If they could face it
I could take it in their eyes
Oh I know I'd make it
Their tiny minds
And sacred cows just fake it
If only then and only then
They would understand
Elton John - All The Nasties
In 1924 the state of Viginia enacted a statute entitled "An Act to Preserve Racial Integrity". The statute proclaimed no white person could marry anyone other than a white person. The law made it a punishable crime not only to enter into an interracial marriage in the State of Virginia, but it also criminalized interracial marriages conducted outside the state with the intent of evading Virginia's prohibition. In addition the law stated that children born out of a interracial marriage were deemed in the eyes of the State of Virginia to be illegitimate and without the protections and privileges accorded to the children of lawfully wedded parents. The law remained on the books till 1967.
A state judge at the time said "Almighty God created the races of White, Black, Yellow, Malay, and Red, and He placed them on separate continents." "And but for the interference with His arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages." "The fact that He separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."
Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain
Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx author of
The Shipping News wrote a short story collection entitled
Close Range : Wyoming Stories in 2000. The last and best story IMHO of the book was
Brokeback Mountain, which is being made into a film by director Ang Lee explaining why you see it here published in a small book on it's own.
Brokeback Mountain takes place in Wyoming in the year 1963 (which just so happens to be the year I was born), the main characters we meet are Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar two ranch hands barely in their twenties. Jack and Ennis meet the first time while taking a job herding sheep for the summer and fall into a relationship that neither of them can accept. This story though short, richly describes a thoroughly believable relationship between two rough, high school dropout, cowboys raised to not only quickly deny their love for each other but also to fear the reprimand of the world they struggle to survive in should they give into it.
After the initial summer at the start of the relationship between Jack and Ennis the story quickly moves forward another four years or so to let us see their continuing struggles, their once a year "fishing trips", and the inevitable heartbreak that will come to their lives. Inevitable because they do not leave Wyoming to seek some place more tolerant of gay people living their lives openly.
"I doubt there's nothin now we can do," said Ennis. "What I'm sayin, Jack, I built a life up in them years. Love my little girls. Alma? It ain't her fault. You got your baby and wife, that place in Texas. You and me can't hardly be decent together if what happened back there" -- he jerked his head in the direction of the apartment -- "grabs on us like that. We do that in the wrong place we'll be dead. There's no reins on this one. It scares the p#ss out a me."
Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain
I had read Annie Proulx before but I was totally bowled over with this story and I place this one firmly in the same realm as
Marion Zimmer Bradley's - The Catchtrap. Not only are the stories characters believable in their dealing with their sexuality amongst themselves but with the women in their lives.
Jack is almost, but not quite, willing to try and carve out a place for just the two of them but poor Ennis just can't seem to erase the memory of violence he has seen done to other openly gay ranchers. I can't even begin to tell you how much of this is so close to real life, with all it's depressing and complex issues that I have seen time and again from men who have come from backgrounds such as this. Truly heart breaking stuff here and be prepared with enough Kleenex to handle the ending, it is gonna hurt.
While
Marion Zimmer Bradley's - The Catchtrap showed two men struggling in a semi-positive way to overcome the hate and prejudice and denial that they had been raised in this story is a cautionary tale showing two men overwhelmed by that same hate and prejudice and denial which will ultimately destroy not only their lives and their dreams but also themselves.
In 1998 21 year old Matthew Shepard died, pistol-whipped, beaten, and tied to a fence to lie through a long, cold Wyoming night. The blood on Shepard's face had been partially washed away by tears, indicating that he had been conscious, for some time, after the beating. He had been pistol-whipped 18 times with a .357-caliber Magnum because he was gay.
In 2004 Oregon, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio and Utah passed bans on gay marriage. While the amendments in Mississippi, Montana and Oregon deal only with marriage, the measures in the other eight states also ban civil unions.
The issue I have is not about red or blue states or whether Bush or Kerry won the votes. It is about the ease that religious conservatives find in using insulting and dehumanizing descriptions equating Gay Marriage with Bestiality, Pedophilia, Incest, and assorted other "perversions" that have nothing to do with two consenting adults seeking government recognition for their relationship. It all seems so pre-packaged to create fear and disgust and sadly violence much like the arguments used against Interracial Marriage are crude and shameful when viewed today.
It's a cold wind blowing, and I am scared.
What is the “Moral Value” of denying people equal protection of their rights under law?
Oh and you probably should just buy the whole book
Close Range : Wyoming Stories because this powerful little story will leave you haunted and wanting more to read.
There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can’t fix it you’ve got to stand it.
Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain
