Easter Eggs and the Bigot’s Veto
January 21st, 2006
The right wing has begun attacking the gay families who plan to show themselves at the White House Easter Egg roll. Apparently, going to a public event with your children is “politicizing” that event:
“It’s important for our families to be seen participating in all aspects of American life,” said Family Pride executive director Jennifer Chrisler.
Yet some conservatives, alerted to the plans this week, accuse gay activists of trying to “crash” an event for children and turn it into a forum for ideological politicking. Some groups are discussing ways to respond. “It’s improper to use the egg roll for political purposes,” said Mark Tooley of the conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy. Tooley wrote a critical article this week in the Weekly Standard magazine about the planned event that has circulated widely on conservative Web sites.
Since the article appeared Tuesday, Chrisler said Family Pride has received “a flood of hate-filled, venomous messages telling us that our families aren’t welcome.”
“It’s not surprising that the right would be against it,” Chrisler said. “They are very clear about wanting to make our families invisible.”
This is the bigot’s veto. Since the bigot thinks that gays should not be seen, ever, in normal settings where people can see that they are as unthreatening and boring as the rest of us, then any such attempt to participate in normal events is wrong. Trying to participate in a public event like other families is only politicizing the event in the minds of people who cannot stand seeing gays as normal American citizens. It is the equivalent of saying that blacks and whites should not marry because some people - -oh, heavens, not me — but some people, you understand, will give them such a hard time.
So, Mr. President, who do you stand with: American families or people who send a flood of hate mail anytime those families dare to show their faces in public?
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