Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged

Back in the fall of 1997, I was walking down the street (3rd Avenue, approaching Vine) in Seattle and I saw two me holding hands. It made me feel good inside that they were comfortable enough with themselves and their city to openly display the affection for each other that straight people assume. As I was walking, smile on my face, I was approached by a man not much older than me who said, "That's disgusting."

"What do you mean?"

"I am a Christian and the Bible tells me that is wrong."

"The Bible also says, 'Judge not lest ye be judged'."

At this point, he hit me in the shoulder and took off.

My boss at the time told me that she was surprised I wasn't shot.

Why am I recalling this particular anecdote right now?

(Isn't it obvious?)

People (Some, not all) of certain orthodox or fundamentalist Christianist belief will often use The Bible as a buffet of bigotry, picking and choosing which rules to apply to the behavior of other people. The hypocrisy of this is not lost on me, or on most people who see the world in shades (as opposed to black and white), but the thing is...it is now being legislated.

As I am writing this, SSM has not come up for a vote in the NYS Senate. but there have been amendments added to the original bill to "protect" the interests of...well, let's call it accurately here...bigots. People are using "religion as a smokescreen to hide their intolerance, choosing to misstate the plain language of the bill and falsely claiming that it fails to protect religious practice".

The Senators and the interest groups who are demanding that intolerance be injected into what is a civil rights bill need to realize that they are on the wrong side of history.

I do not know is SSM will pass today. I do not think it will come up for a vote until the Senate reconvenes after the summer, but that is just a gut feeling, not based on anything more than ephemera.

It is sad though, isn't it? Fourteen years ago, I was punched in the shoulder. Today the Senate is willing (and ready) to metaphorically punch thousands of New Yorkers in the gut.