On Why I Wear Kilts and How They Influenced the USA

I am a great fan of the Starz series Outlander based on the books by Diana Gabaldon. For the record, the series adaptation is much better than the books, all of which I’ve read and all of which lean toward historical romance fluff. However, Starz has done a fantastic job of recreating the times, dress, customs and politics of the early 18^th Century Scottish Highlands. Also for the record, I am biased. My 25 Great-Grandfather was Kenneth McAlpin, the first King of Scotland and my 12^th Great-Grandfather was the first Chief of Clan MacNeill, a highlander clan of the Western Isles. Now, of course, I’m also descended from the French, German, Scandinavian, English, and possibly some milkman or other.

I’ve been doing a lot of genealogical work lately and have concentrated my efforts on the Highland line for several reasons. First, it has the best documented and furthest reaching resources available going back to around 30 years BCE thanks to Ancient Roman censi and Catholic birth, baptismal, marriage and death records. Second, the Clan still exists as an organized entity. The Clan Chief still lives in Castle Kismul on the Island of Barra in the Western Hebrides of Scotland. And third, it’s fun. It allows you to live in a fantastical recreation of the highly romanticized Highland Culture presented in Outlander.

The basic story of Outlander is based on a young woman, just after the end of the War in Europe, who visits the Highlands on a second honeymoon to rebuild her fractured relationship with her husband whom she hasn’t spent more than a few days with in 6 years. Through no fault of her own, she falls through time to the early 1740’s Highland woodlands surrounding the Celtic standing stones known as Craig na Duhn and into the hands of a very nasty English ancestor of her husband called Black Jack Randall. She is rescued by a group of Highlander rebels led by Dougal MacKenzie. They are on the run from some mischief or other, but before they can go, a lad called Jamie must be attended to as he has dislocated his shoulder. When the somewhat dim Highlanders move to reset it, our heroine, Clare, comes to his rescue to reset the shoulder as she was a nurse during the War. From that point on, Clare, out of time and out of place, finds herself in one life-threatening situation after another, always saved by our hero, Jamie. The story is told primarily from the woman’s point of view, but Jamie is the embodiment of everything a woman (and not too few men) would love to have in a partner.

Outlander is a masterpiece. The photography is gorgeous. The script adaptation is gorgeous. The clothes are gorgeous. And Jamie is gorgeous. Seriously, he is a very handsome guy (Sam Heughan) and I’m not big on redheads. His character, Jamie, is a complicated character that can be stubborn and gentle, courageous and compassionate, heroic and sensitive. Women viewers dream of being swept off their feet. Men imagine themselves as him, conquering the world with a beautiful woman at their side. I imagine it both ways.

So, after discovering my clan, watching Outlander and learning something about Scottish history, I stepped out to a party wearing my clan’s kilt. There is actually a book titled “So You’re Going to Wear the Kilt!”. Really. The opening line is “The first consideration is a state of mind – your state of mind the first time you wear a kilt…the first time you wear it by yourself in daylight. You will be as nervous as a cat [at] a meeting of the American Kennel Club…Every time you hear a laugh, a whistle or a car honk, you will be sure it is meant for you.”

Okay. It was true, but not for long. I was walking down Lincoln Road on South Beach and two fairly macho, straight-looking guys came up to me and one of them said “I wish I had the balls to wear that!” I felt so Jamie! I felt courageous, brave, handsome, sexy and powerful. Now, I will say if you’re going to wear a kilt, you better mean it. You can’t be a wimp. Now I wear the kilt almost every day and I get compliments and come-ons and all kinds of attention. I get into clubs with velvet ropes around the block and the first available table at the currently-in restaurant. Why? I think when you wear a kilt you send a message of confidence and resolve.

The Highlanders were attacked and victimized for centuries, but they always fought back. They overcame the Vikings, Edward the Hammer, Henry VIII and Elizabeth who eventually flipped history by leaving her kingdom to James VI of Scotland/James I of Great Britain. But, they succumbed to politics and capitalism (not that there’s anything wrong with that). After the two Jacobite revolutions and the failure of Bonnie Prince Charlie to complete his conquests of the contravallation of the English, many Highlanders either escaped or became gulls, forced to emigrate to the America’s. Others came because they were no longer protected by the clan chiefs and sought economic relief and lands in the colonies, primarily North Carolina. As the century moved on, ancient agricultural techniques still used in the Highlands gave way to more efficient farms and the industry of the lowlands. Population growth, ironically the result of the new smallpox vaccination, forced others to seek space across the pond.

