All right, already. Dick's daughter is a dyke. Edwards said it, Kerry said it. We all knew it before they said it. So what?

The Cheney's and their extended family The Pro Republican Administration Media are in a complete huff over of it, with conservative website OpinionsEditorials.com today condoning Kerry's mention as "The Death of Decency."

The Death of Decency? Anyone else find this bombastic statement a wee bit hyperbolic, not to mention, hypocritical? I wish the blatantly-partisan media spin-meisters du jour would try to show a tinge of editorial responsibility before issuing such grandiose claims.

Kerry answered a simple question, "Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?" His exact reply was:

"We're all God's children, Bob. And I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was, she's being who she was born as.

I think if you talk to anybody, it's not choice. I've met people who struggled with this for years, people who were in a marriage because they were living a sort of convention, and they struggled with it. And I've met wives who are supportive of their husbands or vice versa when they finally sort of broke out and allowed themselves to live who they were, who they felt God had made them.

I think we have to respect that."

Amen, Kerry! I respect that. I admire what he has said. It's completely decent. The only reason why anyone could take offense to his words is if they think being gay — or having a gay child — a source of shame. And I'd call that viewpoint indecent.

It's clear from this incident that Americans on both side of the political fence have a problem with the word "lesbian." Lesbian. Is it indecent to use the word in respectable conversation, or, say, political debate? "Gay" is acceptable, because it's another word for happy. "Queer" — why, that's a synonym for strange, nothing offensive about that. "Homosexual" sounds clinical, safe, benign; it sounds like what they do to milk to make sure it's safe to drink.

But lesbian: that word means nothing but a woman who likes to have sex with other women. And like it or not, this act — and the word that represents it — offends and frightens many, many Americans.

John Kerry did us all a favor by calling a spade a spade. She's a lesbian. Good for her! On the other hand, Mary's "Angry Father" Dick Cheney leads an administration that has done everything in its power to undermine the quest for gay and lesbian rights. They sought a constitutional amendment to ensure that no committed, monogamous gay and lesbian couples — such as Mary Cheney and Heather Poe — would ever get the right to legalize their unions. As it stands now, they can't legally speak for one another in dire medical situations, they can't share health insurance benefits, and they pay a shitload in extra taxes if they buy a home together. That doesn't sound very decent, does it?

But even more insidious: the controversy caused by trying to enact such an amendment has served to foster a spirit of fear and hatred towards gays and lesbians. Lynn and Dick Cheney say they're angry parents? Perhaps they should direct that anger more constructively, towards folks who really are a threat to their lesbian daughter. Perhaps Cheney could use his position of power to be an advocate for gay rights, instead of merely feigning righteous PFLAG indignation when it belittles his political opponent.

It's vulgar and indecent for both the Cheneys and the Republican spin-machine — which has been so adamantly anti-gay rights these past four years — to now vilify John Kerry for his lesbian statement. He was advocating gay rights, something that this Republican administration has never done. How dare they be such hypocrits! And more importantly, how come more of the American public can't see past the media spin to this obvious conclusion? It's absurd; it's vulgar; and it's extremely indecent.

But I still wouldn't call it the Death of Decency.

To demonstrate the Death of Decency, I look to words uttered by Jimmy Swaggert, words that our outraged press somehow managed to miss when he spoke them to his congregation last month:

"I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died." The remarks were met with applause from his congregation.

When Swaggert stated he would kill a man because of his sexual preference, that was indecent.

When Swaggert implied that he actually speaks to God directly, that was indecent too, bordering on deranged.

When Swaggert claimed he would kill a gay man and then "tell God that he died," does that mean he thought he could lie to God about the murder, to deceive an omnipresent entity? Or was he stating that he would brag to God that he had taken another life? The last time I checked, Thou Shalt Not Kill came up pretty high in those Ten Commandments that so many rabid lawmakers want to see in their courthouses.

Swaggert's words were unquestionably arrogant, malicious, dangerous, incendiary, and indeed, indecent.

But when the audience applauded Swaggert for his hateful speech: that was the moment when decency actually died. Why didn't the indignant members of the mainstream press show up for that funeral?

{igDana thinks it's pathetic that few of our so-called journalists are taking the opportnity to interview actual real live GAY people about this issue. She's an Angry Imaginary Girl who desperately doesn't want to see her gay and lesbian friends prejudiced against as they have been with the Bush administration. She also hopes none of them would ever want to marry Jimmy Swaggert.}

Additional Resources:

• The Washington Post: Outrage that Rings False
• Common Dreams: She's Here, She's Queer: Get Used to It
• The Advocate: Guerriero attacks Bush and Cheney for "feigning outrage" over discussion of Mary Cheney's sexuality
• Salon: John Kerry's Lesbian Moment
• Seattle for Dean: The Political Landscape
• Read all bazillion articles on the subject on Google