Question: Does A Gay Chamber Make For Any Happier Commerce? by Doug Wrenn

Question: Does A Gay Chamber Make For Any Happier Commerce?

By Doug Wrenn

October 12, 2007

I guess it was a slow news day in New Haven. Cara Baruzzi's piece, "State's First Gay Chamber Formed," was the headliner in the Business section of the Register. Wow, a gay chamber of commerce! How did we ever manage without one for so long?

Heaven forbid the Register Business section mentions that the GOP presidential candidates (yes, including "Fred") were actually debating commerce issues in Michigan. Then again, New Haven has about as few Republicans as the country has gays (contrary to popular belief), so in the end, I guess it's a wash.

Despite the abject absurdity to the notion, I really couldn't care less if the state has a gay chamber except for the sheer and unnerving hypocrisy of the matter. If any employer were to deny hiring a gay applicant specifically because that applicant was gay, that employer would soon be headline news, protested, boycotted, sued and crucified. Yet while I doubt any of the current mainstream chambers would ever deny admission to a gay business owner, those "tolerant" gay folks want their own little elite club in which only gay business owners or business specifically supportive of gays are allowed in. Yes, I know. It's all about "inclusion," isn't it?

I'm the kind of guy who both interprets and expresses his world more by vision than by hearing, hence my love for analogies and my apoplectic intolerance for hypocrisy. Besides that, while I am no rocket scientist, I'm hardly a clinical idiot, either. With those premises all established, could someone please clue me in as to what sexual preference and business have in common? Somehow. I'm apparently missing the boat here.

I have been blissfully married for 19 years (and yes, so has my wife). Do you know all the explicit details of the last conjugal encounter the better half and I had? No, you don't. Furthermore, you won't. Most straight folks I know are that way. Why is it that so many gays incessantly want to wear their sexuality on their sleeve, even in situations utterly irrelevant to sex, as if it was even remotely pertinent for any of us to know?

I read the article three times. I read one quote from a person who said he was amazed that a progressive state like Connecticut did not previously have a gay chamber. I read another quote from someone saying he was specifically seeking a gay chamber, and I read yet another quote from someone else who said that focusing on the gay, lesbian and transgender market "makes good business sense." What I did not read in my three perusals, however, was anyone explaining to me why we need a gay chamber or how it "makes good business sense." OK, for the transgenders, maybe I could see it. From them I would imagine you could procure wares of their particular expertise, such as transformers, transmitters and transducers, but why gays and lesbians?

Maybe I'm an odd duck, but when I enter a business to either purchase a product or seek a service, I am generally looking for a competitive price, quality, convenience, and appropriately helpful, knowledgeable and courteous sales people. I don't care how old they are, what sex they are, what religion they are affiliated with, what political party they are affiliated with, what sports teams they follow, their zodiac sign, their height, weight, race, ethnicity, favorite color, last book read, last movie seen, where they last went on vacation, or for that matter, their sexual preference. I am there to conduct business, not sexual relations. Are gay people any different than me in that regard? If I ran a business, would a gay customer first ask me my sexual preference? Turn ons? Turn offs? Does such information really make a difference as to whether I close the sale or not?

Human nature being what it is, we often naturally tend to be attracted to folks with whom we feel a bond, something in common, a mutual sharing of similar interests and values, a kinship. I never really bought into the "opposites attract" philosophy. Sure, not everybody is exactly alike, and it is interesting to meet and become friendly with different folks of different interests and backgrounds, and it's interesting to even learn more about people, cultures, backgrounds, and even to occasionally exchange dissenting, albeit friendly dialogue. But typically, we tend to stick more with people who like what we like and think how we think. In my high school, blacks and whites got along with each other fine. There was never any racial animosity, and kids from both groups were friendly with each other, but come lunch time or between classes, for the most part, the whites hung around with other whites and the blacks hung around with other blacks, not because anybody had to, but because they chose to. So it is in socializing. But in the business world, and in daily life of interacting with the public, we don't get to pick and choose who we do business with, go to school with, or interact with, nor should we. Both division and unity each have their place, and in moderation. Too much of either, as with most things in life, isn't good. We would rightfully never tolerate anyone forcing us to socialize with only certain people. Likewise, we rightfully should not be segregated in business, education and daily public comings and goings. A chamber of commerce may have a certain social entity to it, but it's primary objective is to support business prosperity. I would have no objections to a group of gays forming a private social club for themselves. But just who do these politically correct gay bigots think they are in forming a gays only chamber of commerce? Or, to paraphrase their favorite parlance, are they "hetero-phobes"?

In my lifetime, I have had and/or still have gay relatives, gay co-workers, and even gay friends. The sexuality issue has rarely ever even been invoked, and when it was, the discussion was civil and brief. I oppose the act of homosexuality, the gay lifestyle, gay marriage, civil unions, and gay adoptions. I have never had anything against gays. I treat them like everyone else, as I, myself, would like to be treated, and the gay issue is not mentioned, at least not by me.

There are of course, many gays, be they in the closet or not, who live quiet lives, mind their own business and don't try to push their lifestyle down anyone's throat. Then there are gays who continually have to make a political statement. I would not avoid a gay business owner, nor would I ever go out of my way to specifically seek one. Ditto with a heterosexual business owner. Why do some gays always have to announce that they are gay? I'm a practicing Catholic, but I don't evangelize my Christianity when I go into a business. Why do I as a customer have to be showered with symbolic rainbow colors by a merchant?

Plenty of people, probably the majority, I would imagine, are willing to be tolerant of gays, whether they accept their so-called lifestyle or not, but likewise, most people don't want to be evangelized about this clinically sexual disorder, and yes it is a genuine disorder, any more than they want me to save their soul. Furthermore, because homosexuality is a disorder, and was listed as such in the texts of the American Psychiatric Association until gay lobbyists literally bullied that entry out in 1973, organizations that actually promote this disorder encourage denial, diminish the chances of gays seeking treatment, as some successfully have, and in the end, actually contribute to the grave detriment of those members supposedly being supported by such organizations.

These gays who devise ways to segregate themselves from the rest of us follow the same path of hypocrisy as other groups who once sought "equality" and "inclusion" and later voluntarily segregated themselves and discriminated against others instead. Back in the 60's, the federal government rightfully and physically asserted its authority in those very turbulent times to assure black students that they could be safely and equally admitted to predominantly white public schools in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. Now we have specifically black colleges and universities and The United Negro College Fund. The 19th Amendment was added to our Constitution so that women would no longer be unfairly banned from voting. Now we have the intentionally discriminatory Women's League of Voters. And yes, while discrimination laws prohibit organizations from banning admission of a gay person because of his or sexual preference, now we suddenly need a gay chamber of commerce, and straights need not apply, and the real irony is that all this reverse discrimination is legally condoned with a politically correct wink and a nod. Again, what am I missing here?

I think I'll establish a specific chamber of commerce for middle-aged, Catholic, straight, politically conservative American men of Irish and Italian descent, exuberant, charismatic charm, handsomely debonair and dashing good looks, intense intellect, keen foresight, sharp wit, and of course, an over-abundance of humility. Of course, that would never happen, and even if it did, what purpose would it serve?

I guess what all this hypocritical, Tomfoolery and politically correct-sanctioned, divisive gay business nonsense really all boils down to is that certain gays in society want to make a statement. That part I get. However, I think divisive, in-your-face gays, like these gay business owners who are seeking their own chamber of commerce, don't necessarily understand exactly the kind of statement they are making. Or do they?

These are the kind of exacerbating, upside-down perplexities in life that occasionally drive me right into the nearest local Irish pub. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Cheers!

Doug Wrenn