The Outcast

"And alien tears will fill for him Pity's long-broken urn, For his mourners will be outcast men, And outcasts always mourn. "
-Quote on the tomb of Oscar Wilde



No question, Oscar Wilde was an inspired writer and storyteller, giving us works that arre still widely read today. But Oscar Wilde was also a criminal who served several years in prison. His crime? Being a gay man. He was convicted of comitting "Buggary" which in the 1890's consisted of consensual sex between him and another adult man. It may seem bizarre and ludicrous to see this as an actual crime nowadays but the sad thing is that groups like Focus on the Family and Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority still want it to be. In fact, this is their goal, to see gay's banished to the fringes of society, to have even their expressions of love regarded as Illegal.

Too strong you might say? Unfortunately not, as both of these groups fully supported the Texas ban on Sodomy ( even consensual Sodomy) because it " deligitimized and criminalized homosexual behavior." Thankfully the Supreme Court threw that law out despite their protests.They have also fought legislation over the years that would make it illegal to discriminate against gays in regards to housing, employment, or even health insurance. These people truly are as bad as the Taliban, the only difference being they don't control the government. Yet.