Picking At Militant Homosexuals

The repudiated lame-duck 111th Congress' decision to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and shove homosexuals up our military's backside has, perhaps, brought to a close a long-running battle in the culture war.

Or possibly, like the Roe v. Wade decision, it's simply focused minds and sent the opponents back to their corners to prepare for the next round.  A war isn't over until the loser admits it's over, and the abortion wars are still going strong.

Why does it matter?  In today's modern world, who cares what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own bedrooms?  Shouldn't everyone be treated alike?

Good questions.  So, let's talk about picking your nose.

Disgusting, Disreputable, and Legal

Will anyone admit to engaging in the filthy habit of picking their nose?  Aside from little kids, we're all expected to know better.

And yet, despite the universal condemnation of nose-picking, it is entirely legal.  Nobody has ever been arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned for sinal excavation; the very thought is absurd.

On the other hand, as immune from legal penalty as it is, nose-pickers suffer under every other social sanction.  Someone known for this habit will not, probably, be invited to the best parties, hired for the best jobs - or for any job at all, if you run a restaurant.  In short, nose pickers are subject to private discrimination.

Should they be a protected class?  Should it be illegal not to hire, or to associate with, someone who picks his or her nose?  Of course not - we all have a right to decide who we want to have around us and what behaviors we wish to tolerate in our immediate vicinity.

The fact is, we are surrounded by nose-pickers and do not know it.  Who among us has not suffered from a bad cold and some flaccid phlegm that no amount of blowing can extract?  The difference is that we take care of such business in private - in the closet, as you might say.

So really, it's not that picking your nose is such a social crime in and of itself; the offense is doing so publicly, to force the knowledge on other people.  What they don't know can't hurt them.

This is where homosexuality is fundamentally different from race or skin color.  If you are born black, you are black from the doctor's slap of your bottom until the parson throws dirt on your coffin, and for every instant in between.  Anyone at any time can look at you and know immediately your racial heritage and genetic origin.  It is an indivisible, unconcealable, unchangeable, inherent part of you.

This is not to say that "being black" is disgusting as a public nose-picking habit is; nothing could be further from the truth.  The point is that some personal attributes are more inherent and unavoidably obvious than others.

And homosexual tendencies simply are not!  For one thing, nobody is either a practicing homosexual or a practicing heterosexual for at least the first decade or two of life, unless subjected to the predations of NAMBLA.

Even thereafter, your sexual activity or lack thereof is not apparent unless you make it so.  A homosexual in a nice suit or uniform looks exactly the same as a heterosexual; the only way to know the difference is if the individual chooses to express it in some way, either verbally or by well-recognized signs.

What is special about homosexual activity which makes it distinct from nose-picking?  Both are viewed as unsavory activities by many people, but neither is really minded so long as they're kept behind closed doors.

If homosexuals wished merely to enjoy the privacy of the bedroom, they already have that: the Supreme Court has said so and nobody seriously argues that the police should bash down doors to see who's bonking whom or at which end.

Tolerance Is Not Enough

Why is that not enough?  Because what homosexual rights activists seek are not the right to do as they please, which they've already got.

What they demand is a new, special, unique right that nobody else in a free society enjoys or can enjoy: the right to immunity from criticism or ostracism.

America was founded by Christians on Christian principles, and yet today Christianity is the object of ridicule and contempt from every side.  Should sacrilege be illegal?  No; it's the price we pay for a free society.  At most, Christians argue that their own tax dollars should not be used to offend them; Christians never argue that offense should be banned entirely as Muslims do.

Anti-Christian bigotry is far more prevalent than anti-homosexuality in our media culture; yet it's the homosexuals that demand and are getting special preference and privilege.  How can this be right?  How can this even exist in a free society?

Militant atheists don't have to hang around with Christians, or even hire them as long as they're artful about the paperwork.  Loony liberals are not going to party with right-wingers or associate with them more than they must.  On what legitimate grounds should people who dislike homosexuality be forced into relationships with them?

Nobody, homosexuals included, should be subject to assault in the public square.  No special laws are required for that; assault and battery is a crime no matter who's doing it or to whom, and always have been.

Unfortunately, the day where all are equal before the law has passed.  Now it's more about which favored minority group you can claim membership in; the more offensive to the majority, the better.