New York Times Columnist Frank Rick Tackles Washington DC’s Internalized Homophobia

It still seems an unwritten rule in establishment Washington that homophobia is at most a misdemeanor. By this code, the Smithsonian’s surrender is no big deal; let the art world do its little protests. This attitude explains why the ever more absurd excuses concocted by John McCain for almost single-handedly thwarting the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ are rarely called out for what they are — ‘bigotry disguised as prudence,’ in the apt phrase of Slate’s military affairs columnist, Fred Kaplan.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has been granted serious and sometimes unchallenged credence as a moral arbiter not just by Rupert Murdoch’s outlets but by CNN, MSNBC and The Post’s ‘On Faith’ Web site even as he cites junk science to declare that homosexuality poses a risk to children’ and that being gay leads to being a child molester. [snip]

Has it gotten better since AIDS decimated a generation of gay men? In San Francisco, certainly. But when America’s signature cultural institution can be so easily bullied by bigots, it’s another indicator that the angels Keith Haring saw on his death bed have not landed in Washington just yet.” – New York Times Columnist -Frank Rich in his Sunday Op-Ed column “Gay Bashing at the Smithsonian” 

The full column is a  totally awesome read. Highly recommended.

Thank you Frank Rich

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