by Mike Pyatt
Most Wyoming citizens have read about Senator Mike Enzi’s gaffe that landed him in, what the Casper Star Tribune labeled, “well deserved hot water.” A Greybull sophomore asked Senator Enzi what he was doing to make the state safer and better for the LGBT community. Did she considered merely asking, “What are you doing to make Wyoming a safer place for all citizens?” To quote the senior senator, “I know a guy that wears a tutu and goes to bars on Friday night and is always surprised that he gets into fights,” then added, “Well, he kind of asks for it a little bit. That’s the way he winds up with that kind of problem.” Senator Enzi didn’t reveal the individual’s name. Once the story gained national attention, the Douglas cross-dresser’s name made the paper. The CST stoked the rhetoric, by misapplying the Senator’s logic: “If your a boy who prefers dance to football, you’ve got it coming. If you’re a kid who expresses an opinion that’s different than your classmates; don’t be surprised when someone hits you.” Certain behavior has dire consequences, in a not-so-perfect world.
Is it about a one’s wardrobe choice or student safety? Or is it about the anti-traditional Judeo-Christian values advocacy of Wyoming Equality. In a recent column by Sara Burlingame, outreach coordinator, obsequiously printed by the CST, she rehashed the exchange between Enzi and the Greybull student, spoke of Matthew Shepard, and championed a GSA, PFGLA, fundraising event, based upon the question, ”What happens when a man walks into a bar wearing a tutu in Wyoming?” Her answer was that Cowboys buy him drinks, and ladies invite him to dance the two step. In her world perhaps. Real cowboys may not. And a real lady may decline to dance with a 70 year old, married man, wearing a not-so-flattering tutu. One may conclude, “That was in the ancient days, when only white macho men roamed the earth.” No one should punch the guy. Burlingame used the word “queer” and “queerness” twice. She may unintentionally be on to something.
In another age, absent the PC acronyms used to describe the panoply of sexual and lifestyle choices, homosexuals were labeled “queer.” A slang term used to describe behaviors that were inimical to cultural norms of that time. Webster defines queer, “homosexual: in general usage, still chiefly a slang term of contempt or derision,” He also defined it, ”strange or eccentric person.” For those in the three score plus range, it would’ve been “queer” or “strange” to see a man in public dressed in a tutu, anywhere. Burlingame claims that Enzi’s remarks confused students. After three generations, students are confused by unrelenting messages they’ve heard claiming there are no absolutes; you know best; one choice is as good as another; there are no consequences to those choices; live and let live; and when all else fails; despite vociferous warnings otherwise, suicide’s an option. Many recent generation parents are as confused as their offspring since their internal compass has no true north.Their reference point’s the latest post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or the moral bankruptcy of the latest sitcom. Such are the dreams of the far left social engineers that aggressively foist this distortion on our youngest generation.
Burlingame’s latest dream, she claims, is that from Dubois to Lingle, to tell LGBTQ students, “You are beautiful. You were born perfect and we are so lucky to have you here. Thank you. Thank you for your resilience, your queerness, thank you for being your beautiful self in a state that does not always deserve you.” She added, “And there’d be money to buy them cocoa and really nice pastries.” What a vacuous statement. Better have a cupbearer taste that drink. Baritone Caitlyn Jenner’s beautiful? Was Mrs. Doubtfire a cross-dresser?
That dream has already turned into a social and moral nightmare. Rather than helping students grapple with the vexing dilemma of gender confusion, that responds to wise counsel and therapy, Burlingame glosses over reality, sentencing them to a life of confusion and regret. Instead of Senator Enzi sticking with his apt description of “queer behavior,” he was shamed into retreating. Folding like a cheap tent, he vowed to find time to hear the stories of transgender students. A story with a tragic ending. A narrative is promoted in LGBTQ communities of a monolithic, seamless voice. There’s a rift between “gays” and transgenders that few talk about. We’re obligated to inform children of all ages, there are consequences to choices and behaviors, immediate and longterm. It’s not polite to “tell the Emperor he’s naked.” Today, he’s haute couture.
Since 1973, when the APA removed homosexuality from abnormal behavior-few things are abnormal anymore. They caved to intense homosexual lobbying. Homosexuality was previously considered appropriate for therapy, and considered clinically sound. Now a confused young man can be crowned “homecoming queen,” and misguided students applaud, while feckless, school administrators acquiesce, knavishly behaving as if that isn’t abnormal. Students and future generations pay a costly price for pretending black’s white, evil’s good, and there’s no right or wrong, only preferences. If any organization in Wyoming, or elsewhere, funds Sara Burlingame’s nightmarish dream, we should hasten its nascent, by aggressively promoting permanent values that once were the lynchpin of our society. Perhaps a morally sane organization will ascend, funding a campaign to counter the perfidious advocacy of Wyoming Equality’s statewide assault, that thrives in a petrie dish culture of strident social liberalism, and disdain for traditional values. We need less GSA clubs, not more.
Burlingame was right about, “we need your church.” One standing for Biblical standards, proclaiming the transforming message of the Gospel for everyone. Evangelicals understand we aren’t born perfect, and need redemption. Next time you do the two-step, make sure you’re not dancing with the devil in a tutu. What do you think?
Mike Pyatt’s a resident of Natrona County. His email’s roderickstj@yahoo.com
