Anti-Gay Religious Bigots Can Go To Hell

The level of hatred and discrimination toward gay people in this country is an embarrassment. Someday, our more enlightened descendants will look back in horror, much the way we look back at the KKK and wonder what the hell they were thinking.

Even now, I listen daily to folks I call friends refer to "faggots" with no thought about what they're saying. Among my friends and family are many religious people, and some of them are shockingly OK with discriminating against homosexuals. It's difficult to conceive how someone could cover their home with American flags and spout patriotic jargon about freedom, and then, in the same breath, deny those same freedoms to homosexuals. What is not difficult to see is how this discrimination has been encoded, unconstitutionally, into law. What is not difficult to see is the pain on the faces of loving couples who cannot legally marry or adopt children; who do not have the same right to hospital visits and doctor care as other loving couples. It is, in fact, staring us in the face, nearly every day. Take, as an example, the story of Bradford Wells and Anthony John Makk. The couple was legally married in Massachusetts in 2004. They have lived together for nearly twenty years now. That's twenty years of love, companionship, romance, and togetherness. That's twenty years of paying taxes, serving their community, working, playing, living. That's twenty years neither of them would trade for anything in the world. Several years ago, Wells was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Like any loving husband, Makk became Wells' primary caregiver. Like any other couple, Makk mixes love for his partner with tenderness of soul to see them both through these troubling times. Unfortunately for Makk, he is a man. Wells is a man. As far as the federal government is concerned, their marriage is not legal. Makk, who is an Australian citizen, applied to be an American citizen. This would allow him to stay here with his husband and care for him — the perfect example of "in good health or bad", right? Makk was denied his citizenship request. Despite being legally married in Massachusetts, and despite serving as the primary caregiver to a very ill spouse, and despite having no criminal record, no ties to terror organizations, and extensive legal ties to America, he has been ordered to depart this month. Makk has lived in this country, legally, for years. He has played by all the rules and jumped through all the hoops. The only thing keeping him from living with his spouse is the United States government. If Makk were born with a vagina and a nice set of breasts, this couple would be held up to the world as an example of love knowing no borders and no limits. Republican douchebags like Rick Santorum would fall over themselves to speak of their love and courage and conviction. But no. Makk was born with a penis, and as far as the religious scumbags who preach "morality" are concerned, he can go to hell...or in his case, back to Australia. It's sickening. It's wrong. And it needs to stop. "I'm married just like any other married person in this country," Wells said in the San Francisco Chronicle. "At this point, the government can come in and take my husband and deport him. It's infuriating. It's upsetting. I have no power, no right to keep my husband in this country. I love this country, I live here, I pay taxes and I have no right to share my home with the person I married." I'm sure there will be lots of cheering across the Internet, particularly from the semi-literate religious crowd who dutifully cite some parts of their Bible as justification for hating gay folks (while ignoring any and all parts of the Bible that contradicts their own lives, of course.) I'm fairly certain that most of them have never bothered to read their Bible. All of these people need to grow up. All of them — including the ones I know and love. Religious folks, you have the right to worship whatever imaginary friend crosses your path. You have the right to whatever beliefs you want. If you want to believe that gay people are going to your imaginary hell for their delicious sin-sex, that's life. The sane parts of the world are capable enough to laugh off your obvious inner sexual identity issues and move on with their day. What you can't do is take those religious beliefs and use them to legislate the lives of other people. Your right to religious freedom ends somewhere outside my backdoor, so to speak. Gay people have a right to marry, to love, to live their lives with the same cheer that you or anyone else does. They live under the same Constitution and their rights are just as god-given as yours. You may not recognize it yet; the government may be slow to comprehend its colossal mistake. But, as Dr. Martin Luther King said, "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice." And in this case, justice is on the side of the oppressed gays. Yet here we are, mere days away from a loving, married couple being split up in their moment of need. They are being torn apart by an uncaring religiously-brainwashed society, an inept government, and an American people who, as Winston Churchill put it, "(W)ill always do the right thing, but only after exhausting all the other options." It's unfortunate for Makk and Wells that time will not stand still while America sorts out its religious fetishes for injustice, hatred, and bigotry toward gays. I wish them both the very best.