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Good Samaritans win one Saturday, Mar 31, 2007 By Doug Thompson Putting limits on Good Samaritans is clearly a tough sell. A proposed ban on gay foster and adoptive parents hit a wall Tuesday, at least temporarily. Gay and lesbian Arkansans didn't stop it by themselves - or for themselves. I've never seen anyone fight so hard for the right to help the helpless. I don't remember any fights like this to get family plan health insurance for gay Arkansans. I haven't heard this much testimony about job discrimination against lesbians. Homosexuals certainly didn't draw this many allies to fight the marriage amendment two years ago. Get between them and the right to show mercy to the children of strangers, though, and you've got a fight on your hands. They won't be fighting alone, either. A line has been found, ladies and gentlemen. Anyone wanting to cross that line should take some pause. You may think I'm dead wrong. Arkansans clearly aren't so sure you're right. This state didn't turn liberal on Tuesday. Arkansas raised a big, insistent crowd on Feb. 7 to oppose the federal Equal Rights Amendment. That crowd gathered in part because the amendment was portrayed as helpful to homosexuals. Senate Bill 959 wasn't defeated because of backstage maneuvers or the committee it was assigned to, either. Those are factors, not reasons. You can tell that from the conspicuous absence of a conservative crowd like the one that turned out against the ERA. Even a witness for Senate Bill 959 admitted that a "case by case" argument could be made for a gay foster parent. I'm told he drew applause - from the other side. I know a case-by-case story. It starts in the Bible at Luke 10:25. As many people know, the "Good Samaritan" is a story about someone who's beaten, helpless and left abandoned. A high priest and then a pillar of the community type pass him by. The hero of the story is the Samaritan who takes generous mercy. Jesus' target audience would have considered this hero to be a half-breed religious heretic. I had forgotten that the story is an answer to a question: Who's my neighbor? Jesus was asked that question during a discussion about loving God and loving your neighbor. Annie Abrams, the noted civil rights leader who's straight but black and a woman, gets it. Nobody has the right to judge somebody just because of the group he or she is in. I got an earful of that when I called her Friday night to talk about this bill. Devon Bearden, 15, of Little Rock gets it. She told the committee about having a home with a mother and a father and in a home with her lesbian grandmother: "The best one was with my Nana." "Nana" is Randi Romo, grandmother and committee witness. Shay Stout, 15, gets it. If his birth mother dies, his surviving mother wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on. Jada Walker, Jay Barth, and Alice Lightle: I could keep going. If this thing turns into a running fight, I'll be glad to. A running fight's very likely. The next election is in a presidential election year. Some people will want a gay parenting ban on the ballot out of a sincere conviction that I consider misguided. Others will relish putting this in front of voters in a swing state while Hillary Clinton is running for president. Somebody will gladly pay the cost of the petition drive. Now I'm not so sure such a measure would pass. Even if it does, there's a meantime. In the meantime, some kids aren't going to have to spend the night on a sofa in some state or county office somewhere. Some child who's been dealt a rough hand in life won't grow up venting his anger through bigotry against homosexuals. I'm quite sure that some child won't die. Sometimes, right does make might. Tuesday was one of those times. If you think I'm wrong, if you think I'm completely off base, then forget about me. Remember what Jesus said about the Samaritan who helped the one left robbed and beaten by the road: "Go, and do thou likewise." If you don't want good Samaritans, be a good priest or Levite. Help the helpless. Nobody will fight you. -------- Doug Thompson is a Fayetteville-based reporter and columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau and the Morning News. His e-mail address is dthompson@arkansasnews.com. |
