*Beginning in 2010, I started writing a bi-weekly column, “From Richard’s Oft Cluttered Desk” which appears every other Wednesday.

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. – 1 Peter 4:8

Over the last year, over 1,800 committed couples took the ultimate step and declaration of love. They got married.

“But wait a second, Richard! How in the world did only 1,8-000 people get married in the last year?” you might be asking. Well, it’s because those 1,800 were gay and lesbian couples in my adopted state of Iowa. Last April 3, the state supreme court ruled, 7-0 I might add, that discrimination of marriage to men and women only was unconstitutional.

It was a beautiful day.

In November 2008, the same night (then Senator) Obama was elected, California approved Proposition 8, reversing the law allowing gay marriage in that state. I was angry. I was hurt. I was stunned that night.

A mere six months later, as I watched Twitter and Facebook to the news on the court decision, I was nervous. I was scared. I didn’t want to keep seeing love lose. On that day, it didn’t. Love and common sense law won out. Through all the losses before that day and those that have come since (see Maine), I have not cried. But I did on that day. Years of frustration and hurt and segregation came to an end.

It was an honor to say I was an Iowan again.

I know a few people who have either gotten married or are engaged and I couldn’t be more proud and excited for them. Love always wins.

As I wrote last year, “Today, the hope now exists in Des Moines, Iowa. In Cedar Falls, in Dennison, in Decorah, in Estherville, in Mason City, in Keokuk, and everywhere in between. In Iowa, under the law, all love is now equal.”

There are still legal battles to be fought and rights to maintain. But as the saying goes, “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.”

There is a Christmas poem that I love. I look forward to it every year. It’s long so I won’t bore you with it here. But it ends, “[...] of all the gifts, love is the best.” It is. And love always wins.

Related posts:

1. Let There Be Love…
2. Gratitude Week: Love
3. Give Love

Today, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, and effective April 24, 2009, any legal adult in the state can marry. It is a day I never thought would happen and moved me to tears and quiet reflection.

Good people can disagree on this issue. Surely we can agree every person, regardless of color or creed deserves fundamental rights. The Declaration of Independence spells them out, “…the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Simple, yet powerful words written by wise and tolerant men in a time when equality was in its infancy.

If you can agree to that last statement, then surely we have come to a place where religion or tradition can’t stand in the way of equal protection. This has gone on far too long.

When Dustin Lance Black won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (Milk, 2009), he said, “But most of all, if Harvey (Milk) had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he’d want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, by the government or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value…” Today, Iowa took a step in that direction. They are now a land where children know that no matter who they grow up to love, that love will be recognized.

After his election to the San Fransisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, Harvey Milk said, “We’ve given them hope.”

Today, the hope now exists in Des Moines, Iowa. In Cedar Falls, in Denison, in Decorah, in Estherville, in Mason City, in Keokuk, and everywhere in between. In Iowa, under the law, all love is now equal.

Laws can change the course of history — for better or worse. Sports rules change the way games are played and technology changes the way we live our lives. Books are now read on Kindles and we carry computers in our pockets. But the one thing that has never changed and has stood the test of time is love.

I’m proud of my state again today. It’s not perfect, but today, and for all time, it is heaven full of love. It has won out. Let it ring from every hillside. Let it ring from every classroom and office. Let it ring from all 99 courthouses that love is love and in Iowa, love is all that matters and all that we’ve ever needed.

Kevin Costner was asked, “Is this Heaven?” He looked out over his cornfield in eastern Iowa and smiled, “No, it’s Iowa!” It’s the land of opportunity and now, a place complete with love.

Maybe they are one and the same. Maybe Iowa is Heaven and Heaven is Iowa. One thing is for certain tonight: Love exists. Love matters. And in Iowa, Love was affirmed.

No related posts.

Well, I was first informed of a problem with this year’s event from a contact in Iowa. After searching the news across the country, this event deserved my attention this evening.

Many organizations including the American Family Association and Americans for Truth have publicly called for protests to the event.

At what point are these ‘adults’ going to begin to understand what being tolerant means? Surely they don’t really believe that honoring a person for who they are is wrong. It still amazes me that 40 years after Stonewall we are still here – fighting. This isn’t even about marriage or legal rights.

The Day of Silence is to promote a safe school and build understanding. What parents and organizations like the American Family Association are promoting is hate and intolerance.

