A BarbWire guest columnist has taken a
short story about society's mistreatment of gays literally, warning
that it illustrates the dangers of gay rights.
In Charles Beaumont's 1955 short story
The
Crooked Man, heterosexuals face discrimination and fear of
harassment and stigmatization. Beaumont also penned many screenplays
and classic Twilight Zone episodes.
Beaumont, of course, flips reality in
an effort to highlight the plight of pre-Stonewall gays and lesbians.
But Mark Judge offers a different take,
saying the story is really about looming “gay fascism.”
“There's a short story that has been
published about gay fascism. It depicts a dystopian world where
heterosexuality has been outlawed, and those found to be straight are
operated on, brainwashed, and reeducated to be gay. The story has
deep implications about gay marriage, the abuse of language, and
totalitarianism,” Judge
wrote.
“Sixty years later, it's not hard to
imagine that some elements of The Crooked Man have come true,
if not its entire dystopian world. There is a dose of fascism in the
gay and trans rights movement, but for argument's sake it's important
to elucidate exactly what those elements are. Two homosexuals
wanting to spend their lives together and share expenses and taxes
and visitation rights is not a threat to the republic. What is a
threat is the manipulation of language, and a conscience-eradicating
resentment that calls for large-scale coercion.”
“So are we headed for a Crooked
Man future? Yes and no. It's doubtful that the rationalization
of the sexual revolution will ever get so extreme that heterosexuals
will be arrested and operated on against their will.”
“Still, there is a movement to
convince the public that 'there's no such thing as straight or gay.'
According to this theory, everyone is bisexual and it's just a matter
of where you fall on the scale of attraction to male or female. If
this scenario is allowed to take hold, we could in fact come to a day
when it is decided that something has to be done about girl-chasing
Johnny, who's just too far on the hetero end of the Kinsey scale.”