Michigan's Best
Oct. 2nd, 2010 11:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athabasca I'd like to say that Andrew Shirvell, assistant attorney general for my current state of residence, does not represent the good people of Michigan.
I'd like to-- except that he's basically an encapsulation of the fear and loathing that is, indeed, representative of a good many Michiganders. He's a distillation of the bigotry that remains so pervasive that a good friend of mine feels that he must-- in 2010!-- bring a female friend to be his "date" at a co-worker's wedding, out of fear that anything less will cost him his job if word circulates back to the boss.
Now, I don't believe that most of the men and women of Michigan who are not comfortable with homosexuality, or who believe it to be "unnatural" and wrong, are headcases like Shirvell-- or "closet cases," either. Shirvell's obsession is so focused, so deranged, that I think it's fair to raise the question of his own orientation, but I don't believe most homophobes aren't are latent homosexuals any more than I believe that anti-Latino bigots are secret illegal immigrants. It does not follow. But the bigotry, the intolerance, is endemic regardless... and the effects are damaging.
I'd like to-- except that he's basically an encapsulation of the fear and loathing that is, indeed, representative of a good many Michiganders. He's a distillation of the bigotry that remains so pervasive that a good friend of mine feels that he must-- in 2010!-- bring a female friend to be his "date" at a co-worker's wedding, out of fear that anything less will cost him his job if word circulates back to the boss.
Now, I don't believe that most of the men and women of Michigan who are not comfortable with homosexuality, or who believe it to be "unnatural" and wrong, are headcases like Shirvell-- or "closet cases," either. Shirvell's obsession is so focused, so deranged, that I think it's fair to raise the question of his own orientation, but I don't believe most homophobes aren't are latent homosexuals any more than I believe that anti-Latino bigots are secret illegal immigrants. It does not follow. But the bigotry, the intolerance, is endemic regardless... and the effects are damaging.
