In reading James Kirchick’s book Secret City I realized there’s so much history that has been conveniently forgotten or obtusely lied about. The Lavender Scare, an illegitimate excommunication of thousands of gay federal workers, lasted decades longer than the widely known Red Scare and impacted exceptionally more lives, including those of unsuspecting wives and children. It isn’t the first time we’ve conveniently forgotten details about ourselves.
I’ll never forget sitting in bed watching It’s A Sin, an HBO show about the early days of life the HIV/AIDS crisis, that I learned, at 24, that HIV was not in fact contracted by a man who had sex with a monkey, but rather from eating and hunting infected monkeys and coming in natural contact with their blood. The rumor of bestiality found its way into my middle-class high school as late as 2014, although the teacher who lectured this at us continued to teach there for many years afterward. So pervasive was this rumor that it found its way into Tennessee State Senator Stacey Campfield’s advocacy of a 2012 “Don’t Say Gay” bill, for which his wrongful and inaccurate assertion on the origins of AIDS gardened him widespread lambasting to the point that researching this misconception inevitably leads to a sentence about his erroneous claim. This was particularly ironic given his crusade to fix education (it’s also worth noting that Senator Campfield erroneously claimed that “it is it is virtually — not completely, but virtually — impossible to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex,” particularly in light of recent reporting that heterosexuals are now contracting HIV at higher rates than gay or bisexual men).
This deliberate and intentional obfuscation of history and unintentional spreading of misinformation by politicians is a well-worn strategy of tyranny and supremacy – be it cissexist, heterosexual, White, or in the case of America’s founding, British. In the so-called Information Age, Americans have never been so enabled to fact check the fears politicians are shoving down their throats – You should be scared your neighbors, your child’s teacher, your pastor, your media, your doctor. There’s a separate and much more detailed argument to be had towards alleged Christians in America who are deeply and truly afraid of the trouble of the world as though Christ has neither A) overcome it nor B) given us, explicitly, an opposite Spirit. I would dive more fully into this point but I haven’t the time (although you may direct yourself to our ongoing series for words of wisdom on how to press on in spite of calamity here).
The practical trouble with fear is that, while a powerful motivator, it always runs out of steam. We are simply not created to fear forever. In the case of the Lavender Scare, the movement lost momentum the more queer people refused to be complicit in their own silencing. By being “proud,” a word and ideology that in recent years has garnered false guffaws by pandering politicians and theologians, the antithetical “shame” loses its shimmering stifle. I can’t be embarrassed or blackmailed into something I am public about. In the case of the AIDS crisis, professionals and civilians who, after years of watching people die, decided to end the stigma surrounding the virus, worked to prevent and eventually near-cure the horrific disease. In the case of the founding of this very country in which millions allegedly claim to love, a group of overtaxed and overworked colonizers overthrew a vicious regime, no longer content to suffer idly.
This Fourth of July, Americans have been sold a million lies about what to think and who to fear. Terrified that the populace, like their ancestors, will derive ways to undercut the authority of an arrogant Tyrant, a massive war against education, reading, and independent, critical thought, has overtaken our discourse and families. As I look out upon the yet-imperfect union I currently live in, I am still steadfastly unafraid of the Tyrant and the careening cliff of past historical atrocities He is pushing us closer and closer to the precipice of. Firstly, as a Christian, I realize the only true threat He has against me is my life, which I hold no particular affection to, but secondly, as an American I have it on excellent and historic authority that a Tyrant and all of His men lose in the end. Over and over and over again.
Perhaps the greatest and most universal obfuscation of our histories is this: the road towards justice and equity is long and full of suffering, but it always leads us to a greater, more perfect tomorrow. On this Fourth of July, I want to read books and tell true stories and love the very people I secretly fear might be out to get me. It is an act of rebellion to learn. Love is the greatest threat to tyranny.
I am not afraid of human beings and the policies they genuinely but foolishly think are important, as though we don’t reinvent ourselves and our morality with each subsequent generation. I am curious about liberation and how to achieve it. I am not ashamed of who someone lazy and uncreative says that I am. I am a declaration in and of and to myself. I am independence and a dream. I am free because I have been set free.
I do not fear the Tyrant, friend; the Tyrant should fear me.
Bryce Van Vleet is the #1 selling author of Tired Pages and Before We All Die Let’s Have One Last Chat by the Fireside. He also hosts the podcast Death in Dakota and sells poetry art here. You can support him by clicking through blog posts or donating (scroll to the bottom of the page).
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