I don't usually play "pile-on" but I'm making an exception today. Also, I don't usually watch Ellen but I might for a few days to see if her joyful, amateurish dances have an extra spring and zip. Imagine having a a famous religious person who has taken Jesus Christ as his Personal Savior, (Falwell) using his bully pulpit to make homophobic fun of you and your name and the name you share with your family. Moral Majority indeed.
I've learned and accepted that many Kos readers and writers haven't experienced serious, even life-threatening discrimination and prejudice. As Stuart/Al Franken might say, "And that's okay." If you haven't ever been chased down the street by five or six envious, illiterate losers, you can't know how being threatened for no reason other than your attackers having fantasies they don't like, feels.
Falwell encouraged gay-bashing in the name of Jesus. Beat up a fag for Christ. Wink. Wink. Many did and still do. For this, Falwell doesn't get a nice send-off from me. It isn't about philosophical differences. It's about my living with dignity, without fear, something Rev. Falwell can no longer interfere with.
I'm just a few years younger but I'm not weighed down my Falwell's hateful words and deeds baggage so my life is athletic, happy and loving. I have a good memory for bigotry. I can remember Morton Downey, Jr. encouraging gay-bashers for higher TV ratings while his brother was dying of AIDS. Downey died a horrible death from cancer. I can remember Sam Kinison whose antigay rants ended in a car crash. I can remember wife-beater and former Congressman Bob Dornan dishonoring his elected position in Congress by ranting at homosexuals from the Floor. Dornan's still alive, if one can call being old, obscure and forgotten in Orange County, being alive.
"They" say these things occur in threes. I know who's next on my Wish List. "They" also say one should always speak good of the dead. Falwell's dead. Good.