One of the most disturbing visual memories of the Prop 8 battle was the video footage of a supporter of the Proposition evoking Hitler and the rise of fascism in Germany and making the mental leap that our struggle for gay marriage rights, which has pitted us against certain churches, was the same as attacks by Nazis on the Catholic church.
Poor Hitler. He would be livid at the way in which his pure vision for an Aryan Nation has been degraded by the kooks who have no intellectual defense for their hatred and so dredge up the most terrifying period in recent history with which to demonize their opposition.
A few weeks ago, I walked past the spot on Unter Den Linden in Berlin, where hundreds of thousands of books deemed anti-social, deviant or anti German, were burned in huge pyres, surrounded by smiling men women and children whose minds had become perverted by a state which fueled differences over similarities, which bred hatred over unity, and which had persuaded an entire nation that neighbors and colleagues were now enemies out to destroy the very core of your being.
The Prop 8 supporter knew exactly who he was talking to as he conjured up fears of churches being destroyed, of Christianity being outlawed, where godlessness would rule our schools, and the Holy Trinity faced extinction - as homosexual teachers forced your child to wear a condom in class, or underage girls were encouraged to engage in unspeakable sex acts with a donkey, or god forbid, your child could choose evolution over creationsim. If Prop 8 were defeated, it seemed, we could expect heterosexuality to be banned, and the Bible burned on huge bonfires.
He evoked the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller who was an early supporter of Hitler but who began to understand that the political apathy of the German people could lead only to the suppression of individual rights and the collective rights of whole communities. Niemoller had difficulty remembering when exactly he wrote these words but he asked that this be the 'official' version - and at no time did Niemoller envisage that churches of any kind would be at the forefront of depriving human beings of equal protections under the law.
"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."
The 2008 campaign will go down in history as a turning point for America. But not only because much of white America voted in unity over the past, not just because a new generation of Americans voted and not just because a new form of campaigning using new technology revolutionised the election.
Unfortunately 2008 marked the renewal of a form of anti intellectual hatred not seen since the says of Mr Himmler, Mr Goebbels and Mr Hitler. The words 'elite', 'intellectual', 'teacher' and 'journalist' were burned across the airwaves as if upon a new bonfire of fascism.
I was uncertain of what tattoo I wanted next. I know that my father, who never carried the burden of a concentration camp number on his arm, but whose family members did, would have been shocked that I would even consider a tattoo. But now, it seems clear to me. A pink triangle burns ever brighter in my soul and will grace my arm soon enough.
pictures please?
:)
Posted by: nina | November 11, 2008 at 12:26 PM