EVERYTHING IS CHANGING AND NOTHING IS STILL

sydnormonster:

It seems difficult in our current milieu to have a thorough investigation of Western, particularly American, politics without any encounter of the issue of LGBT rights.  I cannot help but understand this through queer theory and Durkheim’s analysis of the sacred and profane.    Two sides seemingly dominate the discussion: on the right a refusal to endorse such profane behavior such as two women meeting at the altar which may destroy the sacredness and sanctity of marriage , and on the left a sacred call for tolerance and acceptance against the profanity of homophobia.  And while this battle takes many forms, Hillary Clinton recently globalized the left’s position, and has been praised heavily from the Western left.  In a speech given to the United Nations she spoke of the need for all nations to “be on the right side of history” and not make the mistake of criminalizing queer sexual and gender identities as many did with women.  And just as the conservative churchmember turns quickly to the Bible to justify such a moral belief, she too turned to the consecrated ”Universal Declaration of Human Rights” which preaches from its sanctified ground that “All human beings are born and created equal in dignity and rights.”

As declarations of World War Gay are made, it is hard for me to not remember the war on terror which gained a lot of credibility on the liberation of women under universal sisterhood.  The veil in the eyes of the West was a profane mark of women being robbed of their human rights.  And while the war was waged in the name of women’s freedom and human rights America has suffered little to no consequence for human rights abuse in Bagram, Guantanamo, Abu ghraib, or others, all of which carry large sexualized and gendered implications.  It also is imperative to note that the women who have did most of the ground work were ignored largely so women with liberal feminist values could run the show.  While a larger discussion of imperialist violence is needed, it is very easy to argue that the sacred values of democracy, human rights, and freedom were symbols and empty signifiers that were filled in order to expand the reaches of neoliberal capitalism and American hegemony.

Durkheim writes, “A society whose members are united by the fact that they think in the same way in regard to the sacred world and its relations with the profane world, and by the fact that they translate these common ideas into common practices is what is called a Church” (Durkheim 47).  In this context we can see that there has developed a Church of Universal Human Rights.  Hillary Clinton is a missionary of this Church and is simply giving a sermon to the global community; a sermon that would integrate LGBTs into our conception of “the Human.”  Tolerance is virtue, and there is no tolerance for intolerance, particularly of gays and women.  

Hillary Clinton finishes her remarks with a call to being on the right side of history.  She warns that when all is said and done countries must not be remembered to be on the wrong, or profane, side of history.  Present is an understanding of history as a series of moral acts (or non-acts in the case of bystanders) with a clear teleology that promotes the wellfare of LGBTs.  Once integrated under the doctrine of universal human rights, it is impossible to be against gay rights, for to do that would be to question the unquestionable; it would be a questioning of the sacred.  Violence is sanctified under the Church of Universal Human Rights; bombs, guns, and weapons are consecrated in the holy waters of human rights as soldier-missionaries go out in the world to enforce tolerance.  Just as the endtimes and rapture under Christianity will be firey judgement, so too will be the judgment from the end of history by those who have embodied liberal-democratic tolerance.  Nevermind the threat Iran poses to Israel or the continued circulation of fossil fuels: clearly the more important issue, and the one that requires militarization, is the hanging of homosexuals.  Perhaps history is a rainbow that just so happens to have a pot of gold at the end, and, as per this address, the teleological end of history - the rapture - is pink.