Tens of thousands of Highlanders emigrated to North America in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries. The first to come were adventurous individuals not looking for land, but rather furs. They got along well with the native population as they had similar tribal customs and even dress. Of course, later, Highlanders of the 18^th Century were granted large land grants, built great plantations and owned hundreds of slaves. In 1740, 340 Highlanders landed in Cape Fear. Only 22 individuals received land grants. One who held land and was a member of the Colonial Council was Neal MacNeill. He took responsibility for distributing funds to help settle Highlanders in the primarily coastal lands of North Carolina.  And my 5^th Great-Grandfather, Archibald McNeill settled many of his clan members in Cumberland County.

These Highlanders, banned from wearing the kilt in Britain after the Jacobite defeat at Culloden Moor in 1746, proudly held onto their culture in America. Here they freely practiced their Protestant religion, odd when you consider they tried to place a Catholic back on the throne in Scotland. To this day, Scots Highlanders can be seen wearing the kilt in North Carolina to the kirk, to special events and to the Highland Games, which are traditional annual events all over the United States. Their Highlanders ancestors were integral to the evolution of the revolution. For a long time they remained Loyalists or neutral. Why? Just like the Highlanders in Scotland, the American Highlanders spoke Gaelic and lived in relative isolation. Many of the grievances of the Northern Colonies just didn’t affect them. Additionally, Highland settlers were well aware of the British reprisals against Highlanders after their defeat at Culloden Moor who still lived in Scotland. For nearly a millennium and a half, Highlanders suffered greatly at the hands of their Southern neighbors. Some of the Highland settlers were retired British officers who lived on military pensions.

Defeat is never easy to accept. On April 16^th 1746 the Jacobites suffered a bitter defeat at the hands of the British at Culloden Moor east of Inverness and nearly 30 years later, on February 27^th 1776, they suffered another defeat when Highlander Loyalists, once again, participated in a sword-wielding charge. At Culloden, thousands lost their life. At Moore Creek Bridge, the Loyalist leader was killed, but the rest of the Highlanders scattered. 850 soldiers were captured at The Battle of Moore Creek Bridge, but it is hard to say how many were Highlanders as the Loyalist troops were made up of many different groups including some French troupes. Some Highlanders left North Carolina for Canada, but many Highlanders just never showed up for the war and were persecuted by the Patriot troops who marched through their lands near Cross Creek on their way to take on Cornwallis.

Highlanders are resilient people (or I wouldn’t be here!) and, after the war, participated in local and national government. The Declaration of Independence draws heavily from the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath, a letter to the Pope pleading Scotland’s case for freedom from England. Interestingly, Thomas Jefferson was himself, of Scottish descent. James Wilson, a Scot from Fife and educated at the Universities of St. Andrews, Edinburgh and Glasgow during the Scottish Enlightenment, was one of only six who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Over 27 million Americans have Scottish ancestry as do 61% of all American Presidents. Other famous Scots include James Madison, Alexander Graham Bell, Jack Daniel, Bill Gates, Jimmy Stewart, Neil Armstrong, Lucille Ball, Reese Witherspoon and Ronald Reagan.

When George II finally removed the Highlander threat in 1746, he also instituted civil laws banning the wearing of the plaid kilt, the Gaelic language and disarmed the Highlanders. No wonder some 25,000 men, women and children came to North Carolina, alone between 1747 and 1775. Another 25,000 settled in the other colonies during the same time. The first Scot to see North America was a Christian Bard from the Western Hebrides who accompanied Bjarne Hefjolfsson on his voyage around Greenland in 985 - 986. The first Scot to set foot on North American soil was a slave owned by Leif Eriksson named Haki with his wife Hekja in 1010 CE. Since before Roman Emperor Hadrian built his wall in 128 CE, European Outlanders have considered Scottish Highlanders to be barbarians and feudal. There is no doubt that Highlanders were and are a proud people, independent in nature.( Spoiler Alert: Even Clare and Jamie make it to America to settle down and give rise to generations to come.)

So, when I wear the kilt it reminds me of how defeat and suffering can be turned into success. How single individuals can affect the history of all men without ever knowing it. I feel courageous, brave, handsome, sexy and powerful. And in wearing the kilt, I cultivate new relationships and meet all kinds of people from all over the world. I walk feeling calm and confident without depriving anyone else of their ability to feel the same. Sometimes I slip into a Scottish brogue just for fun. In my studies I’ve added Doric Scots and Gaelic to my linguistic library. These new experiences contribute to my own rich and interesting life and, I hope, to my ultimate goal of wisdom and compassion – a theme I often repeat.

