who believe in tolerance and acceptance understand that history is not on the side of the haters and bigots who call themselves “Christians.” Not so very long ago, historically speaking, a very similar argument occurred over the place and rights of African-Americans. Eventually, the law and society came to reflect the truth that all men really are created equal. The day to day reality may not be what we’d always like it to be, but African-Americans are guaranteed equality under the law, if not always in custom. Life for the LGBT community is heading that very same direction- and faux hyper-religious “Christians” like Kirk Cameron can’t stand the idea that people they find so “icky” will soon have equal standing.
It’s tempting to dismiss Cameron as a sitcom has-been, and in mainstream entertainment, he is. But in the evangelical circles in which he moves and preaches, he is an influential figure: a charismatic and articulate star willing and able to publicly defend and promote their fundamentalist views. He’s even gone so far as to hand out “revised” editions of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species on college campuses. His 2008 film, Fireproof, in which he played an internet-porn-addicted fireman who finds Jesus, was the highest-grossing independent film of that year, earning $33 million at the box office. Do you have any idea how many copies of Darwin’s scientific masterwork you can defile with that kind of money?
On the whole, I have no real problem with Cameron’s right to his fundamentalist beliefs. I abhor virtually everything he stands for, but I’d certainly and willingly defend his right to hold them. That’s not to say that it’s necessary to accord his hatefulness an unwarranted false equivalence with the teachings of Jesus Christ. There comes a time when people who stand for something positive need to stand up to those whose life and beliefs tend toward the negative. Kirk Cameron couldn’t lead a Christ-like life if you handed him a flashlight, a map, and an instruction manual.
There’s a natural temptation to want to suppress the voice and opinions of those we disagree with or whose views we find odious. In the case of Kirk Cameron, his views deserve to be broadcast, if for no other purpose than to allow reasonable, loving Christians to see him for what he truly is. Cameron is as much a Christian as I am the Duke of Wellington; his “faith” is merely a cover designed to lend credibility to his hatred and bigotry. People who think as he does will continue to rail against the lifestyle of those they find “icky.” They value love only insofar as it comes in a form that they can accept and approve of. For those like Cameron, love comes in a one-size-fits-all box, and if your existence and preferences happen to place you outside that box you deserve to be marginalized and defined as second-class. People deserve to know that there are people like Cameron, people who would use their ignorance and hatred to deny others the same rights they demand for themselves.
The time will come when Cameron and his ilk will be relegated to the scrap heap of history. They’ll be mentioned in the same breath as George Wallace, Oral Faubus, and Pat Buchanan. They’ll be seen as the rancid product of ignorance and hatred that left them with little in their heart but darkness and emptiness. History will view them as sad, pitiful, and despicable…and justifiably so.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
