Nov 25, 2005  |  By: JEFF GANNON  | COMMENTS     

THROUGHOUT AMERICA, THE most recent staging of National Coming Out Day passed without much fanfare.

For those who made public declarations of their sexual orientation to family, friends and co-workers, it was probably an emotionally charged event. But for the rest of the population, it was just another day.

Part of the reason that such a thing doesn’t get more widespread attention is that nowadays “coming out” is more of a political statement than a personal one. The fact that someone is gay isn’t really shocking anymore, even when it’s a celebrity. The fascination is with the star, regardless of the gender of the person he or she is sleeping with.

The revelation that some actors, artists and musicians are gay is about as earth shattering as a news report that says professional wrestling matches are fixed.

ANOTHER REASON IS that identity politics isn’t a game played outside the blue enclaves of the coasts. Across the remainder of the country, ordinary Americans, including gay ones, live their lives as firefighters, schoolteachers, doctors, and office workers.

They quietly go about living in their communities and forming relationships. Their friends and neighbors don’t care if they’re gay; in many cases it’s known or assumed. But it doesn’t color the daily conduct of their lives.

There is a widely held belief that gays in Middle America cower in their closets, held captive by homophobes who would drive them out with torches and pitchforks if the details of their sexual persuasion were known.

This is a myth perpetrated by the “professional gay victims” who see discrimination everywhere and profit from division. In reality, there is far less intolerance than they claim.

Last year, when New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevy resigned amid scandal, he wrapped himself in the cloak of victimhood, confessing that he was a “gay American.” But allegations of corruption really forced him out, not the fact he is gay.

Some leaders of the “gay movement” complain that people who don’t take part in Gay Pride parades or engage in political activism don’t deserve the benefits of the advances brought about by those who do. This is tantamount to suggesting that only those who support the military are entitled to the protection it provides.

They tend to discount the impact of millions of gay men and women who are gradually changing the hearts and minds of fellow Americans by simply being more like everyone else than constantly reminding them of how different they are.

THESE ARE THE silent heroes who choose assimilation over confrontation. They are creating a “new normal” where sexual orientation isn’t a primary defining characteristic. Their contributions to their communities are judged on their own merits instead of being viewed through the prism of identity politics.

The focus on differences keeps us divided as a society.

“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism,” Theodore Roosevelt said in 1915. “There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.”

His words ring true today, particularly when our nation faces a significant challenge from the threat of global terrorism. The bitter debate over gay issues in the last election was a distraction from far more important issues.

Our history demonstrates that progress can come through evolution as well as revolution. For every gay activist pushing the envelope politically, there are a hundred ordinary gay Americans making advances by being ordinary. These people are the ones on the front lines.

Their contribution is valuable and inestimable, since it occurs gradually and unceremoniously. It deserves to be recognized and perhaps emulated, considering acceptance is the ultimate goal. It would be a refreshing change from the Culture War that produces few victories and too many casualties.

THROUGHOUT AMERICA, THE most recent staging of National Coming Out Day passed without much fanfare.

For those who made public declarations of their sexual orientation to family, friends and co-workers, it was probably an emotionally charged event. But for the rest of the population, it was just another day.

Part of the reason that such a thing doesn’t get more widespread attention is that nowadays “coming out” is more of a political statement than a personal one. The fact that someone is gay isn’t really shocking anymore, even when it’s a celebrity. The fascination is with the star, regardless of the gender of the person he or she is sleeping with.

The revelation that some actors, artists and musicians are gay is about as earth ...