The Universal Beauty Of Socially Correct Politics

We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote those thoughts in his 1844 essay, The Over-soul. Emerson, the Unitarian minister and leader of the Transcendentalist movement of the 19th century, is a well-known figure in American History. Emerson had and expressed bisexual tendencies while he attended Harvard, but he didn’t act on them. Emerson was not the only famous man or woman to express, but keep secret, a same-sex love. George Washington and Alexander Hamilton; Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed; Susan B. Anthony, Florence Nightingale, Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt and Emily Dickinson have been credited with some sort homosexual or lesbian activity during their lifetimes. But their sexual preferences were wrapped in silence because of the laws and beliefs of the times.

The list of famous gay American’s would fill a chapter in our book of history. Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Rudolph Valentino, Charles Laughton, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Janis Joplin and Joan Jett are just a few names in that chapter. Each one has contributed a particle or a part to the foundation of America History. We praise their accomplishments, and our lives have been enriched by their creativity. Most of them would have enjoyed the freedom of self-expression and same-gender marriage, but none of them received that freedom.

The history of Egypt, Greece, Italy, France and Britain is filled with contribution from gay citizens. All of them contributed to the political whole in some way, and the whole thrived because of them. King Richard the lion-hearted, Philip II, Beethoven and Shakespeare are on their country’s gay list. Donatello, Michelangelo and Leonardo Di Vinci also made their nation’s list. The opportunity to partake in an open marriage was accepted in some of those countries. Individual contributions to the political and social whole were enhanced because of that acceptance.

The recent ruling by the Supreme Court changes the nature of freedom for gay couples in America. These individuals may be able to live as a whole within the diversity that exists in our political machine without castration. They may be able to express the deep power that exists within this new freedom, and bring a touch of unity to the divisions, parts and particles that condemn the freedom to choose a specific partner.

When we look back, we see our history covered in sexual secrecy and matrimonial entrapment. The Supreme Court ruling brings that secrecy and entrapment to the forefront of our thoughts. Our social and political beliefs are changing. We are beginning to appreciate and accept personal unity within political diversity. We are writing a new history. A history filled with the universal beauty of socially correct politics.