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Sodom or America?
Politics and sex are evil bedfellows
”God did not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah
because their inhabitants were homosexual. Not at all. Rather, the cities
were destroyed because the inhabitants were nasty, depraved, and
uncompromisingly greedy. Classical Jewish writings affirm that the primary
crimes of the Sodomites were, among others, terrible and repeated economic
crimes, both against each other and to outsiders. Saying ‘God killed them
because they were gay’ is, to say the least, not the Jewish teaching on the
subject.” Ironically, the foregoing excerpt, from Robert Kaiser’s Collection
of classical Jewish Texts, is apropos to intellectualize homophobic
citizen’s conviction that “the greatest nation in the history of the world
is in its “Last Days.”
Inasmuch as America is supposedly a Judea-Christian Republic, united to
pledge alliance to one flag, “Under God,” when, James E. McGreevey, the
governor of New Jersey, dropped a political bombshell on his constituents,
you can be sure “Gay bashing bigots” grabbed their bibles. And, for sure,
pointed to 2 Timothy 3:1-4 (“This know also, that in the last days perilous
times shall come…. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parent, unthankful, unholy….
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good…. Traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God”), to validate that the Holy
Bible’s “Last Days” prophecy is being fulfilled.
Then again, African-American News&Issues would be remiss (as Black America’s
uncompromised editorial voice), if we failed to address the tenuous topics
of “dirty politics” and questionable sexual behavior from a common sense
Black perspective. First, however, for the sake of good journalism, we’re
obligated to validate why it’s apropos to compare America, the land of the
free, with the biblical kingdom of Sodom. Paradoxically, an article (“Gay
governor/Officials don’t have to resign just because they are gay. They
should resign if they abuse their office”), that appeared in the August 17,
2004 edition of Houston, Texas’ only daily newspaper, obviously propagated
the same mindset that prevailed in the sin sick kingdoms of Sodom and its
sister city Gomorrah that put them on God Almighty’s “hit list.”
The article further asserts: “Fortunately, in this day and age politicians
who get elected to office need not resign because of their sexual
orientation. If they confess to have an adulterous affair with a member of
one sex while being married to a member of the opposite sex, the public is
apt to be forgiving, as has been the case with McGreevy. However, McGreevey
did not hold his stunning press conference last week (August 12, 2004),
because he realized the error of his ways and wished to make a clean breast
of it. His announcement came as the object of his affection demanded a
multimillion-dollar cash settlement and threatened to file a lawsuit
alleging sexual harassment. McGreevey’s most serious lapse was in appointing
this man, a former campaign aide and Israeli citizen, as his homeland
security adviser.
“The alleged lover, Golan Cipel, who insists he is straight, had no obvious
qualifications for a ($110, 000 a year) job.” Moreover, “Because this
daytime drama is unfolding in New Jersey, it is inevitably accompanied by
undercurrents of campaign contributions and possible influence peddling…. At
this point, McGreevey’s experience seems to say more about inappropriate use
of the state payroll and work force than about sexual orientation.” Stop!
Rewind back to Sodom and read: “ The cities were destroyed because the
inhabitants were nasty, depraved, and uncompromisingly greedy…. the primary
crimes of the Sodomites were, among others, terrible and repeated economic
crimes, both against each other and to outsiders.” Translation: “Dirty
tricks” politics and illicit sex are, indeed, evil bedfellows.
Thus, the question--begging to be asked here-- is, how can Americans not
identify with denizens of Sodom? A good question aside, its puzzling why
America allowed J. Edgar Hoover, a reportedly cross-dressing, homosexual to
hold us hostage for almost five decades? Hoover, the legendary architect of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), abused his power to terrorize
citizens from 1924 until he died in 1972. Either America’s very selective
homophobic citizens are cracking, rather than facting, or are just straight
up hypocritical liars, insofar as (according to The JournalNews.com), “More
than 275 openly gay men and women are serving in Congress, state
legislatures, city halls and school boards in the United States today,”’
says Dave DeCicco, a spokesman for The Victory Fund.
“The Washington, D.C., organization that has spent $12 million to elect
openly gay men and women since it was formed in 1991. At least three now
serve in the U.S. Congress, three in the New York state Senate and Assembly,
and at least two — Shields and Peekskill City Councilman Bill Schmidt — are
serving in the northern suburbs. The political risks of coming out are no
greater even in conservative communities, where gays are less accepted,
several elected officials said yesterday. Several said McGreevey's
resignation is evidence that the risks for gay politicians who attempt to
hide their sexuality can be greater in the end.” But an excerpt from Scott
Bidstrup’s essay (“The Surprising History of Homosexuality and homophobia”),
addresses the issue even more candidly.
“‘What Catholicism and most other meny is just how much homosexuality was
not only tolerated, but practiced by many of its founding fathers, and the
degree of toleration, if not veneration,’ the article asserts. “Afrocentrics
often deny that homosexuality was a feature of African American cultures in
Ancient times. And more than a few anglicized Native Americans would be
shocked to learn that homosexuals were not only common among their tribal
ancestors, but were even venerated as being spiritually gifted.
Homosexuality and bisexuality, we now know from modern research, is
ubiquitous throughout the world. It exists in all cultures, whether
tolerated or not, and has at all times in history.
“ Modern research also validates that, in the absence of cultural taboos,
it’s not only extremely common in men, but probably the rule! “Homosexuality
of convenience’ (See Bud’s Eyeview on page 3), which occurs in the absence
of available female partners, i.e., penal systems (And even in the “ don’t
ask, won’t tell” military, as quite as it’s kept.) “By the age of 49, fully
60% of American men have had such an experience.”
Even so, if one had cause to pause and ponder why 2004 America mirrors the
corruption and immorality that made Sodom and Gomorrah synonymous to
ungodliness, one only has to realize that there’s a spiritual war going on
with evil in America The Beautiful’s high places. Hence, one is more likely
to find more of the kind of sin (that evokes God’s wrath), in corporate
America’s boardrooms, in the back rooms of political caucuses and/or the
criminal justice systems (than Gay’s bedroom), in the “Land of The Free.”
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