Dan DeWitt, Times Columnist
Thursday, December 2, 2010
It was encouraging enough to learn that 98 percent of the members at Spring Hill United Church of Christ voted to approve an "open and affirming'' policy toward gays and lesbians last year.
It was downright inspiring to hear what has happened since: Not one member of the small nonaffirming voting bloc left the church, and 109 new members have joined. Some are gay; some just "want to belong to a tolerant church," said Pastor Carlan Helgeson.
It's only one church, of course, and a historically progressive one at that. What's going on there has no sweeping implications for the county and does nothing to erase the embarrassing fact that just two years ago, by a 2-1 majority, Hernando voted for a constitutional amendment denying gay people the right to marriage.
But, as you may have read on the front page of this newspaper Wednesday, an even higher percentage of our country's troops — 70 percent — believes that serving with openly gay soldiers would be no big deal.
"Don't ask, don't tell" appears to be on its way out. So is the particular form of bigotry it represents. That's my prediction.
In a few years, we'll look back and be amazed anyone questioned the right of openly gay soldiers to defend their country. Like racial segregation, it will be a shameful relic.
That's because tolerance is spreading nationally. It's spreading statewide, with the end of the ban on gay adoptions. (Attorney General Bill McCollum, remember, was once so desperate to defend the ban that he hired an expert witness who turned out to like the company of male prostitutes. How amazing was it that, a little more than a month ago, McCollum simply let the matter drop?)
It's spreading, even in Hernando, despite the county's high percentage of elderly residents — the demographic most resistant to gay rights.
The welcoming church is one sign. Here are a few others:
The Hernando County YMCA recently reaffirmed its practice of granting couples memberships to gays and lesbians. At Silverthorn Country Club, "it's never been an issue with us,'' said co-owner Michael Heard. "They live in one household, they pay one dues." It works the same way at Southern Hills Plantation Club: "That's today's society,'' said general manager Jim Knierim.
In Hernando, maybe it's still tomorrow's society, but the point is, it will be tomorrow's society. For sure. Because people will end up playing golf with a lesbian, meet her partner and sit down for a beer to rehash their good drives and heartbreaking putts.
You'll spot a gay guy on the bench press at the YMCA and realize that he's got no interest in checking you out — just wants to get in a workout. You might have gay friends at church, though they might not tell you if they don't feel they can tell the pastor.
Once they do tell you, you'll see there is no reason to scour the Bible for the few verses that condemn homosexuality, just like you don't look for the passages that call for the stoning of unchaste brides or disobedient children.
Why are young people — the ones in the military, for example — more open-minded about this issue? Because this kind of familiarity is what they grew up with. Nothing more than that.
"Most of them know openly gay or lesbian people,'' Helgeson said.