Self-Loathing, or Principled?
From the New York Times:
Raymond Hernandez - April 12th, 2005 The former president noted that an earlier article over the weekend reported that Mr. Finkelstein had married his male partner in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts, then he alluded to the Republican Party's use of the same-sex marriage issue to mobilize conservative voters.
"Either this guy believes his party is not serious and he's totally Machiavellian," Mr. Clinton said, or "he may be blinded by self-loathing."
This, in my opinion, does as much to dehumanize homosexuals as some of the rhetoric on the right (much of which is quite over the top). Finkelstein is a homosexual, but that's not the only way to describe him. It does not have to be (nor does it appear to be) his defining characteristic as a human being.
In a particular episode of The West Wing, a Republican is talking to a Democrat who works in The White House about a bill that is that fictional world's equivalent of the Defense of Marriage Act. The Democrat (played by Bradley Whitford) can't comprehend the idea of a gay Republican, much less one that supports this particular bill. He comes around when the Republican explains that he may be gay, but he's also for smaller government, lower taxes, and a strong defense. It's not all that he is.
In other words, he does not begin and end with his sexual orientation. I think it's safe to say that Finkelstein is not wholly contained by his sexual orientation, either. If anything, it shows how strong his commitment to the rest of his party's principles must be, if he's willing to support it in spite of its attitude towards homosexuality.
Homosexuals are people, plain and simple, which means not only that those on the right need to stop referring to them in scared, hushed tones, but that those on the left need to stop treating them as a single-issue interest group whose sexual orientation trumps concerns over taxes, foreign policy, or other social issues.
» April 12th, 2005
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