It doesn’t get better than that

The following is an excerpt from part two:

Beginning with the first flicker of our notoriety, there is not a soul who wants our innocence to govern the proceedings. The war-waging public does not want it. Can there be a more effective method for gay bashing? No one has to lift a finger. The town dogcatcher, promoted to detective, does not want us exonerated—further promotions do not come by being wrong. Downright emphatically, the courts are committed to a conviction. As with Pontius Pilate, let us give the public what they want. Certainly, DCYF is not in favor of objectivity. The glare of the spotlight causes them to turn their eyes the other way. They revoke our foster parenting license before we ever are arrested. Most decidedly, the media needs us to fry. What kind of glamour is there in exposing two gay men’s innocence?

When the media and politicians sensationalize cases such as ours it remains in their interest to be sure that their agendas are not challenged. The “tough on crime” illusion ensures that everyone is moved up a rung. Demonizing the accused becomes profitable in every way imaginable. Dollars float down from the heavens. The public is pleased that someone is found guilty. We can all live happily ever after. The other side of the coin is that a “debt to society” never gets paid in full—ex-cons wear the scarlet letter of shame up until their dying gasp. Pathetically, in the prevailing view of our sophisticated culture, “It doesn’t get better than that.”