On Oct. 17, 1990, a column by Pat Buchanan ran in The Daily Oklahoman. Its title was, “Homosexuals Mainstreaming Satanism.”
I was born and raised in Oklahoma. Buchanan’s piece shocked many in our community, including me. I thought we’d put that kind of thinking, and those kinds of headlines, behind us. Here I am, more than 30 years later and 1,000 miles away in present-day Utah, which I now call home, and essentially the same headline has made its way into our state’s newspaper of record, The Salt Lake Tribune.
Mark Eddington’s recent story, “‘They are grooming our children for immoral satanic worship’: Southern Utah politicians target drag shows,” is an example of history repeating itself, ad nauseam, like a record needle that can’t find its way out of the same, tired groove. What’s being repeated is hate. What’s being repeated is discrimination. What’s being repeated is language that devalues, demoralizes, and “others” entire subsets of the population, including those in our very own community: family members, friends, neighbors, students and co-workers. Someone you know is probably on the receiving end of those attacked in Eddington’s story. Maybe even someone you love.
What Bill Hoster, Patricia Kent and Michelle Tanner convey — and the way Eddington presents their collective message — exemplifies the concept of the past as prologue. These inflammatory, baseless attacks on the LGBTQ+ community aren’t new. They’re barely even new iterations on the idea Pat Buchanan and his ilk espoused decades ago. The far right depends on our fear, individually and collectively, to maintain power.
What’s scarier than a drag queen when you know nothing about LGBTQ+ culture? What’s the harm in literally demonizing a group of people — and getting away with it — if you can gain or keep political power to boot?
Everything. Everything is wrong with that approach.
Dana Martin, Toquerville
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