The Final Steps Into The Ordinary Essay, Research Paper

marcus Snell

English 101 1:00-1:50

11/6/00

The Final Steps Into The Ordinary

?It?s hard sometimes to put your finger on the tipping point of tolerance. It?s not usually the Thurgood Marshalls and the Sally Rides, the big headlines and the major stories. It?s in the small incremental ways the world stops seeing differences as threatening?And it?s finally happening for gay men and lesbians. They?re becoming ordinary.? In the September issue of Newsweek magazine Ann Quindlen wrote an article entitled The Right To Be Ordinary. In this article Quindlen addresses the issue of gays and lesbians becoming a part of every day life. The article states that even though there is still a lot of discrimination in our country; being gay or lesbian over the years has become more widely accepted. The author effectively argues this point by her use of anecdotes, her tone, and by ?.

Quindlen successfully uses anecdotes to show readers how gay men and lesbians are becoming more commonplace. She builds her credibility by use actual anecdotes that have really occurred and have been reported in many newspapers. On incident that she reported was the Supreme Court?s decision that the Boy Scouts had a right to keep out gay scoutmasters. This seems like a setback but it was actually a blessing in disguise. Even though the gay scoutmaster lost his trial, it was the Scouting officials that really took the beating. Men who had been Eagle Scouts for years began to send back their badges. The United Way would no longer support them and took away their funding. Cities and states soon prohibited the Boy Scouts from using public facilities. All this the Boy Scouts lost because of one little act of intolerance for a fellow human being.

An additional example would be that during the summer in Vermont, nearly 500 gay and lesbian couples were united in civil unions. Even if these unions were only a ?second-class? type of marriage, it still meant something to the individuals. Unlike how many religious leaders have felt, nothing awful occurred because of these marriages ?The sky did not fall. The earth did not split in two. Happy families and happy friends watched happy people pledge their love.?

Anna Quindlen?s tone made the editorial both successful and unsuccessful in relaying the point of her thesis. In writing her editorial, Quindlen used a somewhat humorous and aggravated tone. Her humorous tone was shown strongest when she was talking about Dr. Laura Schlessinger and about the Biblical text. To quote Quindlen about a letter written to Schlessinger, ? It thanks the conservative radio talk-show host, who has a loyal following of people who apparently were not yelled at enough as children and are trying to find someone to make up for it, for educating people regarding God?s law on homosexuality.? Quindlen also addressed a few questions that the Bible had raised in her mind. The Bible states that slaves may be bought from neighboring nations. She was confused because a friend had told her that this stood for Mexicans but not Canadians. Another passage tells her that she is morally obligated to put her neighbor to death because he works on the Sabbath day. Last of all, she talks of how her friend told her that eating shellfish is an abomination (again according to the Bible) but a lesser abomination that homosexuality. Quindlen disagrees with this statement, along with the ones before it, and would like some clarification. This humorous tone kept the editorial entertaining and gave a different perspective on how to view what the Bible has to say exactly.

A hint of aggravation could also be heard coming through to the reader. Sign of aggravation were ineffective in conveying her thesis. Anna Quindlen?s aggravation illustrated that even with all the progress the human race has made, with accepting differences; we still have a long way to go. Some of the strongest feelings of irritation are present near the end of the editorial. ?There are still too many gay bias murders, too, and too many committed by young men who feel threatened by the very notion of homosexuality. That?s one of the saddest things about the decision by the Boy Scouts, that they send a clear message to those who most need to learn tolerance that homophobia is acceptable, natural, even praiseworthy.? Little amounts of aggravation is expected when dealing with a subject as important as this. The statement Quindlen made had to be made so she could show that even though we have progressed; we still need to deal with others and ourselves individually.

A THIRD POINT GOES HERE!!!!!!

?It is almost tangible, the ways in which ordinary people who happen to be gay have become unremarkable.? Quindlen said this at the end of her editorial speaking of the guy who won ?Survivor? and how he was a gay man. He was only an ordinary man who made his way to the top by succeeding. It just so happened that he was gay, big deal. He was just another person wining a million dollars because of his mental and (in his case) physical strength.