So don’t worry if you are an Outlander. Relish in the under-appreciated Scottish history. Check out your own ancestry. You never know what you’ll find, but one thing is for sure: we are all the result of a living history from which we derive our values, customs, laws and country. The history of our country, beginning with a simple complaint of taxation without representation moving on through the great divide of the Civil War and now into a new age of challenges, has evolved to one where everyone really is free to follow his own path to the Highlands and beyond.

An Open Letter to Marco Rubio re: Gay Marriage

Dear Senator Rubio,

I understand that traditionally marriage has been between a man and a woman, but same-sex relationships have existed for thousands of years and in multiple species. Why an individual is homosexual has not been firmly established. A solely genetic pathway seems unlikely, as homosexual activity is a dead end, evolutionarily speaking. Other arguments refer to hormonal fluctuations in utero. Whatever the cause, I firmly believe it is biologic in its origin. Being homosexual is not a choice. Acting on your feelings is. I tried for many years to date women and was engaged to be married. I cancelled the engagement, not for my benefit, but for my fiancés benefit. It was not fair to involve her in a relationship where she could never experience all that she deserved. I am not talking about being unfaithful. I am referring to her inability to receive the love and attention she deserved. So after that break-up, my only choice was to live a life of isolation and loneliness or find someone whose love could be shared and allow me to concentrate on my career and contributing to the health and well-being of others.

I believe there are many intolerant gay people, just as there are many intolerant Republicans, but how does anyone’s ability to marry affect the success of anyone else’s marriage. This seems to be the argument – same-sex marriage is a threat to the institution of marriage. How? I don’t see how my parent’s marriage affected my brother’s or yours, for that matter. Since man has created art and writing, homosexual relationships have been documented from Ancient Greece, to South American tribes, from the South Pacific Islanders to Siberian and Southeast Asian and North American Shamans. Some cultures have found a niche for homosexuals from Greek Warriors to Spiritual Guides. Western culture has found niches for gay people, as well. In the 20^th Century, Gays were florists, artists, interior designers, film-makers and involved in other creative activities fueling the economy. Now, 38 years after I came out, we are lawyers, doctors, fireman, policeman, active military and anything else we wish to achieve. Gay marriage was inevitable in such an environment of acceptance.

The idea of a Gay Culture is only about 35 years old. Prior to that, homosexuals went underground and were isolated them from general society. The “Gay Pride” movement proposed that being homosexual was not a choice, but acting on your desires was okay. I struggled for ten years as a child and a teenager to try to understand what I was. When I was a kid I never knew there was another person who felt the way I did and was scared beyond belief. This constant stress took an enormous toll on my school work all the way through my Bachelor’s Degree. After I “Came Out” and met other people like me, my self-esteem was restored and I returned to school as a straight A post-baccalaureate student and eventually became Associate Director of Perioperative Services and Trauma Services at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where I frequently worked long hours and instituted new and higher standards of practice that were eventually adopted nationwide.

The reason I’m telling you this story is that I am afraid, as a gay Republican, that the party shows little tolerance and is perceived as an enemy of gay people. Gay marriage is now the law of the land. Although I don’t entirely agree with the Supreme Court decision forcing the various States to perform gay marriages, I don’t think it had any choice but to say that gay marriages performed in one state of the Union had to be recognized in all the others. But, whether you support it or not, it is the law.

What I am concerned with is this wave of fear regarding religious liberties. It seems to be an over-blown reaction to a non-existent problem. I think there is general agreement in the gay community that no religious institution can be forced to bless a gay union and most of us would not want our marriages catered or photographed by someone who didn’t want to do it. (However, there probably wouldn’t be too many catering companies or florists without gay people, anyway!) There will be plenty of other entrepreneurs ready to take the millions of dollars that will flow into the economy as a result of couples with plenty of disposable income. Many Gay people are as religious as any other Americans. Due to the suffering they have experienced, many gay people have a unique understanding of compassion and the wisdom that that suffering brings.

There are, also, good economic reasons to support and codify same-sex relationships. When two people commit to each other, legally and spiritually, they work harder to maintain that relationship. Maintaining any relationship goes way beyond what happens in private. In committing to share your life with someone else, you are also committing to establishing fiscal responsibility and financial security, monogamy, and an expectation of love through good times and bad. This is good for the nation because it decreases the costs incurred by the state to support an isolated, lonely, aged and sick individual with no other support system. It decreases the number of relationships one is likely to have which decreases the chance of the spread of disease and, when in a committed relationship, each party watches out for the other and, if allowed to adopt, create a true family with all the support systems available to straight people. This also makes fiscal sense.

