Ellen DeGeneres set the jokes aside Wednesday (well, mostly) during a powerful monologue against Mississippi’s anti-LGBT law…. “I’m not a political person, I’m really not, but this is not politics, this is human rights,” she told a cheering audience. “And when I see something wrong I have to talk about it. It’s the same thing I do when I see men wearing spandex in line at Starbucks.”…. DeGeneres noted how the Supreme Court already made marriage a right for everyone, but Mississippi “doesn’t second that emotion.”…. “I was fired for being gay, and I know what it feels like,” she said. “I lost everything, but look at me now. I could buy that governor’s mansion, flip it and make a $7 million profit.”
It’s become fashionable- understandably and commendably so- for public figures to denounce the hatred and homophobia in evidence in North Carolina, Mississippi, and soon perhaps Tennessee, which has resurrected its’ own “protect the sanctity of our bathrooms” bill. The good thing about these bills is that they’ve forced hatred, homophobia and faux-Christian hyper-religiosity and self-righteousness into the public discourse. The ugly reality of what’s lurked just below the surface for longer than we care to admit can no longer be denied. We’re being forced to confront- and discuss- the realities of our darker angels, the truth that there’s much about humanity that’s ugly and in need of work, and the reality that modern Christianity is neither.
The aspect of the current rush to embrace legally sanctioned homophobia and the sudden obsession with protecting the sanctity of our public restrooms I find most disturbing is that the folks driving the bus proclaim themselves good, God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians. Sure, I could expound at some length about how this is exactly why I reject Christianity, but I’ve done that too often already, and I see no need to revisit that argument. That said, I find it distressing in the extreme that so many claim to revere someone they refer to as their Lord and Savior, even as they reject His teachings about love, tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion.
Anyone who feels justified in referring to themselves as “Christian” while using their “faith” as camouflage for hatred and homophobia amply demonstrates their hypocrisy and should be exposed and ridiculed for it. Few do it better and with more subtlety and kindness than Ellen DeGeneres.
Additionally, those jurisdictions who choose to legalize discrimination and the treating of minority classes as “less than” cannot expect to do so in a vacuum. Hatred and homophobia have consequences, and states like North Carolina and Mississippi will be, and already are, losing business opportunities as companies and organizations who hold equality as a core value decline to do business in places that espouse hatred as one of their core values.
Of course, it’s wrong and inappropriate to tell any government entity how to take care of their business; that’s the business of the people who’ve elected them. That said, if a government chooses to give hatred, homophobia, discrimination, and oppression the force of law, they can’t claim to be surprised when businesses and organizations decide to take their business elsewhere.
Governors in New York, Vermont, and Washington have banned state employees from most work-related travel to Mississippi after the southern state enacted a discriminatory anti-LGBT law on Tuesday….
Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) officially banned non-essential state travel to Mississippi, stating his obligation to protect equality for all persons, including Washington residents who might travel to Mississippi. “It is the law of Washington state and the policy of my administration to demand equality for all persons,” Inslee wrote in a memo announcing the decision. The ban will remain in effect as long as Mississippi’s law exists “in its current form,” according to his office. Inslee also banned non-essential, state-funded travel to North Carolina last week after the state passed a law explicitly discriminating against transgendered people.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) also issued an Executive Order banning non-essential state travel to Mississippi, following a request from openly gay Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell (D). Governor Cuomo issued a similar travel bans for Indiana and North Carolina after those states passed their own anti-LGBT laws. Cuomo’s ban on state travel to Indiana has since been lifted.
In some ways, the Conservative yen for legalizing hatred and homophobia may turn out to be the best thing that could happen to the LGBT community. As counterintuitive as it may sound at first blush, North Carolina and Mississippi have succeeded in uniting a diverse collection of interests in support of equality. A lawsuit filed against the state of North Carolina claims the new law “violates the most basic guarantees of equal treatment and the U.S. Constitution.” The thinking is that this argument may finally force the Supreme Court to enumerate what rights are granted to the LGBT community under the 14th Amendment.
How sad is it to think that it may take the Supreme Court to confirm that human rights apply to all human beings?
There’s an argument to be made that perhaps the LGBT community and their supporters who believe in equality may have become too complacent. The recent eruption of officially-sanctioned hatred and discrimination shows that for every victory achieved there are still too many working to define those who think, believe, live, and/or love differently as second-class citizens, as “less than.”
If nothing else, individuals and organizations are taking a stand against hatred and bigotry, which can only be a good thing as the battle for equality moves forward. This is a battle which will never truly be “won,” not as long as haters and bigots occupy positions of power and are determined to provide their self-righteous and self-superiority the force of law. We may prevail in the occasional skirmishes which will inevitably pop up here and there, but I doubt we’ll see- in my lifetime, at least- a time when hatred, bigotry, and homophobia have been well, truly, and permanently vanquished.
There will be times when shining a light on the cockroaches and forcing them to scatter will have to pass for a victory. With any luck, in time there will smaller numbers of them as they die off and fewer rush in to replace them. I’d like to remain hopeful and believe I’ll live to see the day when hatred, bigotry, and rampant homophobia are so rare as to be virtually nonexistent. Given what’s happening today, that feels as if it might be a wee bit on the overly optimistic side.