Groups like GLSEN and the HRC promote events like these to not advance the gay lifestlye, but to give information, to try to build safe schools were all students, gay or straight, tall or short, black or white can learn – safely.

Countless studies show that when students don’t feel safe, they don’t learn as well. It’s also why depression and suicide rates are higher among gay teenagers than their straight classmates.

“Social activism does not belong in the classroom,” added Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth, as reported on WorldNetDaily.

I have one comment for Mr. LaBarbera. If that is the case then we need to reverse desegregation. That’s what Brown v. Board of Education was all about. It was social activism by lawyers and judges. Certainly, if there is anyplace that is built for social activism and is a perfect place for honest discussion and understanding, it is our schools. Even more important, this cry for understanding and acceptance is coming from those in school, those students who cry in silence for this most fundamental of rights.

The classroom is a place that must be protected and must be a place of high values and respect. It is time school boards, politicians, but most of all, students, gay and straight stand up to these organizations to stop their hate. With one voice we must stop hate in the schools. With one voice we must show the world that the students of today know how best to make the world a better place.

Maybe, just maybe the silence has been broken.

No related posts.

I am writing this column to stop hate. To stop bigotry. To stop the words that come from leaders that are hateful, degrading and despite their best wishes, destroying our country.

“The homosexual agenda is destroying this nation,” Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern (R) said. “I’m not gay bashing.”

I don’t mind someone having a problem with homosexuality. I don’t mind someone voicing their religious views. It’s their right and their solemn duty. It is also my just duty as a patriot to stand up for her right to speak her mind.

I will not however do so in manner that is not befitting a leader. That’s where I draw the line.

Kern also said that being homosexual has deadly consequences, causes more suicides and more illness, that life spans of homosexuals are shorter and that homosexuality is not a lifestyle that is good for this nation.

Being gay can have health risks, just like being straight. I’m not naive to think that everyone knows all the facts about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. I do know that disease does not discriminate. It will find any host, any way to survive and kill.

I do know that homosexual teenagers carry a heavier burden than their straight counterparts and this does lead to higher rates of depression and suicide among teenagers. But there is no evidence that says that being gay makes you more likely to kill yourself over the course of your life.

Kern continued: “I honestly think its the biggest threat even more so than terrorism. [...] They are going after two year olds [...] they want to get our young children.”

If, at this moment I was see Mrs. Kern, I might just lose it. Never have we as people, a group of gay people every thought that we needed to indoctrinate others. Throughout the course of world history, there have been gay artists and leaders. Recruitment doesn’t happen. Being gay and proud does.

Kern introduced a bill in the Oklahoma Legislature last year that would have forced schools to notify parents of any and all clubs their children were involved in. “We have the GSA coming into our schools and their lives are being ruined,” Kern said.

I wholeheartedly disagree. The lives get ruined when a young adult doesn’t feel safe in their own school. Clubs like the GSA provide a sense of belonging and safety all across this country. Imagine a young man or woman who is attending GSA meetings at their school and their parents don’t know of their child’s orientation. It is not the school’s job to inform parents of that information. That’s how lives get ruined.

In an article posted at 365gay.com, Kern says, “What is wrong with me as an American exercising my free speech rights on a topic that is a very big issue today? Shame on the person who didn’t have the courage to come and say, ‘I’m going to tape you and put it on YouTube.’”

No. Shame on you Rep. Kern. Shame on you for creating an atmosphere of hate. Shame on you for using the First Amendment in this manner. You’ve torn it down. Shame on you for spouting incorrect information and passing it off as fact. Shame on you.

I urge all of you to not hate. To use the First Amendment to share ideas and valid opinions and bridge all of us a little closer together. We are after all, Americans.

*note: this link will take you to the audio of Rep. Kern’s remarks. video

No related posts.

Five minutes later I am still going 75 MPH but this time I am also writing notes furiously in my notebook while still driving and watching for my exit. Oh, and watching the State Trooper behind me.

I have since spent the rest of the evening researching the topic of the day for the Christian Right: Miller Brewing Company. I first stopped on the station because the commentator and callers were blaming Miller Brewery for the decline in our nation: unwed mothers, single parents, etc. They had my attention.

It’s not Miller Brewing Company’s fault that people drink and drive, no more than it is the National Football League’s for kids wanting to play tackle football during recess. It just happens.

