Well, that might be a slight exaggeration but only a slight one. This is what could happen here in this country if we let the conservatives have free reign. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/21/russia-moves-to-enact-anti-gay-laws/?test=latestnews First off, I am not saying Fox News agrees with this or not cause the truth be told I have no idea if they do or don’t. Second, we will ignore the fact for the moment, that Russia is really the Soviet Union in disguise. Finally we will focus on the fact that this is what real tyranny looks like.
What bothers me is not the fact that this is happening in another country that calls itself a democracy. (Uganda… cough*) What bothers me is that it could happen right here in this country. There are elements in this country, some are even in legislatures and Congress that feel the way that the authorities in Russia do. What chills me to the bone is the wording of the quotes in the article. Same language used by the National Socialists when talking about Judaism. I have spent a significant portion of my life studying the history of Nazi Germany and this article puts a fear in me that I can not describe and to make matters worse I could see it happening here. Add to that, that we as a country ended up going to war and it was during that war that we found the atrocities that had been committed using the very same tactics and language described in the article. That legacy still haunts our men and women to this day and yet now we see the seeds cropping up some where else. How can you not be scared at the implications.
Right now it is easy to dismiss because it isn’t happening here but you are wrong. It is happening here. It is in the pulpits, the legislatures, the Congress, our work places… it is here, believe me. I am not talking about someone like Westboro Baptist church either. I am talking about the churches in this country that refuse to acknowledge gay rights. I am talking about legislators who refuse to grant those rights and I am talking about people who refuse to hire gays. While at the moment this discrimination is not open and in our faces but it exists and it is festering underneath the surface. Yes, from time to time you can see it but like any discrimination it is hidden for most of the time. It is hidden behind the words religion, God, and Jesus Christ. It is hidden behind cries of patriotism. It is hidden behind the voices screaming, “protect the youth”.
I am not trying to suppress anyones freedom to practice their religion but your religion does not make up all of society and as such you do not have the right to suppress that of others in the name of your religion. You do not have the right to force your morality on others that do not accept your way of thinking. You have the right to reject gays in your home or house of worship but that right ends at the front door. They have the same rights as you do and when the concept of seeing people on the street with pink triangles sewn on their garments and being segregated from the rest of society, I know what comes next and so do you. I don’t know about you but I sure as hell don’t want that future.
Atomic Sententia Sanctorium 