[Vision2020] Beastly comparisons

[Joan Opyr]

Dear Visionaries:

There, now.  I've had my 14 hours of sleep and feel ready, able and 
willing to address what I believe is the crux of Michael's 
contributions to our discussion of "sin condition," the "pleasure and 
ritual of sex," and homosexuality.  My sexual orientation -- I'm a 
lesbian -- bears no relationship whatsoever to bestiality.  I find the 
analogy invalid and the comparison insulting.  It is, as far as I'm 
concerned, about as valid as my noting that since the vast majority of 
pedophiles are heterosexual, heterosexuality is dangerous, sinful, and 
must be stamped out via the pulpit, the legislature, and the judicial 
system.  Heterosexual behavior has led to war (Helen and Paris), murder 
(David, Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite), jealousy and wrath.  The 
majority of heterosexual marriages don't last, and the bitterness of 
divorce has wide-ranging consequences, particularly when children are 
involved.  Most prostitutes are heterosexual; so, too, are most pimps 
and johns.  AIDS, HIV, and other STD infection rates are far higher 
among heterosexuals -- being straight is clearly a dangerous and 
destructive lifestyle, particular for women.  Listen, ladies, if 
disease doesn't kill you, then a violent husband or boyfriend just 
might.  A restraining order isn't worth the paper it's written on.

Statistics demonstrate that fundamentalist husbands are particularly 
dangerous.  That sweet-looking Baptist man is far more likely to beat 
you, to divorce you, and to stalk you down and kill you should you find 
the courage to leave him.  Goodbye, Earl?

For several years now, the British papers have been full of 
fundamentalist Muslim honor killings.  Girls/women who date or marry 
outside the culture have been -- in this very liberal, very European 
country -- murdered by their fathers and brothers at an astonishing 
rate.  And, until recently, the police chose to turn a blind eye to the 
killings out of respect for religious freedom.  The religious freedom 
to murder?!  An outrage, yes, but all too common.

My tolerance ends where lives are at stake.  My tolerance does not 
extend to honor killings, to female genital mutilation, to women as 
second-class citizens, or to anyone who argues that women are the 
property of husband or father.  I believe it is a virtue to be 
intolerant of these ideas; to be intolerant of any idea or action that 
dehumanizes or degrades another human being.  Ideas that include 
comparing bestiality (or alcoholism or kleptomania or any other form of 
abuse or disturbed mental state) to homosexuality.

My (same-sex) marriage is not a dog and pony show, Michael Metzler, and 
no rational, respectful conversation that begins from that premise is 
possible.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.auntie-establishment.com
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