A Proposal

Purple Pride Whatever day. When it was explained to me last night by one of my fellow, extreme-right-wing, Catholic-card-carrying friends, I thought it was, well, a little gay. On second thought this morning, I decided to think about it a little more logically.

Theoretically, this day is about homosexual teenagers losing their lives as a result of the bullying they receive. This gives two possibilities for their deaths - either they were bullied (or beat) to death, or they couldn't handle the social pressure of the bullying and committed suicide. Either of these two possibilities are tragic - no human life should be lost.

However, both the radical right and the radical left will misrepresent this holiday. The left will use it as an example to champion the poor, helpless homosexuals who are taunted for no reason. The right wing will say that the gay f***s shouldn't be such limp, emasculated weaklings to commit suicide because a couple people poked fun of them. Both of these views are misguided, and I will answer them both individually.

First, the left's idea that the homosexuals are brutally tortured for their dignified beliefs, and they are completely wronged and all homophobic assholes who try to say anything about gay people at all are bigoted, religious crusaders. First, I would like to point at the nature of "poking fun," or "teasing." A certain amount of teasing is good - to be made fun of, to a point, allows us to realize potentially legitimate faults in our behavior, and, if we are mature enough, the ability to laugh at ourselves. If I'm a big enough boy about it, I can realize that, yes, I'm a bit egotistical, and these people making fun of me are right, and I should try to correct my behavior. Now, immediately, the left responds that there is nothing wrong with the homosexual lifestyle, and that to even suggest that it is in the slightest way humorous is to offend every single homosexual on the face of the planet. I would argue in response that the heterosexual lifestyle is at least equally legitimate, and that no straight guy would have reasonable claim to offense if he was made fun of for being straight. Think about it - the sexual act is just a bit odd and humorous. "You stick what where?" Honestly, to think of ourselves as ridiculous is healthy; pride is the greatest of the seven deadly sins - even worse than the wrath involved with bullying. Therefore, I think that the homosexual committing suicide because he was made fun of could be said to be a tad too sensitive.

Now, to argue against the right's point of view. The homosexual individual is still intrinsically a person, and has all of the same personal dignity and rights that any other person does. I am not condoning any homosexual actions - I still firmly believe, as a Catholic, that any sexual interaction outside of the natural love of husband and wife is offensive to God and the people involved (I have posted about this before, and probably will again later - I don't particularly want to argue this point now). However, even if their actions are wrong, their personal dignity and worth are not merit based - humanity is not something you earn, but something that is intrinsic to your essence. Therefore, as the Church says in Catechism paragraph 2358 "[Homosexuals] must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided." The homosexuals should not simply "man up" and "take" abuse which is unjust, uncalled for, or excessive. Christ commands us to love all of mankind as He loved us - not just to love those who we like, who agree with us, or who are similar to us.

Now, in terms of this holiday. There are people who have legitimately been abused because of their homosexuality. This abuse is completely wrong and inexcusable. I suppose that commemoration of these people might lead to an end of the abuse, and therefore "Purple Day" is not an altogether bad idea. I would, however, like to see at least parity in commemoration days - the heterosexuals who have been abused by homosexuals also ought to receive a commemorative day. I therefore propose that we all wear red tomorrow to remember straights beat up by gay people.