Rant

2002-12-14 - 5:50 a.m.

I just had a difficult call at work.

Last night, a bathhouse in Calgary was raided by the police, and 20 customers were arrested.

I've never been in a bath house, I've never really wanted to be in one, but I feel, very strongly, that they have as much right to exist as any other establishment, especially given their role as one of the few places where closetted gay men can actually meet without fear.

Except for a fear of the authorities.

Anyway, since I work at one of the larger gay information companies in the country, we get calls about what's going on.

The guy who called was completely thrown. -He- could have been arrested, -he- could have been caught, in a moment as intimate and as tender and as important as what goes on in peoples' bedrooms every day. -He- could have been caught, naked, by fully clothed, armed, police officers and forced to justify his presence to these strangers who may or may not have used "faggot" and "queer" while they were preparing for the raid.

The caller knew someone who had been arrested, and, ostensibly, he was calling me for information, but what he really wanted was for someone to give him an understanding of why what he did, in privacy, by his own consent, that harmed no one by it's act itself, why that was so heinous that he could be arrested for it, that he could be labelled a criminal.

It's a tired refrain, but why, when there are murderers, thieves, spouse abusers, child abusers, organised crime groups...why were those officers sent into the bath house to arrest guys for having sex?

This is, really, the worst part of my job. Forget the office politics, the crapfest that is customer service, the dull chores, forget the drunk callers, the angry callers, the scammers...that's just work. The worst part of my job is seeing the effects of a bigotted and oppressive society on human beings. There are families wounded, not by homosexuality, but by the lies people have to tell to stay "respectable." Reputations, careers, lives are affected not because a man loves a man or a woman loves a woman, but because someone decided, for no reason, that "that" kind of love is wrong.

Guys whisper in their phones to me because their wives or kids might hear. Would they have gotten married if they had been told that being gay was alright? I scan comments about bathhouse raids, about stonings and hangings, about murders in the name of "law," about which place is "safe" and which isn't, about which "morality" laws are allowed and which aren't. I read about kids who get extra credit for protesting homosexuality at funerals, - funerals! - and about families that have made their fortunes on hate.

There is so much to enjoy about where I am, and about where this country is, but there is so much to be angry at.

No one should ever have to worry about things like this.

It is fucking primitive.

And there, ladies and gents, is my angry rant. I'm going to bury my head in mindless monotony for a little while.

Cheers,

The Magus

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