The show then turned to the Folsom Street Fair this past weekend in San Francisco. While it’s not my kind of fair, it’s a fair for a select sector of our society who aren’t violent or spreading hate and should thus be granted the right and privilege to do so.

According to the Folsom Fair Website, “Our [Folsom Fair] mission is to create world-class volunteer driven leather events, providing the adult alternative lifestyle community safe venues for self-expression, emphasizing freedom, fun and frolic, while raising money to benefit San Francisco charities.” Sounds good to me.

Here comes the problem. Apparently Miller, the title sponsor, created an advertisement in bad taste. I have read about it and I agree: It should never have been approved. Nonetheless, the advertisement isn’t what the Christian Right is calling it.

On Catholic Online, Beth Gilinsky of the Jewish Action Alliance says, “This kind of vicious anti-Catholic and anti-Christian behavior may fall under freedom of speech or freedom of assembly, or even some form of low-class ‘entertainment,’ but one would hope that a major American corporation such as Miller would display a good deal more corporate responsibility and leadership regarding the destination of their community support dollars.”

If this American company wishes to support the Folsom Street Fair, they have every right to do so. Just because their attendees happen to like leather, et al., doesn’t mean it is any less valuable to that community than other non-profits.

While I can’t speak for Miller, I would venture to guess that ad wasn’t created to degrade Christians, but rather play to the crowd they were supporting. Wrong as it may be, it wasn’t an attack on Christians.

It is funny though. The radio host said, ‘Christians are to be extraordinary and not to succumb to social norms.’ It would be interesting to find out how many Christians have hateful thoughts in their heads? How many Christians have killed others in the name if their God? How many Christians protest the love their children show to their same-sex partner? Shouldn’t Christians be extraordinary of their view of religions different from theirs, of murderers, of those who differ from them? But alas, this isn’t the case.

The Senate’s passage of a defense spending bill last week with a hate crimes amendment attached brings this to light. The Christian Right doesn’t support the hate crimes bill.

The Christian Post cited a comment by Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, “It’s called blind justice for a reason,” he added. “It is why the symbol for law is a blindfolded woman holding the scales of justice. It’s called blind justice because justice should be meted out based on actions, refusing to take into account the particular identities of perpetrators or victims.”

I recall being taught that love is blind to; that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. Until we can adhere to that fundamental teaching, I don’t think any group should protest a law designed to protect those who are different.

On the same radio show, the host also said, while talking about defeating a local school-board push to add homosexuality to their sex-ed curriculum, that by bringing hundreds of Christians to the meeting, it caused the issue to become ‘too hot button’ for the board to talk about. Shouldn’t we as a ‘democracy’ wish to talk about these ‘hot button’ issues?

If you kill a man just because you wanted his wallet, it instills fear in everyone for a time. Then we go on and live our lives without that fear.

If you kill a man just because he is black, it instills fear in only the black population for life. That’s why the hate crimes bill must be passed. Until our citizens, from the Folsom Fair crowd to the Christian Right see that, see that love is love, that hate is hate, and that one is better than the other, we need laws to protect those who are unique. Those who are different. Those who are, in a word, extraordinary.

Stories mentioned in this column:
The Christian Post
Folsom Street Fair
Catholic Online

No related posts.

Today in his speech at Columbia University, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, “In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. We don’t have that like in your country. … In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have this.”

Do I dare ‘google’ this? Okay, you twisted my arm.

Wikipedia comes first. “Officially, homosexuality remains a crime under the country’s theocratic Islamic government. In fact, all types of sexual activity outside a heterosexual marriage remain forbidden, however it is debated to what extent these laws are enforced.”

It was widely reported years ago that two teenages were executed in 2005 for being gay. This account has since been questioned, but nonetheless, the boys were gay.

Homosexuality is not even recognized in Iran. No laws exist in Iran to protect homosexuals in Iran.

I dream of one day where homosexuals aren’t persecuted. In my backyard or in Iran.

Everyday I smile because I can be proud and open about myself but I also know someone else can’t. Some 17-year-old boy in Iran is just like I was, only this time, he is fearful for his life.

I support Columbia allowing President Ahmadinejad to speak today at their campus. Their state funding should not to be touched just because they allowed this man to speak. We live in a free country and should allow those who think differently from us to speak.

I don’t and won’t give this president a free pass to create fear and pain in those that just want to love.

No related posts.