Russia Considers Anti-gay Laws

Putin and the Ghost of Alexander I

    The Anglican Archbishop of York (the English church’s second-in-command, third if you count the Queen), made recent headlines attending investiture of Uganda’s newest anti-gay bishop (one wonders when such things became a priority?).  In the United States, American Evangelicals and Roman Catholics tire of being compared to the Klan and to Uganda, while Uganda continues to publicly thank them for their essential financial support.  Now Putin has come out against the gays as well, but he might just be playing an old Russian game.

    The Russian DUMA is considering legislation to counter the so-called gay agenda (sound familiar?)… that would impose fines of $16,000 for organizing public pro-gay events or disseminating information on the LGBTQ identity and lifestyle to children.

    Putin is an intelligent and a capable politician.  I am often comforted that he is in control, but the game he has been playing of late is merely a rerun that Russia has seen before.  Spymaster turned democrat, turned nationalist, Putin’s latest persona is hauntingly reminiscent of Alexander I, Tsar of Russia, Modernist Reformer, mentee-turned-foe of Napoleon, and finally, God’s ordained defender of Christendom and tradition, turned repressor of civil rights. 

    The 19^th Century Russian Empire struggled with change to adapt to Modern social, economic and faith trends infiltrating from the West (especially republican France).  Alexander’s reign encompassed periods of intense nationalism, religious conservatism and the repression of freedom and civil rights.  Perhaps Putin is being tempted to emulate Alexander I in attempting to co-opt the Russian church and “tradition” in a struggle to overcome and supplant the indigenous spirituality, economy and culture of a great and modernizing people. 

    Alexander I stylized himself the restorer of the Christian church and champion of Christian values (including the divine right of kings) against the forces of liberalism and republicanism as represented by progressive France.  He led a conservative coalition of oft bemused emperors seeking to suppress freedom and civil rights in all of Europe – the so-called Holy Alliance (1815-1848).  Wikipedia sums up the coalition’s intent “… to instill the divine right of kings and Christian values in European political life … promis[ing] to act on the basis of ‘justice, love and peace’ … in order to ‘perpetuate the [traditional] mundane institutions and adjust their imperfection.’”

    The London Guardian indicates much the same language and tone in current opposition against Russia’s gays, “[the anti-gay legislation] has been hailed by public figures and Russia’s dominant Orthodox church.  It is widely seen as part of an official drive to promote traditional Russian values as opposed to western liberalism, which the Kremlin and church see as corrupting youth and by extension contributing to a wave of protest against Putin’s rule.”

Roe v. Wade and Gay Rights

Courtesy Wake Forest School of Law

Roe v. Wade and Gay Rights

Why it matters!

     22 January, 2013 marks the 40^th Anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision in the USA recognizing a woman’s right to an abortion and an American’s Right to Privacy – a cornerstone of LGBTQ rights in the United States.  Is this anniversary important for the LGBT community?  You bet!

    I would guess that many queer men and women would state that abortion rights matter primarily because we understand how difficult it is to live under the “conservative religious patriarchy” or with our rejection for having failed to live up to often unrealistic, even hypocritical religious expectations, ethics and realities.

      While we do not necessarily understand the complications of hetero-pregnancy, we do understand hurt, suffering, potential rejection, blame, fear and all of the other complex feelings and situational complications surrounding sexuality, difficult personal decisions, and the need to take responsibility for ones’ own life and move beyond the consequences.  While we have opinions, we have traditionally hesitated to express moral judgment.  We tend to be accepting, come what may.

    However, Roe v Wade did more than recognize abortion rights, RvW recognized the individual’s right to privacy and the implied right to private fulfillment regardless of the dominant public morality.  The Economist quotes the court’s decision as follows:  "the penumbras of the Bill of Rights" enshrine "a right of personal privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy". It found that this right of privacy "is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy" (Full Court Press, 22 Jan 2013).

    Without this right to privacy, there would be no Lawrence v. Texas in 2003.  Lawrence is the monumental court case that legalized sodomy or the right to private fulfillment free from outside interference.  Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority, “"The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives. The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime." 

