At the Capitol, a gay youth joins in fight (Ga Constitutional Amendment)

Atlanta Journal Constituion ^ | 2-17-04 | Jay Croft

[Lance Romance]

At the Capitol, a gay youth joins in fight
against proposed constitutional amendment

E-mail Croft -- include name, town, phone number for verification

For all the propaganda about anti-gay constitutional amendments being needed to protect children, here's one kid everybody should meet: Gregory Casajuana, a 16-year-old student at Cobb County's Harrison High School.

He was among the speakers Saturday at a rally opposing a bill to make the state Constitution say that gay people can never marry -- and a push to codify the same sentiment in the federal Constitution, which President Bush has suggested he would support. Others at the Capitol included seasoned politicians and activists. But Gregory's moment at the microphone was one of the most rousing.

"I am here because just the other day I was told that I am an abomination to God and this amendment proves it," he told about 600 people gathered in the rain. "I heard this and began to cry. I wondered what has happened to our society to think that because I am gay that I do not deserve to live freely."

He spoke of his hope to be treated fairly. "Do not let the General Assembly take my hope away. Do not let the president take my hope away. And most especially, do not let my Constitution take my hope away."

A few minutes later, I met Gregory, his 14-year-old boyfriend and Edward Gray, the executive director of YouthPride, a support group for gay kids, who was with the boys. They said Gregory has his family's support and his mother had appeared with him at a previous Capitol appearance but had a family emergency that kept her away Saturday. (Lourdes Casajuana confirmed that for me today, saying she is "very proud" of her son.)

I told him how different things are nowadays from when I was his age a generation ago. A gay kid self-aware and brave enough to talk about it publicly? Eloquently? With hundreds of supporters cheering him on? Impossible to imagine.

I asked him why he had come to do this.

"They're making these decisions now and I'm going to have to deal with it sooner or later," he said, calmly, politely, answering other questions with a simple "Yes, Sir" or "No, Sir."

I turned around and looked at the crowd of people hunched under umbrellas, listening to speaker after speaker talk about discrimination, equality and fairness, which are essential parts of this. But I also heard a lot of talk about love and hate -- activists saying that gay relationships are all about love, for instance, and that people who oppose gay marriage rights are motivated by hate.

Emotional concepts like that can be distracting and polarizing. Gay-rights advocates should focus on the practical, tangible benefits that married people get that gay Americans can not, including security for their own children and families. Americans are more likely to stand up for basic fairness than to be made to "respect" or "honor" relationships they might not fully understand.

One man at the rally carried a sign that had a picture of Hitler, which is dangerously overstating the case. Enshrining discrimination into the constitution is a very bad idea, but it's not the Holocaust.

Another sign was more on target: "The Sanctity of Marriage: Britney Spears? Elizabeth Taylor? Michael Bowers?"

Another: "If your marriage needs protecting, you need a therapist, not an amendment."

And, "Preserve marriage: Outlaw divorce."

I saw gay couples there with their children. Straight parents of gay people. A woman with a sign that said, "My Gay Brother Has Rights, Too."

I saw only one person protesting the rally. In one hand he held a sign that said, "Should immorial (sic) rights be given to pimps prostitutes and child molestors (sic) because they love it?" In the other hand: "I am gay-happy because I love God and his laws not a man or sexuality."

Just a few people tried talking with the man, who was soon shouting that half the people there were molested as children and "Y'all love it when a man has sex with another boy."

The commotion caught Gregory Casajuana's attention, but just briefly.

"It's because of people like this that I speak at these events," he told me when I asked how this made him feel. "It's the problem our government has. They don't want to be accepting."

A man shouting about righteousness and perversion. A kid shaking his head and walking away.

Who needs protection from whom?

[Salman]

Speaking of slippery slopes, what will happen after gays get the right to marriage?

I may be totally wrong, but I'm guessing the lowering of the age of consent a little at a time. This has already slightly happened in the UK, though not "gay" marriage. Then (or in parallel) perhaps a weakening of the laws on public lewdness, a little at a time not outright repeal.

Please note that the "gay" thing is not being driven by "gays" alone. The small proportion of "gays" in the population is not to the point. They have been adopted by the left in general as pets.

"Gay" minority set-asides for city contracts has already come up here in Chicago, but it was turned down despite a "gay" friendly adminstration.

The mere libertarian position is what we have now. I don't know where it will end, but it will. The only question is how much damage before it ends.