It Shouldn't Matter, But It Does

Okay, this is hard for me, because i so seldom do it. But, yeah, here goes.

I was wr.....
I was wro.....
I was wron......
I.Was.Wrong.

Whoosh. That was hard. But, as usual, there's more. See, I was annoyed by some of the blogs in the 'hood that were complaining about the fact that news organizations weren't mentioning that Daniel Hernandez is gay.

Who, you say, if you've been living under a rock?

Hernandez is Gabrielle Giffords's assistant. He's the one who went to her side, applied pressure to her wound, and kept her calm amidst all that madness. Daniel Hernandez very well may have saved her life. And he's gay.

And some bloggers were pissed that his orientation wasn't being mentioned as though it played some role in what he did. And I was pissed because his orientation shouldn't matter. He saved her life because he's a compassionate human being; he aided her because he was trained as a Certified Nurse's Assistant, and knew what to do. He didn't step up because he was gay, but because he was human, and that's how we all should act, gay or straight.

But, and here's where I was wr.....not right.

Mary Elizabeth Williams, writing on Salon.com., "[Reporting that Hernandez is gay and Latino] matters because guys like Arizona Sen. John McCain, who described the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' as 'a very sad day,' still think that orientation has an effect on whether or not a person can ably serve in the military. It matters because the notion that two people of the same-sex can love each other and build a life together is still considered in many parts of the country, including Arizona, a threat to what is laughably referred to a "traditional marriage" — as if heterosexuals have really mopped up the floor with this whole commitment thing." 

See, I didn't look at it that way because sometimes I want to look at the world through my fabulous rose colored glasses where sexual orientation doesn't matter. it doesn't make you better or worse than anyone else, it just makes you more like everyone else.

And we should all, gay and straight, strive to be more like Daniel Hernandez.

Read Mary William's article HERE.