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A Christmas to remember

With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore

Published Thursday, 25-Dec-2003 in issue 835

OUT WITH IT!

by Greg D. Kubiak

‘Tis the mid of December and my column is done, Though my holiday shopping has only begun.

To begin this review, your indulgence I ask,

So sit in your rocker and reach for your flask.

It’s been quite a year, as this rhyme will soon tell,

With some headlines claiming we’ve gone straight to hell.

Gay rights have grown — though they’ve come from the bench.

And the battles ahead will not be a cinch.

Verdicts from courts have trumped this year’s news,

Opening debate for pro and con views —

From Texas, where sodomy’s no longer a crime,

To Massachusetts, where gay wedding bells will soon chime.

Fear of these edicts has caused quite a stir,

Beginning in Congress, “The Home of Gay Slur.”

So many have joined an effort to amend —

There’s more than our homeland we should now defend.

Proponents of marriage have gays in their sights,

Even if it means quashing states’ rights.

Al Qaeda may still be on the run

But gay marriage to many is enemy #1.

If some worry the family, gay unions will wreck,

The family must be weak — weaker than heck.

To think gay commitments can damage a knot

Between two straight people strains logic a lot.

If hetero-marriage is really that weak.

Letting gays do it too shouldn’t make it more bleak.

As I ponder and search for “Peace on Earth,” please,

I think of my nephew and the troops overseas.

He’s just 21 and in the Air Force

Serving so proudly and bravely, of course.

Despite any thought of this war I possess

Only history will prove what was right, is my guess.

Besides that debate will get loud and mean,

Next year when the President will face Dr. Dean.

But if fighting for “freedom” is not why we’re there.

Who are we to expect anyone else to care?

Partisan politics, back-stabbing with spite,

Comes some from the left, but mostly from the right.

We’ve got terror and hunger and the jobless for days,

But some would rather fight against marriage for gays,

As if divorce and the bad kids of others,

Were the fault of gay couples, gay dads and gay mothers.

It’s curious today how politics gets played,

And how some hope to win, if we are afraid.

But even if “Peace” doesn’t quite come this year,

One thing to me remains perfectly clear.

The warmth of a fire may be cozy and nice

But the warmth of good friends is warmer by twice.

Support and laughter, loyalty and care,

Can chase out the chill of the cold world’s air.

So thank you for reading my holiday rhyme.

And for taking so much of your holiday time.

The bottom line holds all this message’s worth,

“Happy Holidays to ALL, and PEACE on Earth.”

Greg D. Kubiak, author, activist and poetic analyst, writes Out With It! for the Gay and Lesbian Times and can be reached via this newspaper.

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A Christmas to remember » With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore

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