American Clarity Essays political, philosophical, and theological from an American romantic.

What am I to do, in this state of affairs? Am I to pick up Christ’s banner, and pretend that in America, we still believe in marriage? Am I to wage a battle that’s already been ceded by entire generations? Am I to proclaim that some sanctity exists within an institution, which, having been stripped of all reason long ago, somehow still reflects its Biblical origin? I feel almost like the lone Japanese soldier secluded on a Philippine island, believing thirty years after World War II had ended, that my country would at any time call me into action. The war has been lost; it feels more natural to throw my hands up, and come out of my bunker.

But having well understood the state of affairs, there’s something within me which can’t be silenced, a voice of reason which cries “press on!” For though despair leads me to believe that all is lost, I realize that something is different about homosexual advocacy which makes it worth opposing, even should the above offenses be permitted (and I protest, the offenses should not be). Yes, if we examine the matter closely, we see that the fight comprises something which the others didn’t; we notice that even should the other battles have been lost, that homosexual advocacy advances under a far more devious banner. It is this banner which I seek to explain, though until now I’ve found it inexplicable.

Consider, dear readers — if you will permit me some bluntness — whether you’ve ever seen a Republican PAC specifically in favor of masturbators.  Have you ever seen a Republican rally in favor of adultery? Instead of for log-cabin Republicans, Republicans for S&M? Instead of for PFLAG, Parents and Friends of pornographers? Instead of GoProud, men wearing t-shirts at CPAC, openly proclaiming their interest in heterosexual fornication? I assure you, people with such sexual inclinations exist!

Had any of these imaginary groups been denied entry to a political event, the denial would have been uncontested, and the denied party thoroughly ridiculed for their inappropriate and embarrassing sexual statements. But yet, despite the fact that each and every one of the above immoral sexual behaviors has already been legally permitted (as homosexuality has been), none of them receives a supportive public broadcast at any respectable event. Should a senator be caught in adultery, his career may be threatened, though adultery be legal. Should our president publicly express enjoyment of sado-masochism, the entire world would shame Americans into impeaching him. But yet, when a group expresses their interest in homosexuality — as if the promotion of homosexuality, like masturbation, has any place in a serious political convention — they receive immediate and fevered protection.

This absurdity seems at first to be isolated, but it reveals a particularly nasty tendency: consider, fellow Americans, exactly how much more this issue of homosexuality debases social standards. For the offensive nature of homosexuality lies particularly in public assumption: a man and a woman may walk the streets in broad daylight and kiss, and hold hands, and few (if any) would assume they were adulterers or fornicators.  Few, if any, would accuse an unknown pregnant woman of fornication, and nobody would accuse a random passer-by of masturbation.  Yet no assumptions need be made when two men hold hands or kiss in public: their expression is bold, and requires no additional signs.  Because their offense requires greater concealment, its support requires unprecedented public expressions of sexual deviancy.

Because public homosexuality expresses by its very existence what other sexual misbehaviors do in secret, it socially legitimizes other sexual deviance; when homosexuality publicly expresses what other evils commit in shadow, all are brought into sunlight. So yes, homosexuality may simply be another sexual sin added atop a mountain of others; but when we see a mountain’s peak, enshrouded as the base may be by forests or clouds, the mountain itself cannot be hidden. If homosexuality is permitted openly, we implicitly declare that sexual liberalism reigns supreme, both in law and social norm; what homosexuality claims to win for itself alone, it wins for all others.

So as I almost relax my guard, in resignation towards a war I feel is already long over, I’m reminded that something of the fight still remains. And as I again pick up my pen, preparing for whatever may come — in the face of ridicule, slander, and perhaps eventually the threat of physical persecution and unjust law — I remember the words of king Hezekiah, comforting the people of Jerusalem as the Assyrian armies swarmed outside the city walls: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.”

I will never concede (and if you are a Christian, neither must you) that sex is permissible for any besides the man and the woman within the bonds of marriage; whether others have thrown in their towels is their decision. But be this my last stand, I will take it. For whether I live or die — and surely, we must all eventually die –, victory belongs to the Lord. I ask you, considering that He alone determines who stands on the right side of history, to stand alongside me, however wearied you may be, and whatever our chances of victory. We have a great fight ahead of us, and Lord willing, it is my intention to reclaim what we’ve already lost.