    In his landmark court decision declaring California’s Prop 8 anti-same-sex marriage amendment unconstitutional, Justice Vaughn R. Walker indirectly references RvW and directly refers to Lawrence and an individual’s right to privacy, “[I]t would demean a married couple were it to be said marriage is simply about the right to have sexual intercourse (Lawrence) … The Supreme Court recognizes that, wholly apart from procreation, choice and privacy play a pivotal role in the marital relationship.”

New Apartments Bring New Showers

(c) and courtesy Glamour.com

    Moving into a new apartment, I am struck by the all-important issue of a man’s private shower – when does a new shower actually become your own personal, secure, private space?

    Make no doubt about it, I am an active, fit gay man who has done more than his share of public showering at locker rooms, gyms, pools, and yes, even a bath house or two (though my tastes tend to run more towards the ‘straight’ Russian-style baths such as Chicago’s famous Diversey Street wherein all sorts of nefarious fantasies conceived by gay men give way to the even better realities of watching the Black Hawks play while sitting in a hot tub sipping a Jameson or two.  Heck, I’m half-Swede, I’ll even shower down at the beach or outside the family sauna in the country.

    However, when it comes to one’s own private shower – that sacred space into which one stumbles to begin one’s day, where one confidently prepares for one’s evening outting, or where one relaxes after that strenuous Saturday morning run, there is something special at work.

    I am not sure that the type, shape or even luxurious qualities of a shower are as important as that demarcation of private, personal space.  Yes, I’m Freudian enough to find some sort of womblike comfort within the stream of the steamy hot water.

    The shower is that place wherein we are most personal, most vulnerable and most naked.  Even in our bedrooms, Danielle Steele and Madison Avenue have converted the bedroom into a mitigated or semi-public space wherein we never truly expect, or allow ourselves to look like we failed to expect company or intrusions.  Only in the shower can we expect to be alone.

    To understand the personal privacy and security of the shower, one has to retreat into the exemplified world of the women’s toilette.  Think of Bridget Jones, How to Marry a Millionaire, or some of the most memorable moments from Trans-America.  

    The shower is the place where you prick, pimp, pop, inspect, pinch, pull and plop.  It is the place where you take stock of, acknowledge and then camouflage the reality which you present to others – be they colleagues, family, romantic interests or anyone.  It all takes place in the shower.  

    The only place of comparable space would be the toilet and while that might be a similar space of refuge and security, it is not a place of relaxation and self-exploration similar to the shower.

    So, the question returns, at what point does one claim a shower as one’s own?  When and how does a new shower in a new space become that personalized interior place?

   The act of showering neither implies nor requires a sense of privacy.  One showers to become clean – one might even shower simply to be seen.  But what is it that separates the practical freshness of a hotel shower from the relaxing sense of home and well-being that one gets from one’s own private douche?

    To me, the difference is destination versus facility.  In other words, my shower becomes my place of refuge when I retreat into it for reasons other than to get clean or wash my hair.  Instead of going elsewhere to relax, I retreat to the shower for a moment of personal intellectual and emotional intimacy with myself to gather my thoughts and to recharge my batteries.

    And gay people, we need our refuges.  Not only do we deal with the job stresses and relationship issues of everyone else, but we have all that extra blessing that comes from being different in a society that often doesn’t much value such differences.  We are stressed from being expected to do more at work to compensate for heterosexual co-workers with kids, or from mitigating and circumventing all those extra barriers erected by those who do not approve of the gay lifestyle or who are merely uncomfortable with it.

    One of my best shower experiences was also my worst – the night I was kicked out of my church for being gay.  The shower was the only place where I could go and be alone – and feel safe.  I had two well-chilled ciders and spent maybe an hour-and-a-half under the steamy streams of blessedly comforting water, crying to myself and figuring things out.

    In answer to my original question, perhaps a shower becomes your own at that point when you know that you can just turn it on without adjusting the water, or knowing that just that amount of turn brings out water that is just the right temperature – or when you can instinctively reach for the showerhead or knobs with soap in your eyes.  This is the point at which it becomes the place you can move beyond pinching and primping to crying and self-collecting in your own space.

    As for the worst intrusion into this personal space – definitely, without a doubt and many a substantiating scream – SPIDERS!  Two-leggers are greatly encouraged to join in, most four-leggers are welcomed as well, but no eight-leggers – this is my shower, please leave me alone.

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(c) Agassiz Media & Consulting, 2012