Tag: American

Quotes

Quote from Homocons: Rise of the Gay Right – Richard Goldstein

Geoff W

“That’s why same-sex marriage seems so important for many gay activists at this point in our history. It stands for civic striving, which is not the same as social climbing. This is a crucial distinction, one that requires progressives to support the right to do what they may not think is right. If a single principle sums up our movement, it’s that we ought to have the same option as straights. Critics of marriage can work for the day when people reject this institution, but they must also struggle for a time when people make that choice because they are free to, not because they must.” – 106

“While it is a mistake to conflate pop culture with social reality, it certainly can wean people from their fear and loathing of the other, especially when its tropes amplify the values of liberal society. Among these principles is the conviction that identity is not destiny. Though this ideal is often honored in the breach, its application to women and gays fuels the engine of fundamentalism, which is not just a religious orientation but a belief in the fixed nature of sexual and ultimately social hierarchies. By challenging this order, gay liberation is central to the culture wars and no doubt the coming battle over same-sex marriage will be a culminating event in that conflict.” – 113

Quotes

Quote from the Ballad of the Sad Cafe – Carson McCullers

Geoff W
“But what sort of thing is love? First of all, it is a joint experience between two persons, but that fact does not mean that it is a similar experience to the two people involved. There are the lover and the beloved, but these two come from different countries. Often the beloved is only the stimulus for all the stored-up love which has lain quiet within the lover for a long time hitherto. And somehow every lover knows this. He feels in his soul that his love is a solitary thing. He comes to know a new, strange loneliness.
Now, the beloved can also be of any description: the most outlandish people can be the stimulus for love. Yes, and the lover may see this as clearly as anyone else–but that does not affect the evolution of his love one whit. Therefore, the quality and value of any love is determined solely by the lover himself. 

But though the outward facts of love are often sad and ridiculous, it must be remembered that no one can know what really takes place in the soul of the lover himself. So, who but God can be the final judge of any love? But one thing can be said about these three people–all of whom, Miss Amelia, Cousin Lymon and Marvin Macy, all of whom were subject to the condition of love. The thing that can be said is this: No good will come of it.”