A Little Pink Pistol Publicity

Posted by: Ion | July 9th, 2007 · 9:25 PM

(image: Pink Pistols)

The Pink Pistols are one of the precious few gay and lesbian rights organizations I’m genuinely fond of. Rather than bucking for ever stiffer hate crimes penalties (which do not seem to deter violent attacks by bigots), their philosophy is that targeted violence against gays and lesbians would swiftly evaporate, if every gay and lesbian had a handgun on his or her belt…and wasn’t disinclined to using it when assaulted.

While that’s a practical truth, there’s also a substantial political value to it. That’s because by resting their claim of gay rights on the 2nd Amendment, rather than seeking new and particular protections under law, the Pistols have transformed their small corner of the movement from just another victim constituency in the Democratic machine, into a group of ordinary Americans, who are laying claim to the enduring constitutional order in the name of preexisting liberties, which are equally shared by all.

The political upshot of which is they become the kind of gay rights movement that even the most vociferous opponents of GLAAD’s agenda can readily accept, or even embrace.

Perhaps somewhat by consequence of that, the Pistols don’t get as much press as more left-wing gay groups. They did however recently score a notable little media event, albeit through inadvertent means.

Two weeks ago, Bill O’Reilly had FNC legal correspondent Rod Wheeler on his show. Rod was talking about the odd and rare phenomenon of gay girl gangs in the United States. I seem to remember a report about just such a gang here in New Mexico from some years ago, so it wasn’t an entirely novel idea to me. Rod however, soon grew a bit too alarmist and hyperbolic about the implications. In the course of which, he labeled the lesbian gangs “pink packing pistols”:

(Andrew Sullivan)

Well, Gwen Patton of the Pistols was none too pleased by that association and complained about it to Radar. Apprised of this, Rod wrote a particularly generous retraction to Gwen. Generous, given that it was fairly clear he wasn’t talking about our Pistols (a fact missed by the dozens of leftblogs denouncing O’Reilly over this):

“Humbly, I submit to you that as a professional, I am not too proud to admit when I’ve perhaps made a mistake, have misspoken, or have been misinterpreted surrounding a particular issue,” he wrote. “I urge all who felt personally offended by the information provided to accept my apology, and let’s focus and work together at addressing the gang and other real problems in some communities here in the United States.”
(Radar)

No harm, no foul. We’re pleased that Radar and the leftblogs –if only for sensing an opportunity to attack Bill O’Reilly and Fox once again– were able to give the Pistols a little pub. The day the gay rights movement looks conceptually more like the Pistols and less like GLAAD, will be the day that sexual orientation becomes as depoliticized as it should be.

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