Previous Story
Strong gay rights movement needed
|
Posted on Jun 28 2004
Last Tuesday, I attended the public hearing on the initiative to ban same-sex marriage in the CNMI. I did not get a chance to speak, although I tried.
As a member of the so-called youth sector, I feel compelled to respond to the hearing, especially since so few of my peers showed up. I managed to make it in time to hear a woman claim that there’s evidence that people choose to be gay (unfortunately, she didn’t cite her sources; I would have liked to have known where she got her information). I also listened to a gentleman complain about outsiders infiltrating the CNMI and changing our way of life. But I was probably at my most incredulous when I heard one of our Representatives, Oscar Babauta, ask what the law would do should Tom and Harry adopt an infant who would die without breast milk. (Don’t ask. I didn’t get it either.)
I left the hearing feeling quite depressed. I’d like to believe that most people in the CNMI are open-minded. I’d like to believe that this community embraces equal rights for all. I’d really, really like to believe that the CNMI only becomes more tolerant and progressive with each generation. But if the people at that hearing were representative of this community, then indeed we must be a community ruled by bigots. I have heard a lot of supporters of the initiative insist that they are not anti-gay. But let’s face it: this issue is not about marriage. It’s about homosexuality. And the initiative being debated today is less to preserve the sanctity of marriage (whatever that means) than to underscore the second-class status of gays and lesbians in the CNMI. Let’s stop beating around the bush. Supporters of this initiative would ban homosexuality if they could, but since they can’t (not yet, anyway), the next best thing is to try to keep gays and lesbians in the closet. I think its time for a strong and visible gay rights movement in the CNMI. It’s the only way to change this culture of intolerance.
Tina Sablan
Tanapag, Saipan
