Now that we know that gayness is a physical state that some people are born with, just like skin color, gay bashing has to become a thing of the past, doesn’t it? Surely we can’t continue to tolerate any kind of prejudice against gays. On the Daily Show, Jon Stewart said the last election was “about men kissing,” referring to the controversy about gay marriage. If gayness is genetic, then according to our laws, gay marriage will have to become legal as well. Expect the first lawsuit any time.

I remember hearing the theologian Marcus Borg speak at the Chautauqua Institute, when he said he had been suddenly and violently dumped into the politically correct camp when he married a divorced woman who had a gay son. This is going to happen to the rest of us as well.

The gay men I know aren’t particularly “pretty.” Most of them are ordinary looking and aren’t especially fashionable. I can’t think of a single gay male I know who isn’t partnered up with another man, and these partnerships are as strong, or stronger,than any heterosexual marriage I’m familiar with, mine included.

One of the tragedies of gayness occurs when gay men feel obliged to try to fit into a straight role and end up breaking the hearts of their wives and kids. I’ve personally known women this has happened to. Often these men take to drink or drugs in order to try to dull their desires. Sometimes they become compulsive womanizers, as if trying to prove to themselves that they are hetero.

In places where gay males are closeted, I see them everywhere, like “ghosts.” It’s so obvious to me that these are gay guys, even though no one else seems to notice this about them. Annie Proulx, the author of the short story “Brokeback Mountain,” on which the film is based, wrote her story when she moved to Montana and noticed men who were what she calls “country gay,” that is, living in an unacknowledged state of gayness. (By the way, her short story is available in an excellent collection called “Close Range”).

Everyone may not be able to attain happiness in this life, but everyone deserves it, or at least a chance to try for it. We’re currently fighting a war in order to bring the right to pursue happiness to all Iraqis. We need to extend this right to our gay friends as well.

NOTE: This Diary entry, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.