So
today one of my Ohio Senate representatives on Capital Hill is a
changed man. Today he favors gay marriage, where yesterday, he was
agin it. Yesterday, he voted in favor of amending the Constitution to
define marriage as only between a man and a woman, thereby relegating
gays and lesbians to permanent second class citizenship. Today, Rob
Portman tells CNN, the Columbus Dispatch and everyone else who'll
listen that he favors repealing DOMA, that marriage is for everyone,
straight or otherwise.
What
a difference a day made. Well it's not that it's a different day or
even daylight saving time or he had a V-8. No, it's the fact that his
Yale attending son, Will, has come carefully out of his
velvet-lined closet, to the surprise of his ultra conservative and
religious parents. Young Will actually came out two years ago, but it
took Dad a while to sort out the possible consequences to his
political career.
In
other words, do I tell Mitt that my kid likes boys now that he wants
me to be his VP? Portman says he told him, but it had nothing to do
with Romney switching horses in mid stream to run with Lyin' Ryan,
the pariah from Wisconsin.
So
now because Will is queer, the world needs to be made to fit his
perception of privilege and equality, or so says his power broker
Daddy.
I
can just see Portman now, “tradition and religion and the GOP be
damned! I'm gonna make this world safe for my homo son! And if he
wants to make me a grandfather down the road, I'll pretend to be as
happy as a good father can be!”
Whoopie!
We the people have been given yet another glimpse into the lives of
the rich, famous and white of America. If the world doesn't fit your
perception, change it. Trickle down equality works as well as
trickle down economics, right?
Well,
no it doesn't.
Equality
is a right garnered at birth. It is not predicated on the size of
your bank account, color of skin, social station or what church you
attend. It is a human right to be equal to every other human being on
the face of this planet.
This
is what the Rob Portmans of the world don't understand. Will's coming
out was a personal situation for the Portmans. However, even if he
had stayed securely strapped in the closet and “straight-acting”
for the comfort of his parents, Rob Portman should have supported
equality from jump. He should never have voted in favor of DOMA. He
should never have supported Don't Ask, Don't Tell. He should be
jumping all over, showing his support for ENDA.
His
son's sexual orientation should never have mattered in the first
place. It's about doing the right thing, as Christians and
conservatives like Rob Portman always claim to do. It's that
compassionate conservatism thingey.
So
forgive me, if I don't jump up and down and congratulate the junior
senator from Ohio for finally doing the right thing.
All I can say is, what took you so long?
