Social injustice often manifests itself in rather mundane ways, but it sometimes boils over into the public consciousness as a result of particularly visceral displays of cruelty. Homophobia, for example, is back in the headlines following a string of emotional and physical attacks upon gay Americans. In September, the roommate of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi was charged with using a webcam to secretly broadcast a live Internet feed of an intimate encounter between Clementi and another man. Days later, a distraught Clementi committed suicide by jumping off of a bridge into the Hudson River. Then, over the course of the first weekend in October, two separate assaults were perpetrated against homosexuals in Manhattan. One of the assaults even took place at the famed Stonewall Inn gay bar. Finally, in perhaps the most appalling case, three gay men were abducted, robbed, and tortured by a group of nine thugs in the Bronx. Although there are different circumstances surrounding each case, these instances of anti-gay bullying and violence are hardly unrelated. Rather, they are direct consequences of the American political system's failure to effectively convey to citizens that homosexuals are worthy of the same protections and respect that are afforded to heterosexuals. Thus, in order to forestall further atrocities against homosexuals, it is necessary for the nation's political leadership to reverse laws such as the Defense of Marriage Act and policies such as Don't Ask, Don't Tell that currently relegate homosexuals to the status of second-class citizens.
To understand the connection between what is done within the nation's government offices and what occurred in a Rutgers dorm room, a Manhattan nightclub and a Bronx apartment, it is necessary to take a holistic view of the policymaking process. When law is crafted and implemented by various government entities, it does more than lay down specific boundaries for individual behavior. It also creates a framework for interpersonal relationships by expressing to citizens the extent to which rights and protections apply to different groups. For example, when Congress enacted measures such as the National Labor Relations Act following the Great Depression, it ushered in a new era for the nation's working class. More than merely granting workers the right to unionize, the NLRA and associated measures sent a message that labor was to be treated as a cherished and integral part of American society. The result was that labor received much greater public support throughout its disputes with management in subsequent decades.
Sadly, government policy has had a less salutary impact upon the way that homosexuals are viewed in America. Notably, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage as a bond specifically between "one man and one woman" has undermined the notion that homosexuals are truly equal members of American society. The law's restrictive definition of marriage has no substantive policy purpose, since recent studies done by the Canadian Justice Department and social researchers at East Carolina University and the University of Texas have shown that children raised by gay couples are as socially and emotionally competent as are children raised by heterosexuals. Rather, the law's sole objective is to reinforce a rigid social taboo against homosexuality that has its basis not in rationality but in prejudiced ideology.
The American military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, which prohibits homosexuals from serving openly in the armed forces, operates in a similarly corrupt fashion. There is hardly any objective rationale for the policy given that militarily successful nations such as Great Britain and Israel permit members of their armed forces to be open about their sexual orientation, yet America maintains Don't Ask Don't Tell in order to assert its national belief that heterosexuality is a superior way of life to homosexuality. As the Justice Department considers whether to appeal a recent ruling by a federal judge that overturned Don't Ask Don't Tell, it will reveal to what extent the Obama administration is willing to challenge this institutionalized bigotry.
Leaving aside the obvious constitutional questions surrounding such anti-gay principles, policymakers should understand that their positions on matters such as the Defense of Marriage Act and Don't Ask Don't Tell send cues to other heterosexuals who happen to interact with homosexuals through their capacities as roommates, coworkers or neighbors. When those individuals see policymakers consistently refusing to extend equal protection to homosexuals, they may feel emboldened to act upon their own anti-gay prejudices. The result is that homosexuals are increasingly coming under attack from citizens who despise them for supposedly being outside of the mainstream.
Of course, women's suffrage and integrated schools were also once outside of the mainstream, but thanks to forceful action from the nation's political institutions they are now generally considered to be valuable characteristics of American society. Therefore, by repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and Don't Ask Don't Tell, the nation's policymakers can make it known that homosexuality should not be treated as a repulsive and alien individual trait, but rather as another thread in the diverse fabric of American society. Until policymakers act, however, they - and all of us who elect them - will remain complicit in promoting structural inequalities that leave homosexuals vulnerable to destructive acts of violence and abuse.
Matt Cameron is an associate editor for The Cavalier Daily. His column runs Thursdays and he can be reached at m.cameron@cavalierdaily.com.
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