We learned from critics of George Zimmerman that it is entirely possible to have a mother who is Hispanic, and a father who is white, and not be considered Hispanic: He is a so-called Hispanic, or a white Hispanic. By the same criterion, President Obama is a so-called African-American, or a white African-American. If we employ the nomenclature of mixed marriages that is used in Israel — it is the mother's status alone that counts — then Zimmerman is Hispanic and Obama is white.
The same game is played when it comes to sexual orientation. If the issue puts homosexuals in a bad light, then they are not homosexuals, even when it is clear that they are; if the goal is to put them in a good light, then they are homosexuals, even when it is clear that they are not.
When the John Jay College of Criminal Justice released its 2011 report on the history of priestly sexual abuse, the social scientists reported that the vast majority of cases involved priests having sex with postpubescent males. When adult males have sex with postpubescent males, it is called homosexuality; when they have sex with prepubescent males, it is called pedophilia (less than five percent of these cases involved pedophilia). But to protect homosexuals, the social scientists refused to label the offending priests homosexuals.
How did they dance around the obvious? Here is what they said: "What is not well understood is that it is possible for a person to participate in a same-sex act without assuming or recognizing an identity as a homosexual." That is true. It is also true that a person who eats nothing but vegetables may not consider himself to be a vegetarian. Self-identity is not unimportant, but it is not dispositive. A left-handed person is still a lefty even if he thinks he is a righty.
Boxing champion Emile Griffith died on July 23. In The New York Timesobituary, there was an italicized insert that read, "'He no longer wanted to hide,' an author says of a gay fighter." Similarly, in a caption below a photo of Griffith in the ring, it said he "acknowledged he was gay." But did he?
In the article, it quotes Griffith saying, "I will dance with anybody. I've chased men and women. I like men and women both." That would seem to make him bisexual. But the article also quotes him saying, "I don't know what I am. I love men and women the same, but if you ask me which is better . . . I like women."
If we play the self-identity game, then it could be maintained that Griffith was not even bisexual — he was heterosexual. Indeed, he was once married to a woman. But according to the Times, he was neither bisexual nor heterosexual — he was gay.
There is nothing new about the left promoting a subjectivist philosophy, denying the existence of truth. But it's still worth keeping tabs on the way they try to rig the game.
Dr. William Donohue is the president and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. The publisher of the Catholic League journal, Catalyst, Donohue is a former Bradley Resident Scholar at the Heritage Foundation and served for two decades on the board of directors of the National Association of Scholars. The author of five books, two on the ACLU, and the winner of several teaching awards and many awards from the Catholic community, Donohue has appeared on thousands of television and radio shows speaking on civil liberties and social issues. Read more reports from Bill Donohue — Click Here Now.
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