I’m sitting on a practical chair next to an end table littered with neatly stacked copies of Utah Family, the Deseret News and the Mormon Times. A television hanging on the opposite wall is tuned to Fox News. Rather than fade politely into the background, the news anchor’s indignant words are loud enough to dominate.
Apparently my viewing choices are strictly controlled. A sign nearby instructs that if I want the channel changed I have to ask the receptionist at the front desk. “Um, excuse me miss, but can we watch something at least arguably bipartisan and slightly coherent?” Given the rapt attention of the gentleman enjoying his vending machine treats and the other gentlemen whose expression flits between By God! and My Country!, I’m pretty sure I’ll be outvoted.
I’m waiting for my honey in the heart of Mormonville while he meets with his doctor. For the past hour and a half the entire broadcast has revolved around President Obama’s announcement that he supports gay marriage. Fox’s conclusion: America is going to Hell in a hand basket, the attractive one with the pretty flowers on the rim and the sea green bow that was stored in the back closet under the old Halloween costumes.
The blond anchorwoman is a picture of the Final Judgment. Her voice drips with disdain. Like The Church Lady high on a double dose of righteous indignation, she warns everyone that President Obama has really done it now. He has committed political suicide, hurt himself irreparably. God won’t allow the gays to take away our religious freedoms!
All morning she’s been interviewing a bevy of Far Right religious leaders, a sure way to place her index finger squarely on the pulse of America. Because we can all relate to a bunch of men wearing dresses who see no problem covering up forcible sex abuse of little boys yet are outraged by same sex relations between consenting adults. They feel the very foundations of their faith shudder and see God cry every time a woman does something slutty, like use a diaphragm. Yes, they speak for all of us.
Reportedly everyone who’s anyone agrees that Obama’s announcement threatens both the sanctity of marriage and religious freedoms everywhere. The sanctity of marriage. Just try to tell me your mind wasn’t automatically drawn to heterosexual exemplars like Newt Gingrich getting jiggly with any one of his three wives — or all of them together, living the dream of an open marriage — by those solemn words. Or Rick Santorum wearing a burgundy sweater vest and pontificating about procreation and teaching the rest of us what “normal sexual relations” means.
As Fox News eagerly jumps on this newest offering of red meat and Right Wing pundits rub their hands together in anticipation of Obama’s imminent political crash and burn, I’m not seeing it. Was anyone who is anti-LGBT equality going to vote for Obama anyway?
Breaking News: Recent polls show Mitt Romney winning by a landslide in Utah. Same as last week. Same as last month.
Yesterday Obama may have made a calculated political move or maybe he was forced into taking a solid position on gay marriage after Biden let the cat out of the closet. His evolution was a slow process. But no matter how you slice it, in the end he did what leaders do. He took a position on a controversial issue and assumed a leadership role. The right one.
He took a risk. It may cost him a few votes, but he won this girl’s heart. He did the right thing. I may be a tiny drop of blue in a sea of red, but I’m true blue and feeling a lot more proud of my president today.







