Last week, Senator Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) made some strategic remarks in an Associated Press interview aimed at rallying his more conservative voters. He discussed both policy directives and political theory, voicing his objections to the Supreme Court trampling on states' rights to govern as they please based on that fictitious "right to privacy" nonsense they've been using since the legalization of birth control in 1965. He highlighted the need for states to be able to make their own decisions to outlaw condoms, abortions and of course, consensual gay sex. In the interview, he compared gay sex to bigamy, polygamy, incest and bestiality.
Rick Santorum is a bigot, and therefore has no business being the third most powerful man in the U.S. Senate. (He is chair of the Senate Republican Conference.) However, apart from gay rights groups and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, no one seems to think that these remarks warrant Santorum's resignation from this post. You may recall that former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott was forced to give up his position as a result of public outcry regarding his allusion to supporting Senator Strom Thurmond's segregationist platform in 1948. To be sure, Lott's racist remarks at Thurmond's birthday party last Dec. 5 were more than enough to warrant his resignation a mere 15 days later. There was heated debate and controversy (there always is), but at the end of the day, the argument that a man could be racist and Senate Majority Leader at the same time simply didn't sell, so Lott stepped down. This begs the painfully obvious question: why is this situation any different?
Unfortunately, the obvious answer to that question is even more painful. Senator Santorum's bigotry warrants less severe consequences than Senator Lott's because homophobia is more socially acceptable than racism everywhere in America, from Capitol Hill to major cities to rural towns to good old Amherst College. Despite Democrats and gays making lots of noise, it seems that Santorum is not even going to have to issue an apology, let alone a letter of resignation. But hey, who's surprised? After all, Senator Richard White of Mississippi recently said that any presidential candidate who supports gay rights shouldn't even bother visiting his state. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist seems to think Santorum's gay-bashing is no biggie, stating that "Rick is a consistent voice for inclusion and compassion in the Republican Party and in the Senate, and to suggest otherwise is just politics." With sentiments such as these, is it any wonder that this whole storm may well blow over without tangible repercussions?
This is absolutely ridiculous, and there is no excuse. The fact that Senator Santorum may not ever apologize or resign is perhaps the biggest blow to the GLBT rights movement since the Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that federally funded organizations like the Boy Scouts have every right to legally discriminate against gays. One of the most powerful men in America is an open hater of 10 percent of Americans, a group of people who intersect with every race, class, religion, culture and ethnicity on this planet, and the world seems to be okay with that. Are you?
You may think it's not okay. You may think it's an outrage. You may think Senator Santorum should resign tomorrow. You may think that this entire debacle is one of the most disgusting examples of bigotry in American history. But if you aren't out there saying so every day, then you are no help to the situation, and you are not anybody's ally.
Last week was Amherst College's Pride Week, and many of you may have noticed the table in the Campus Center where pins and stickers proclaiming your support for the GLBT community were readily available. If you took one of those pins or stickers and it is sitting on your desk while you go about your business of doing nothing to end this bigotry, secure in your belief that at least you are not a bigot, then I would request you do us all a favor and stop lying to us and yourself. Throw your pins and stickers away, because they are no good to you. If you are not making noise about this situation, then you are not an ally.
A silent ally is no better than a silent bigot, and both are equally useful to the people in power right now. If you do not shout your refusal to tolerate Senator Santorum's ignorance and hatred, then you enable him and other homophobes to stay in power. You allow him to continue to confirm judges who will trample on gay rights and make laws that will restrict gay rights and vote against laws that might do just a tiny bit of good. There is a massive movement to change the status quo so that GLBT people will have the same rights as everybody else in this country, and if you are not an outspoken supporter of that movement, then you are the enemy.
You are the enemy because you are a part of the silent majority who lets our politicians believe you are just as happy letting the GLBT community suffer all kinds of discrimination that you don't have to face. It doesn't matter if you have gay friends, or if you believe in your heart that gay people are the same as everybody else and deserve the same rights, because if you aren't saying so, you could just as easily be thinking "faggots" and "dykes" every time you see two men or women holding hands. If you don't voice your opinion, how will anyone possibly know it's what you think? At least outspoken bigots bring issues of anti-GLBT discrimination to our attention; silence doesn't even do that. If you are a silent ally, then you are an oppressor.
Senator Santorum said last week that consensual gay sex is just another part of the downfall of the American family. He referred to priests raping male teenagers as a normal homosexual relationship, and he denounced men having sex with men as equally deplorable as men having sex with dogs. Senator Rick Santorum is a bigot, a homophobe, a gay-basher and a prejudiced, hateful person who believes in fewer rights for some Americans than others. If you're not voicing that fact and doing so loudly, well, frankly, you might as well just agree with him.
If you are not outraged out loud, then you are not an ally.