West story harsh and heartening
It seems this should go without saying, but I’m not convinced it does, and so I will fess up. I speak from the gay community, not for it. From my view as a lesbian, and also a writer, an educator, a mom, citizen and voter, the news of Mayor Jim West’s legislative hypocrisy and alleged pedophilia evokes two very different reactions.
I would not be surprised – indeed I’d be gratified – if by the time this is printed West will have resigned his City Hall post. No matter. West the man is at this point incidental to my feelings about the unfolding story. What both infuriates and heartens me are the comments from other followers of this news.
On one hand, since Thursday a week ago people have been gathering around office water coolers and jumping to conclusions. Conversations about the “news” that West is bisexual, or perhaps gay, are peppered with comments such as, “Well then, of course he prefers underage boys.”
The pairing of homosexuality with criminal promiscuity is at best ridiculous. At worst, deeply, shockingly painful. If workers hashing over the day’s news with colleagues assume West’s pedophilia is symptomatic of being bisexual or gay, what do they assume about me? Does the mom passing me in a Target aisle observe that I’m tall and lanky with short-cropped hair, suspect I’m a lesbian and automatically pull her daughter closer to her side?
The headlines about West are one thing. The repeated belief that homosexuality equals deviance is something altogether different. It is something altogether maddening.
If West molested 8-year-old boys, well then, of course he belongs in prison. If West is gay, well then, he belongs in the grocery store, at the gas station, in line at the Post Office, at the drive-thru window of a latte stand. If West is gay, well then, so?
Happily many, many folks in our city, region and state have publicly expressed just such a sentiment. Democratic senators, Republican legislators, business owners and writers of letters to the editor have repeatedly said what was succinctly stated in a Spokesman- Review online posting – “Straight, gay, bisexual, who cares?”
My sense is that the majority of people concerned about West’s ability, or right, to govern the city from here on out has nothing to do with hurtful stereotypes about gay people. While some are jumping to conclusions, most are openly corroborating one simple notion. A gay person is above all a person. In a long list of ways to describe an individual – tall, short, blond, chubby, athletic, young, elderly, African-American, Catholic, humorous, outgoing, shy, hard-working, trustworthy – gay is just one defining trait.
Spokane, and much of Eastern Washington, may be rightfully labeled conservative and yet … yet, we seem to be surrounded by neighbors who inherently believe in social justice and equality. That is something altogether wonderful.