Rob The Badger
14 Mar 2004, 22:01
===== The Morning Fix =====
March 5, 2004
morningfix@sfgate.com
Where Is My Gay Apocalypse?
Over 3,500 gay marriages and, what, no hellfire? I was
promised hellfire. And riots. What gives?
By Mark Morford
I have been waiting patiently.
I have been staring with great anticipation out the
window of my flat here in the heart of San Francisco,
sighing heavily, waiting for the riots and the plagues
and the screaming monkeys and the blistering rain of
inescapable hellfire. I have my camera all ready and
everything.
There has been nothing. I see only some lovely trees
and a stunning blue sky and my neighbor walking by
with her pair of matching chow chows as a
pained-looking woman struggles to parallel park her
SUV. Same old, same old.
And this is San Francisco, same-sex-marriage HQ,
Sodom-and-Gomorrahville, debauchery central. We are
supposed to be careening off the nice, safe road of
social acceptability right now, welcoming chaos,
exploding into a fiery hell mist of our own sick
godless depravity and dropping off the disgusted
planet any minute now.
Where is my raging apocalypse? This is what I want to
know. Where is the social meltdown? The moral
depravity? I was promised an apocalypse, dammit. What
am I supposed to do with all these tubs of margarine
and confetti and kazoos?
There have been more than 3,500 same-sex-marriage
ceremonies in San Francisco so far. Hundreds more are
just now kicking up a storm in Oregon and in
beautifully rebellious little burgs around New York
state. And, yet, nothing. No chaos. No rain of terror.
Not even a lousy heat wave. Sigh.
Some homosexual couples have been married for more
than three weeks now, living in utter godless sin as
they drive their cars and shop and laugh and cry and
go to work and pay their taxes and wonder about their
dreams. Lightning has not struck them dead. The
Hellmouth has not opened wide its gaping maw,
hankering for some of the City's trademark Sourdough
o' Sin. I am dumbfounded.
After all, same-sex marriage is supposed to ruin the
nation, is it not? Induce actual rioting and civil
unrest and shirtless anarchy as millions of stupefied
citizens pray to a bloody pulverized Mel Gibson-y
Jesus for redemption, as they suddenly begin
questioning whether ogling the Pottery Barn catalog
for more than 10 minutes might mean they're gay. "It's
anarchy," some guy named Rick Forcier, of the
Washington state chapter of the Christian Coalition,
actually whined. "We seem to have lost the rule of
law. It's very frightening when every community
decides what laws they will obey." Why, yes, Rick.
It's total anarchy. Just look at all the screaming and
the bloodshed and the gunfire. Run and hide, Rick. The
gay people in love are coming. And they've got tattoos
and funny haircuts and want to get married and
celebrate their love and be left alone. Hide the
children.
This was -- and still is -- very much the right-wing
sentiment. It was almost a guarantee: Same-sex
marriage spelled the instantaneous end of all that is
good and righteous and edible. Insurrection was
imminent, apocalypse nigh. You could see it in their
eyes -- they could hardly wait.
Hell, even Governator Arnie went on "Meet the Press"
recently and proclaimed, semicoherently, that he was
actually worried about the riots and deadly mayhem
should S.F. continue with its brazen lawlessness. And
look. Nothing. Not a peep. Not a single rabid spitting
demon to be seen. Unless you count Lynne Cheney. Which
you never, ever should.
I believe I have been misled. I was told repeatedly in
extra-glowing terminology by multiple raging
Bible-quoting drones that The Good Book expressly
forbids same-sex marriage and gay sex, and to engage
in either
spells imminent doom and instant social bedlam and
there are specific verses all about it.
Is this true? Are there actual verses decrying
same-sex marriage? Are they anything like those other
Biblical verses, about the rules and regulations
surrounding marriage that are making the rounds on the
Net right now? Real verses. Actual verses. Verses o'
sanctimonious fun. Have you seen them? Like this:
"Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take
multiple concubines in addition to his wife or wives."
(II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21).
Or maybe: "A marriage shall be considered valid only
if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin,
she shall be stoned to death." (Deut 22:13-21) Isn't
that cute? Isn't quoting Bible verse fun? Ask your
local pastor about that one.
Or how about: "If a married man dies without children,
his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to
marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not
give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and
be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by
law." (Gen. 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10). Hey, it's right
there, in the Bible. So it must be true.
Is it worth showing those verses to the happily
sanctimonious and sneering Christian homophobes who
are protesting outside S.F. City Hall right now,
telling the gay couples what depraved hell-bound
sinners they all are? Nah. Why spoil their whiny
apocalyptic wet dreams? Live and let live, I always
say.
