First Monday

What are the eight most frightening words in the history of the English language? (see answer at the bottom of this post) 

CNN was all over it.  Every year, on the “First Monday” in October, the Supreme Court returns for another term of issuing final rulings on all things constitutional.  Being a law / history nerd, I’m fascinated by both the Supreme Court and the power it wields.  (remember Bush v. Gore?  That’s how we ended up in this mess in the first place) Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

Last week I had the privilege of meeting Jeffrey Toobin, senior legal analyst for CNN.  His book about the Supreme Court, The Nine, was just released and he – along with fellow CNN personality Anderson Cooper – was at Manhattan’s Union Square Barnes and Noble promoting it.   

We said a few words and I gave him a copy of the galleys of my upcoming novel, which I stressed “Is about the implementation of the ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ law.”  He smiled and signed my book (which was a birthday gift from my super agent Mitchell that I managed to sneak into the store) “To Rich, a fellow author.”  That made me feel good. 

Then, of course, I pushed the envelope (what else are envelopes for in the e-mail era anyway, besides pushing?) and JOKINGLY (sort of) said, “Well, Mr. Toobin, I’m a lawyer too, so if you’re taking applications for legal correspondents…”  His smile rapidly faded as he said, “Hey buddy, it’s just me, okay?”  I’m sure he gets that from lawyers all the time.  Why practice law when you can go on CNN and talk about it?  What a life! 

I’ve started reading THE NINE and am loving it as only a Supreme Court follower can.  What’s striking is that Americans know almost nothing about this judicial body yet when five of these nine people act in concert, they have more power than anyone in America, including the President.   They can overrule the commander-in-chief, although they seldom do. 

(Answer:  “Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court…”)

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The Exodus Perversion

I’m a fanatical supporter of choice.  At least that’s what I like to think, but sometimes life challenges that idea, like when I first heard about Exodus International.  Exodus is an organization that purports to turn gay men and lesbians back into heterosexuals, or at least provide a “support” to those wanting a “way out” of the homosexual lifestyle, whatever that means.  To be consistent with my pro-choice philosophy, I reluctantly thought, “If a lesbian or gay man wants to be straight, why shouldn’t they have a support group to help them?” 

I was uneasy with this attitude, however, because I feared and suspected that the organizers of Exodus and other so-called “ex-gay ministries” might not have the best interests of the individual in mind, but I didn’t know, so my opinion remained in limbo. 

Then I heard of Wayne Besen. 

Wayne’s book, Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth, records how the Ex-Gay movement exploits the trauma experienced by people struggling to reconcile their sexual identity with their religious pasts. 

To call an Ex-Gay group “Exodus” is a perversion.  People are born into religiously oppressive homes and communities and their struggle is to overcome the mental and emotional shackles of fundamentalist tyranny and accept their sexual orientation.  The bondage they’re fleeing – their “Exodus” – is the dogma they’ve been force-fed.  Their goal – the “promised land” – is self-acceptance.   Exodus, by its very name, gets it backwards and, rather than help people escape their torment, plunges them right back into its source.

Ex-Gay group members claim that they turned to the Ex-Gay group because they were tired of living the stereotypical gay lifestyle filled with promiscuity, drugs, alcohol abuse and loneliness.   These problems, however, are not symptomatic of being gay; rather, they are the tragic results of growing up gay in a religiously intolerant society.  Some therapists equate growing up gay in the more homophobic parts of America to suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.   Exodus and other Ex-Gay groups take advantage of these people – instead of telling them it’s okay to be gay – that a person can be gay AND life a healthy life, they claim to “cure” their homosexuality.

Why do these leaders do this?  Read Wayne Besen’s book for the sinister answers and check out Wayne Besen’s blog: Also check out the think tank Truth Wins Out.  

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Coming out all over again

This blog is about creativity.  The plan is to promote and support the many artists I’ve enjoyed meeting since I moved to New York last year.  The goal is to help those who use their imaginations to create something get their creations out there:  authors, musicians, playwrights, artists and others.  But first things first…

I’ll begin with The Bible. 

Genesis – “The Beginning.” Genesis begins “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  But what happened next? 

Because the Bible has been intelligently designed, the order of the books is as important as the writings those books contain.  After Genesis, the second book is Exodus, which literally means the road out. God’s message is pretty clear:

First we begin; then we come out.

Moses Leaving Egypt“Life as a journey.” Probably the most common theme in literature, next to “Good vs. evil” and often those two themes are combined.  Journeys are about leaving one place (the Exodus) and finding another – hopefully better – place, like The Holy Land. 

Joseph Campbell wrote extensively about the meaning of literature and mythologies’ many references to the “journey” theme in The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  As he points out, in every religion or mythology, there are many journeys – becoming a man, becoming a woman, finding oneself, the hero’s adventure.  

One journey that has captured the nation’s attention over the last few decades has been the journey out of the closet of denial about one’s sexual orientation. 

But there are many ways to come out.  When my friend Shannan first contacted me, she described leaving fundamentalism as her own form of “coming out” and that description has resonated with me in many other ways.   Some have come out of bad relationships.  Others have come out of addictions. 

My latest coming out has been challenging and I’m not done yet.  For the last few years I’ve described myself as a lawyer / writer but secretly I clung to the “lawyer” part because being a writer is terrifying.  Well…in a coming out of sorts, with a 2-year old memoir and a novel on the way, it’s pretty hard to deny I’m a writer.  But I still practice law even though it’s not what I want to do.  I feel like I’m stuck in the Red Sea crossing, with Pharaoh’s army closing in behind and the walls of water about to come tumbling down.  Melodramatic?  Perhaps.  To quote a line from a favorite new musical of Jonathan and mine, “I don’t know where this metaphor’s going, but I felt it just had to be said.” It illustrates the point. 

And of course, today… I’m “coming out” as over 40, perhaps the most frightening “coming out” for any gay man in America.  But hey, in the movie version, Moses is over 40 and he looks hot.

Next blog … the Exodus perversion.