The phrase “aw shucks” implies to me a bit of ‘good ole boy’
perhaps false naiveté with a layer of self-consciousness around something or
the other. That is a phrase I really do not relate too. I am much more likely to
be heard exclaiming: ‘aw shit’.
The past week has provided me with ample opportunity to be heard
uttering, “aw shit”. Much but not all of this angst has centered on the
kerfuffle around the Indiana Religious
Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and all the dust stirred around that. Besides
having a strong queer political interest in this I was also further drawn to
the story by the fact that I grew up a few short miles from Walkerton, Indiana
on the banks of the Kankakee River. Walkerton is of course the home of Memories
Pizza and the owners of said establishment who plopped themselves into the
middle of the storm by saying they would never provide pizza for a gay
wedding. As has been pointed out countless times over the past ten days queers
are capable of great weddings but these events rarely if ever include serving
pizza.
The indignation directed at these pizza merchants though
understandable really did just create martyrs for the cause of intolerance. They
are basking in the glow of many tens of thousands of dollars sent their way
mostly in small donations by like-minded very fearful folks who, for reasons that
are really inexplicable, feel their world is actually threatened by gay
marriage.
Rather than posting and commenting on the sad ignorance of
Indiana pizza proprietors and giving them an undeserved platform, we need to
perhaps re-focus on what got us to this wedding in the first place. That would
be the millions of us all across the country who have come out as queer and the
profound rippling, change creating effect that has had on society. The coming
out process repeated over and over again is the fuel for the really remarkable
change in attitude towards the LGBTQ community in the past few decades.
The changes in social attitudes well underway even in rural
Indiana can only be further fueled by the coming out process by those folks
known as son, daughter, brother, sister, mother or father to these pizza shop
owners. The personal knowledge of queer loved ones almost always trumps the Bible,
or at least gives one pause before withholding the pizza dough. I hope and
actually know for a fact that my personal coming out has had an impact on at
least some of the folks I grew up with near Walkerton, Indiana some of whom
still live near there.
My real “aw shit” for the week though focused on another sad
tragedy that occurred in Indiana last week and that was the sentencing of a
woman named Purvi Patel to 20 years in prison. This is a complex story and I am
providing a link to one of the better stories on it I read on-line from Common Dreams which I would encourage
all to read:
The long and short of it is that this woman was convicted
under an Indiana fetal homicide mandate along with a charge of neglect on her
part around the pregnancy. So this woman is facing twenty years in prison for
what seems most likely to be a late-term miscarriage or stillbirth. The actual
facts in the case remain somewhat murky however the larger issue does not and
that involves reproductive freedom and the control women should have over their
own bodies.
The right-wing assault on a woman’s right to have control
over what goes on in her own womb the past few years in particular is
absolutely stunning and breathtaking in scope. The closing of Planned Parenthood
clinics and abortion facilities in many states is only the tip of this
insidious iceberg. I think it very sad that these issues do not seem to have
received the attention or focused outrage that the denials of cake and pizza
have for us queers.
I realize we are fighting for more than cake but it really is
not the only issue that deserves much more of our attention. Obviously many
lesbians in particular are all over these encroachments into the womb by most
often white, right wing, male zealots and the spineless politicians who pander
to them. I do think though, speaking to my queer brothers here, we need to be a
bit more vocal and involved in what is truly a war on women and their
inalienable right to control their own bodies and reproductive choices. It is
all the same struggle whether it involves cake, pizza or someone’s womb.
© 6 April 2015
About the Author
I was born in La Porte Indiana in 1949, raised on a farm and schooled
by Holy Cross nuns. The bulk of my adult life, some 40 plus years, was spent in
Denver, Colorado as a nurse, gardener and gay/AIDS activist. I have currently returned to Denver after an
extended sabbatical in San Francisco, California.
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