(Oh, and while we're at it, God also really hates
shrimp. Maybe you didn't know. Shrimp are evil, as are
all shrimp eaters. Clams, too. Hey, it's in the Bible.
You can look it up. Why the Right is attacking
homosexuals in love and not, say, Red Lobster, remains
a mystery.)
So, here we are. Approaching a full month after the
first of S.F.'s marriage ceremonies, and nothing. The
universe is smiling madly. The world is shrugging.
Anonymous supporters from all over the nation have
sent flowers to hundreds of loving gay and lesbian
couples. As of this writing, there is no scathing
hellfire. No fanged demons of destruction (Lynne
Cheney excepted). No meltdown whatsoever. I would
know, right? I mean, wouldn't the power go out, or
something?
Maybe it's still to come. Maybe total screaming misery
and unspeakable sociocultural collapse coupled with
wanton bestiality and incest and the giving away of
free anal beads to innocent teenagers takes more than
a month. Maybe I'm just a little impatient.
Maybe Satan is taking his sweet time to marshal his
leather-clad armies, watching as other U.S. cities get
in on the same-sex-marriage act, listening as mayors
and governors all chime in their support and say
what's the big deal. Maybe Beelzebub is waiting for a
big moment so as to really leverage the coming news
flash, the special report, the sudden activation of
the Emergency Broadcast System. Something like:
"This just in: Earthquakes rocked the globe today as
giant fire-breathing bees of death swarmed the
countryside, feasting on fat white heterosexual babies
mostly from Texas and Colorado Springs and Utah and
Idaho, as the institution of hetero marriage careened
around the mad vortex of space-time like a savage
drunken pinball high on black-tar heroin, just like
the Christian Right predicted.
"Horrors bled into the streets, terrorists were
spawned by thousands, presidents openly lied so as to
lead a nation into bloody violent unwinnable wars,
thousands of Catholic priests sexually molested tens
of thousands of children over a 50-year period without
the slightest punishment, the environment teetered on
the brink due to heartless government rollbacks as air
quality and water quality and food sources were
ravaged in the name of corporate profiteering, the
economy crumbled like Jenna Bush after her 10th beer
bong as hate and fear and bogus Orange Alerts ruled
the land."
Oh wait. That was all before the same-sex-marriage
thing.
March 5, 2004
morningfix@sfgate.com
Where Is My Gay Apocalypse?
Over 3,500 gay marriages and, what, no hellfire? I was
promised hellfire. And riots. What gives?
By Mark Morford
I have been waiting patiently.
I have been staring with great anticipation out the
window of my flat here in the heart of San Francisco,
sighing heavily, waiting for the riots and the plagues
and the screaming monkeys and the blistering rain of
inescapable hellfire. I have my camera all ready and
everything.
There has been nothing. I see only some lovely trees
and a stunning blue sky and my neighbor walking by
with her pair of matching chow chows as a
pained-looking woman struggles to parallel park her
SUV. Same old, same old.
And this is San Francisco, same-sex-marriage HQ,
Sodom-and-Gomorrahville, debauchery central. We are
supposed to be careening off the nice, safe road of
social acceptability right now, welcoming chaos,
exploding into a fiery hell mist of our own sick
godless depravity and dropping off the disgusted
planet any minute now.
Where is my raging apocalypse? This is what I want to
know. Where is the social meltdown? The moral
depravity? I was promised an apocalypse, dammit. What
am I supposed to do with all these tubs of margarine
and confetti and kazoos?
There have been more than 3,500 same-sex-marriage
ceremonies in San Francisco so far. Hundreds more are
just now kicking up a storm in Oregon and in
beautifully rebellious little burgs around New York
state. And, yet, nothing. No chaos. No rain of terror.
Not even a lousy heat wave. Sigh.
Some homosexual couples have been married for more
than three weeks now, living in utter godless sin as
they drive their cars and shop and laugh and cry and
go to work and pay their taxes and wonder about their
dreams. Lightning has not struck them dead. The
Hellmouth has not opened wide its gaping maw,
hankering for some of the City's trademark Sourdough
o' Sin. I am dumbfounded.
After all, same-sex marriage is supposed to ruin the
nation, is it not? Induce actual rioting and civil
unrest and shirtless anarchy as millions of stupefied
citizens pray to a bloody pulverized Mel Gibson-y
Jesus for redemption, as they suddenly begin
questioning whether ogling the Pottery Barn catalog
for more than 10 minutes might mean they're gay. "It's
anarchy," some guy named Rick Forcier, of the
Washington state chapter of the Christian Coalition,
actually whined. "We seem to have lost the rule of
law. It's very frightening when every community
decides what laws they will obey." Why, yes, Rick.
