Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

["Karey L. Perkins" <karey AT charter.net>]

Title: Message

I don't think any of us has the right to judge another.  How can we truly know and judge the reasons/motivations two individuals love and marry? 

 

A man and a woman can, and often do, marry each other (enter into a heterosexual union) for all sorts of bad reasons -- the man may want a trophy wife (what about sexual appetite and gratification there?), the woman may want a comfy or luxurious high profile lifestyle (or perhaps she just wants to get out of the house), the woman's father could have a shotgun to the man's head (sexual appetite thus being the precursor to this), the man marries the boss's daughter to get ahead in his career (OK, he's not madly in love, but she's nice enough and not too bad looking), the woman marries the man because all her friends and family like him, think he's nice, a good catch, whatever, etc. etc.   Two individuals being of appropriate gender (m/f) hardly ensures admirable and spiritual reasons for entering into wedlock. 

 

Two individuals being of "inappropriate" gender does not define their love  - even eros - for each other is an evil or bad thing. 

 

I think our spirits/souls ultimately transcend gender -- God has no genitals (although we traditionally and misleadingly refer to "Him" as a "He," gender is by definition a physical trait and God is not physical - only Jesus). 

 

I agree with Steve that a case of two men who live together and love each other as friends (i.e.: just roommates) is very different from two gay men who are in love and wish to marry.  A homosexual "marriage" bond has far more in common with a heterosexual marriage than any other relationship between persons of the same gender - or any other present word in our vocabulary we might apply to it.  

 

I don't know what to think about homosexuality, nor do I completely understand why two individuals of the same gender fall "in love" and wish to express that love physically -- but they do, and for them, I believe it is the same experience as two individuals of opposite gender who do the same thing.   Some homosexuals ARE in it merely for physical gratification, just as some heterosexuals have sex merely for physical gratification.  But would anyone say that all heterosexual marriages are just about sexual gratification?  Of course not.  The same is true of homosexual marriages.

 

The one thing I do know is it's not for me to judge others nor to impose rules on how to conduct their lives -- that's God's domain.  I've got my own stuff to worry about. 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Parlin, Steven

To: 'Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion'

Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 10:41 AM

Subject: RE: [percy-l] gay marriage

Dear RP

 

I'm not sure "totally" doesn't fit (though perhaps it's fruitless to speculate about WP's thoughts). In "something to displease both sides", Percy never wavered on the (total) wrongness of killing unborn children. It's insanity and "totally", not partly, wrong. He was merely pointing out the intellectual myopia that exists on both sides of the political quagmire --and there is a lot of it. But, you're probably right that Percy would have surprised and delighted and shocked with his comments.

 

Two very good friends of mine are homosexual, one is in his late 60's and I speak with him regularly about these sorts of things. He knows (and unfortunately has "known") a lot of homosexuals. I can tell you there is hardly consensus among the homosexuals about what this agenda is really about. 

 

"Truth of gay love as a personal bond"? Hmm.... I love my best friend (since kinder) probably more than I love anyone in the world, but our "personal bond" is hardly a marriage, and I hardly want to be sexual with him. But, even more to the point...what of my love for my father?  Love is not really a part of this debate.

 

The truth is, again citing my friend, homosexual "bonds" are hardly about love and committment and the like. It's mostly about sexual appetite and gratification.

 

Society's need to accept this? Society needs to accept homosexuals, but not homosexuality.

 

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert_Pauley AT oxy.com [mailto:Robert_Pauley AT oxy.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 7:08 PM
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: RE: [percy-l] gay marriage

I don't think "totally" is the right adverb for any Walker Percy position. He was too intellectually supple. Remember his piece on abortion in the New York Times -- ... "Something to displease both sides." I believe he would have found a way to deconstruct the moral and semantic choplogic of "gay marriage" while allowing for the truth of gay love as a personal bond, and of society's need to accept this, short of formal social or religious sanctification. He would, again, have displeased both sides.  

 

Best, RP  

-----Original Message-----
From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of James Piat
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 4:59 PM
To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
Subject: Re: [percy-l] gay marriage

Dear Phil,

 

I think we are all very much products of our circumstances  -- and tend to get more conservative as we age. Of his writings I like Percy's essays the most, and The Movie Goer more than The Thanatos Syndrome.  I'm not so sure Percy would be totally against gay marriage were he around today.  Times change; people change. 

 

Regards from Atlanta

Jim

I think Percy would be totally against gay marriage. But that's why I'm glad I don't walk around wearing a "WWPD?" wrist band. I think he was definitely a product of his time and place, and his later novels particularly illustrate his out-of-place feeling in the 1970's. And didn't it seem like he became more conservative and doctrinaire as he grew older? It's been a while since I've read Percy, but I remember The Thanatos Syndrome being a lot more "preachy" than his early novels...

 

Regards from Chapel Hill,

Phil

 

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