In Which Kirk Cameron Shocks No One and Angers Many

I was torn about whether to post this here or in the politics section. I'll go with here for now, until/unless a mod tells me to shift it elsewhere. I'm also so pissed right now I can barely think straight, so if any of this winds up veering off the bounds of civil conversation, please let me know and I'll try to rein it in.

Here's what happened.

You remember this kid? He used to be on Growing Pains? I never saw it on the air--watched reruns during my Leo DiCaprio phase in high school, during the (one, maybe two?) seasons he was on.

Doesn't matter. Now, he's still an actor, but also a FAR right wing conservative evangelical Christian who starred in the Left Behind movies and is also spouting anti-gay diatribe, much to the chagrin of everyone who isn't also a FAR right wing conservative Christian.

The phrase being kicked to the curb is his statement that homosexuality is "unnatural" and "I think that it's detrimental and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization."

First, let's talk about Cameron's unfortunate phrasing. The way he's talking about "homosexuality," it seems as if it's a particular sexual act which he doesn't approve of, and I suspect this is the case for most narrow-minded folks who continue, for whatever reason, to think of all non-straight people as moral deviants who have kinky sex all the time. What I imagine he means when he says "homosexuality" is actually "sodomy" or something similar. Not simply the tendency of homosexuals to feel a romantic or sexual attraction to people of their same gender, regardless of what they do about that attraction, which is a separate thing.

Let me point out two things here: One, sodomy is not exclusive to homosexuals--straight folks do it too, whether Cameron chooses to acknowledge that or not; Two, not all homosexuals have the butt-secks. They really don't. Not that it's any of Cameron's business what consenting adults do in their own homes anyway, but this is a painfully familiar case of Critical Research Failure on the part of disapproving conservatives everywhere. He's assuming here that homosexual means something it doesn't, and carries on with this diatribe without pausing to ask real life LGBT people what their private lives are actually like.

As I've said before, here and elsewhere, I'm bisexual, and also a virgin. In every conceivable sense of the word. I suspect that in Cameron's mind and others' like his, these are two states of being which allegedy cannot coexist. I am here to reiterate, once again, that that's complete and utter bullshit.

Moving on--I'm seeing a lot of chatter in the comments saying that the GLAAD folks calling Cameron on the carpet on this are trying to supress his right to free speech. Look, no one's saying Cameron doesn't have a constitutional right to behave like a bigoted asshole. He does. I see people daily who exercise that same right. Calling him out on it is not the same as telling him he shouldn't say anything. Say whatever the hell you want, Cameron. But rest assured that others who feel differently--and there are a lot of us, and we're not happy--will exercise that same right in response. And you probably won't like what we have to say either.

My third point is about the separation of church and state that seems to have gone AWOL in this country as of late. Putting aside for a moment this innaccurate, but still widely embraced, idea that the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, none of the Bible's laws should apply to you if you're not Christian. NONE. Speaking as a non-Christian, there are many parts of the Bible that I happen to agree with and think are worth studying and applying to my day-to-day life. The part about loving your neighbor as yourself, for example. And not stealing, lying or cheating. And the Golden Rule, which is rephrased and repeated in most, if not all, religions everywhere. That said, I'm still not Christian, and I don't appreciate someone trying to dictate how I should live my life based on how he's decided to live his.

I saw this quote on LiveJournal earlier this week, which I think sums it all up perfectly: "Claiming that someone else’s marriage is against your religion is like being angry at someone for eating a donut because you’re on a diet." Damn right.

Furthermore, let's not forget that sexuality is neither a "lifestyle" nor a "choice." It is a state of being, rather like being left-handed or born with blue eyes. Using the word "lifestyle" in connection with sexuality implies that all people of a certain sexuality have identical values, ethics, and habits, and that's simply not that case--not at all. There are straight people who are into S&M, who abstain from sex until marriage, who cheat on their partners, who "swing," who remain celibate all their lives--all of these things apply to the rest of us too. There is no one way to be gay. Also, saying an orientation is a "choice" implies that everyone is actually born with NO orientation whatsoever--or else pansexual, I guess--and eventually, perhaps sometime during puberty, makes a conscious decision to only pursue relationships with X person. I think we can all agree that's ridiculous.

Please understand--I know that not all conservative Christians behave this way or agree with Cameron. I know that. But he's acting as a mouthpiece for an entire faith, and enough of them agree with him--loudly, militantly--that whatever rational voices exist in that religious/political corner are getting drowned out. People, this has been an US vs. THEM conversation for far too long. It shouldn't be a case of The Gays and Liberals doing battle with the Conservatives and Straights. We are not enemies. If you lean conservative and you think Cameron's full of it, don't let him speak for you. This world is getting way too small for this kind of thing to go unchallenged, or only challenged by the people we've come to expect it from.