PrintMarch 13, 2010
The Cut-and-Paste Doctrines of the Left
This semester, the gay activist group SoulForce will make its second visit in four years to the campus of the Christian university where I teach. We are one of sixteen stops the group will make at campuses deemed to have policies which discriminate against gays. Their annual tour is called the Equality Ride, an event which reflects the activists' desire for the gay rights movement to be the civil rights movement of our generation.
Our university does not discriminate against homosexuals, who are neither denied admission nor expelled from school for being openly gay. As a Christian university, however, we do have a policy regarding sexual behavior. Specifically, SoulForce is protesting our policy prohibiting gays from having sex while they are students here, which is a specific consequence of a broader policy prohibiting premarital sex for anyone, gay or straight, who is a student here. The only students affected unequally by this policy are gay students who want to marry during their time here. That the conjugal rights of such a small (and possibly nonexistent) student population would warrant a protest by an activist group is hard to take seriously. Furthermore, if SoulForce is truly interested in the equal application of university policy, then the object of their activism should be the marriage law of the state of Texas, not the prerogative of a Christian university to set moral guidelines for its students.
So what is the specific goal of the SoulForce visit? At first glance, it would appear that they want us to release gay students from having to follow university policy when it comes to sexual activity. Doing so would offer gay students extra protections not given to straight students, which would appear to undermine SoulForce's image of simply being an advocate for the equality of homosexuals.
Thus, the question remains: What does SoulForce hope to accomplish with its annual Equality Ride? The answer may have less to do with equal rights than it has to do with societal transformation. You see, SoulForce is an anti-heterosexist group who blames heterosexist privilege for the institutional heterosexism directed at homosexuals in our society. By comparison, the anti-racist blames white privilege for the institutional racism directed at people of color in our society, many modern-day feminists are anti-sexists who blame patriarchal privilege for the institutional sexism directed at women in our society, and the extreme environmentalist is an anti-homo-sapiensist who blames human privilege for the institutional homo-sapiensism directed against the planet.
Why is it that the doctrines of one leftist cause can be obtained from another by simply cutting and pasting a few phrases? Because each activist is an anti-capitalist who blames bourgeois privilege for the institutional oppression directed against the proletariat. In American society, the left has decided that our proletariat should include people of color, women, homosexuals, animals, and the environment, while the face of the bourgeoisie is that of a white, capitalist, Christian male. Each leftist identifies with a specific cause, and collectively, they work to bring about a revolution which will usher in our own imitation of the former Soviet Union. Though rarely using the terminology of Marxism outright, they deceptively speak of fairness, equality, and social justice in an effort to frustrate any rational attempt at debate. Those who disagree are labeled racist, sexist, or fascist (even though fascism is a close relative of communism).
The path to a proletariat uprising in the United States involves the transformation or destruction of certain institutions which are deemed to be supportive of our capitalist society. The anti-racist focuses on law enforcement, the feminist wants to emasculate our schools, the gay activist seeks to destroy the institution of marriage, and the environmentalist hopes to severely weaken business. Some institutions are so threatening that they warrant a united attack whose approach depends on the specific leftist cause. For example, consider the institution of Christianity, which must be eliminated because it cannot be allowed to coexist with a godless, communist state. The anti-racist brings the charge of racism, the feminist decries the church's patriarchal hegemony, the environmentalist is offended by its overt homo-sapiensist teachings, and the gay activist feigns persecution resulting from Christianity's homophobic and heterosexist beliefs. As a result, many churches have already been bullied into aligning themselves with a cause that ultimately seeks their destruction.
The shortest road to this destruction is paved with Christian institutions that have abandoned their teachings on sexual immorality, something gay activist groups like SoulForce seem to understand better than many of the universities they target.
Robert Huff is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at a Christian university in West Texas. His website is conservademia.com.
