Mary Pitt: 'Liberal' Solutions to 'Moral' Values

The political right wing has laid claim to ''moral values'' as the touchstone to power, blasting the social issues of the day as the reason to effect ''change''. The "moral" issues to which they refer all hinge on human sexuality, sex education, abortion, homosexuality, all that "nasty stuff". Where they fall short is on answers and solutions to these "problems" and they can think of only one solution, to outlaw them all! In this they define themselves as merely nay-sayers and not as problem solvers.

The greatest terror in the list of "abominations" that the right wants to abolish is homosexuality. The only gays they will allow anywhere near them are those whom they have convinced that they can be converted to "straight" through prayer and subjection to those totalitarian religious practices which, they are told, will make them both "straight" and "pure". They even trot out a few examples of these confused folk who have come to use the crutch of religion to keep them on the "straight" and narrow, but have yet to demonstrate that their tactics truly "reform" those who are irretrievably gay. They will certainly do them no good by banning them from their churches and condemning them on the streets or by picketing their funerals with hate-filled signs. Those who want to live monogamously and anonymously are denied spousal rights and their efforts to attain them are condemned as state after state passes constitutional amendments to prevent them from "marrying". They seem to feel that, if this simple arrangement were to be made, the homosexuals would multiply and populate the nation, taking over the government, and forcing their "perversions" on our children.

This attitude is pure poppycock. The "liberal" attitude is to let them be. Many of them have been sufficiently shamed by family and friends as well as by society at large for shame to have any effect on them. There is no guilt that can be added to the guilt which has already been ingrained into their very souls that they cannot be what their appearance would lead one to expect them to be. A "liberal" would accept them into the workplace and into the church so that they can experience friendship and the solace of God. They are, after all, human beings, created and loved by God, who are capable of love, kinship, and the brotherhood of man. As "liberal" Christians, we can offer them no less. Oh, yes, a "liberal" would prefer to have them living as the monogamous couple next door than as habitues of gay bars and bath houses, becoming victims of gay-bashers and spreading HIV/AIDS among the populace.

And, rather than "out-lawing" abortion, a "liberal" would prefer to counter the problem by, as much as possible, making that surgical procedure less necessary or desirable through education, support, and law enforcement. A child who is well-educated in the function of his own body is much less likely to become a parent without the necessary supports in place for the care of another child. For the very young, abstinence teaching is desirable as well as is recognition of, self-protection from, and reporting of molestation by adults. But for teens and older people, it is medically necessary for both boys and girls to be familiarized with their whole body, not just their sex organs. This is a topic that has always been neglected by schools and, thus, unknown by parents who cannot be expected to teach it, if they could be persuaded to even talk about it. The greatest enemy of this goal is that those who oppose abortion in all its forms also foster their own worst enemy, ignorance. Ask any woman over fifty of the agony of a ten-year-old girl who experiences her first menses without knowing what it is. The fear and the guilt are absolutely overwhelming and it may be days before she finds the courage to ask about it.

In addition, in the instance of a young girl who becomes pregnant as the result of her enforced ignorance, a plan of assistance could be made available other than taking a year out of her education to live in a church-run home for un-wed mothers in order to incubate a baby which will be taken from her and given to strangers. Arrangements should be made so that there is no lapse in her education and that there be no shame attached for having had the pregnancy in the first place. It is our own sense of shame and "right-and-wrong" that causes the present situation to exist and we must be willing and able to let go of it if we want the "abortion problem" to cease to exist. In addition, laws regarding rape of minors and incest must be expanded and strictly enforced as well as all the other child protection laws that are more often ignored than prosecuted, especially those concerning family members. The option for adoption should also be encouraged as opposed to abortion, but the choice should always be left to the woman, (or girl-child), and the physician rather than to the law or to the potential grandparents.

God, or Mother Nature, or whatever diety you prefer, made man to be a sexual animal with the urge to procreate uppermost in our nature. Limiting that urge in any way is very difficult, at times impossible. If we are to have a civilized society rather than a pack mentality, we must find a way to curb and control those urges. Religion may be of assistance but cannot be the entire answer. Sex education and birth control have made a lot of progress in the solution but both can fail. What happens after that may result in a happy solution with a beloved, healthy, happy child in a good home or with an unwanted and abused child made miserable and, possibly, criminally abused and psychologically warped by an impossible situation. The choice is ours and the example of Jesus demands that we make it with much thought and ultimate kindness.

Then. when these earth-shaking problems have been properly solved, perhaps we can get to work on such "unimportant" things as graft, corruption, cronyism, malfeasance, and other dishonesty in our government officials and, with hard work, a lot of help from God, and immense wisdom, restore our nation to a beacon of democracy for the rest of the world!

Mary Pitt is a septuagenarian Kansan who is self-employed and active in the political arena. Her concerns are her four-generation family and the continuance of the United States as a democracy with a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people". Comments and criticism may be addressed to mpitt@cox.net .

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