It's total anarchy. Just look at all the screaming and
the bloodshed and the gunfire. Run and hide, Rick. The
gay people in love are coming. And they've got tattoos
and funny haircuts and want to get married and
celebrate their love and be left alone. Hide the
children.
This was -- and still is -- very much the right-wing
sentiment. It was almost a guarantee: Same-sex
marriage spelled the instantaneous end of all that is
good and righteous and edible. Insurrection was
imminent, apocalypse nigh. You could see it in their
eyes -- they could hardly wait.
Hell, even Governator Arnie went on "Meet the Press"
recently and proclaimed, semicoherently, that he was
actually worried about the riots and deadly mayhem
should S.F. continue with its brazen lawlessness. And
look. Nothing. Not a peep. Not a single rabid spitting
demon to be seen. Unless you count Lynne Cheney. Which
you never, ever should.
I believe I have been misled. I was told repeatedly in
extra-glowing terminology by multiple raging
Bible-quoting drones that The Good Book expressly
forbids same-sex marriage and gay sex, and to engage
in either
spells imminent doom and instant social bedlam and
there are specific verses all about it.
Is this true? Are there actual verses decrying
same-sex marriage? Are they anything like those other
Biblical verses, about the rules and regulations
surrounding marriage that are making the rounds on the
Net right now? Real verses. Actual verses. Verses o'
sanctimonious fun. Have you seen them? Like this:
"Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take
multiple concubines in addition to his wife or wives."
(II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21).
Or maybe: "A marriage shall be considered valid only
if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin,
she shall be stoned to death." (Deut 22:13-21) Isn't
that cute? Isn't quoting Bible verse fun? Ask your
local pastor about that one.
Or how about: "If a married man dies without children,
his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to
marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not
give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and
be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by
law." (Gen. 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10). Hey, it's right
there, in the Bible. So it must be true.
Is it worth showing those verses to the happily
sanctimonious and sneering Christian homophobes who
are protesting outside S.F. City Hall right now,
telling the gay couples what depraved hell-bound
sinners they all are? Nah. Why spoil their whiny
apocalyptic wet dreams? Live and let live, I always
say.
(Oh, and while we're at it, God also really hates
shrimp. Maybe you didn't know. Shrimp are evil, as are
all shrimp eaters. Clams, too. Hey, it's in the Bible.
You can look it up. Why the Right is attacking
homosexuals in love and not, say, Red Lobster, remains
a mystery.)
So, here we are. Approaching a full month after the
first of S.F.'s marriage ceremonies, and nothing. The
universe is smiling madly. The world is shrugging.
Anonymous supporters from all over the nation have
sent flowers to hundreds of loving gay and lesbian
couples. As of this writing, there is no scathing
hellfire. No fanged demons of destruction (Lynne
Cheney excepted). No meltdown whatsoever. I would
know, right? I mean, wouldn't the power go out, or
something?
Maybe it's still to come. Maybe total screaming misery
and unspeakable sociocultural collapse coupled with
wanton bestiality and incest and the giving away of
free anal beads to innocent teenagers takes more than
a month. Maybe I'm just a little impatient.
Maybe Satan is taking his sweet time to marshal his
leather-clad armies, watching as other U.S. cities get
in on the same-sex-marriage act, listening as mayors
and governors all chime in their support and say
what's the big deal. Maybe Beelzebub is waiting for a
big moment so as to really leverage the coming news
flash, the special report, the sudden activation of
the Emergency Broadcast System. Something like:
"This just in: Earthquakes rocked the globe today as
giant fire-breathing bees of death swarmed the
countryside, feasting on fat white heterosexual babies
mostly from Texas and Colorado Springs and Utah and
Idaho, as the institution of hetero marriage careened
around the mad vortex of space-time like a savage
drunken pinball high on black-tar heroin, just like
the Christian Right predicted.
"Horrors bled into the streets, terrorists were
spawned by thousands, presidents openly lied so as to
lead a nation into bloody violent unwinnable wars,
thousands of Catholic priests sexually molested tens
of thousands of children over a 50-year period without
the slightest punishment, the environment teetered on
the brink due to heartless government rollbacks as air
quality and water quality and food sources were
ravaged in the name of corporate profiteering, the
economy crumbled like Jenna Bush after her 10th beer
bong as hate and fear and bogus Orange Alerts ruled
the land."
Oh wait. That was all before the same-sex-marriage
thing.