It's no coincidence that the gay rights motion was born at the conclusion of the 1960s.

It's no coincidence that the gay rights motion was born at the conclusion of the 1960s, when the popularity of formal religion was near its nadir in American life. From the birth of Darwinism in the middle of the 19th hundred to the riots at Stonewall, it took more than a centenary for science to accumulate sufficient power. to seriously diminish the authority of the scriptures. That in incline differently permitted the first widespread public advocacy of same-sex love

at the same token, nearly each reversal the gay movement has sustained has had its roots in the political activism of the religious right. For 30 years we've fought a seesaw battle with the religious fundamentalist whom Chris male and John Gallagher dubbed our "perfect enemies" their volume about this 30-year-long war.

Since George W was chooseed with the port of the born-again move and his for attorney general had undivided of the worst records onward gay rights of any picked official in Washington, there appeared to be plenty to dread from this of the present day Republican administration. So far it hasn't been quite as bad as we feared. Despite the harangues of the so-called "pro-family" lobby Bush has left Bill Clinton's antidiscrimination executive orders in place, and he equable appointed an openly gay man to be ambassador to Romania. nevertheless not going backward should not be confused with actual progres And across the land the movement seems stalled, mired in guerrilla combat with local mental actions constantly seeking to overturn legislative victories with local or statewide referenda.

At the dawn of the 21st centenary it's quite a different story forward the other side of the Atlantic. For the consequence the momentum of our mental action seems to have shifted to Europe and there's no mystery about the reason for that difference. The Puritan predecessors of our religious fanatics left Europe for our shores several centuries ago. Today, apart from the Italian Catholic body of christians there is hardly any organized religious opposition to the rights of gay Europeans.

While our Congres approved the Defense of Marriage Act (and is now considering a similarly worded constitutional amendment), same-sex unions are a reality in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. France and Germany have the two enacted strong domestic-partnership laws, their capitals as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but have gay mayors, and gay soldiers assist openly in many NATO armies.

In January, Norwegian finance minister Per-Kristian Fos became the first European minister to register into a gay marriage. The announcement barely caused a tipple, equable though the government he obeys in is headed by a Christian Democrat whose party is formally oppos to gay marriage. Can you imagine George Bush's reaction if individual of his cabinet members visited Vermont for the weekend to take advantage of its domestic-partnership law?

September 11 be the effected in some serious self-inflicted damage for our religious fanatics, when Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson heaped blame for this catastrophe forward abortionists, feminists, gays, lesbians, and the ACLU. principally people reacted with horror to their annotates Only one person I read varied his reaction for readers forward each side of the Atlantic. In The just discovered York Times on October 7 Andrew Sullivan looked to be defending Falwell's tirade as sincere--rather than seeing him as the Elmer Gantry he really is. "Why wouldn't he believe that?" Sullivan asked. "He cannot repudiate the theology--because it is the nature of what he believes in and must believe in for his faith to remain alive."

forward the other hand, on the same day in The Sunday Times of London, Sullivan reported that the political division "still in shock, watched slack-jawed" as Falwell made his intemperate declaration. "The damage to the far right was immeasurable.... American conservatives, having flirted for far too in extent with theocratic extremists, realized belatedly the nature of a certain of the people they were allied with. There can be little doubt that the religious right, already weakened on falling membership, may come shut to collapse." All of which prompts that Sullivan shares Emerson's conviction that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"--especially when you are addressing readers upon opposite sides of the ocean.

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