There have been a number of studies that have shown that children of same-sex actually do better in school and are socially more adept. (U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Psychological Adjustment of 17-Year-Old Adolescents” 2010 study from the University of California-San Francisco, the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Amsterdam published in Pediatrics.; “Parent-Child Interaction Styles Between Gay and Lesbian Parents and Their Adopted Children” 2007 study from Florida State University published in the Journal of GLBT Family Studies; et al.) In establishing a family, same-sex couples have the same opportunity to build the support for their parents in old age, reducing the burden on the state, once again. Children, who may otherwise not be adopted, may be given the chance to have loving parents. Gay people are more likely to adopt older children or children of any race or creed and even special needs children. From my experience, because adoption is a serious decision, many gay parents are completely devoted to the well-being of their children. They chose to take on the responsibility understanding all that entails and they undergo thorough screening to ensure they can fulfill these responsibilities.

Additionally, same-sex relationships that involve a partner from another country are afforded the same opportunities as opposite-sex couples, providing for a legal path to citizenship and the security of knowing that you will not lose your opportunity to happiness due to deportation and politics. As the process is in place, this also saves both the state and the individuals considerable expense.

Societies for countless generations have found or created niches for homosexual individuals. I never thought I would see this pace of acceptance in my lifetime, but here we are. Perhaps, for religious reasons, you may not support gay marriage, but there are many churches and spiritual institutions that do and the majority of society supports gay marriage. It is beneficial to the State as it promotes fiscal responsibility and lowers health care costs.

I have contributed to your campaign because I believe that you will support conservative values of a free market, strong military, and minimal government intrusion into my right to happiness as long as it does not infringe on another’s right to happiness. I believe that you will uphold the constitution, unlike our current President. I want to work to convince others that you are the right person at the right time and I urge you to be thoughtful and mindful of the impression you make on the Gay Community. It is a strong voting block with considerable disposable income to support the candidate of their choice. On the issue of gay marriage, it is settled law and  I have not yet heard any argument about how one couple’s marriage affects the stability of another’s. I’m not sure I even understand the religious arguments. If one is Christian, than one believes in a merciful God who created all of us. Why would he even create gay people as a target of persecution? I can assure you that most of us would not choose such a difficult path if we didn’t have to. There may be a few young people who experiment or act out in a rebellious nature, but as one matures, if it was a choice, I’d certainly have chosen an easier path and the opportunity to create my own family.  We are what we are and even in societies that try to eliminate us in a literal sense, there are still people who under the worst conditions possible, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, are still gay.

I am blessed to live in the United States of America. We are truly an exceptional nation and the more equality grows, the stronger the Union. Gay people have it good here for the most part. I was beat up by the police when I was in my 20’s and denied entrance into Medical School in the early “80’s, but the times have changed rapidly. Compare that to “Gay Hanging Day” in Tehran every Wednesday. I have found what my community and employers expect of me is social responsibility and hard work with no regard to my sexual orientation.

If the Republican Party continues to appear as an enemy to Gay People whether true or not, the Party will suffer. Many independents lean left on social issues. There are many Gay people who are fiscally conservative, support the military and don’t support government by executive fiat.

I think it is a blessing that the Supreme Court has taken the argument of the legality of same-sex marriage off the table. Please don’t squander the opportunity. And, personally, I would ask you to do some self-introspection. What scares you about same-sex marriage? We don’t want to hurt anyone, The vast majority of us are just trying to get by in a terrible economy, worried about  our future and even the future of our democracy as it is attacked from the Left and foreign threats to the Homeland. Don’t let the Left define you. The aggressive rhetoric coming from some of your contenders is horrible and perpetuates the idea that Republicans are out of touch and intolerant. If you truly want to be the President of the Future and not repeat the failures of the past, then demonstrate tolerance and inclusion for if elected, you will be the President of all Americans of all races, creeds, religions, sexual-orientation and any other category you can imagine. If elected, you will have huge challenges and priorities. I know that you know that the Left and the liberal media will try to trap you into saying something that perpetuates Republicans as the enemies of minorities of all stripes.  I also realize that what is necessary to win the primary is different than the general election, but remember, there are gay Republicans who will vote in the primary and whose votes and dollars are just as important as any other Republican.

All I ask is that you stay true to being the Leader of the Future and the future tells us that tolerance will only grow in the electorate. Widen the base. Bring us in just as you hope to bring back the Latino and Black vote. If not, the GOP will just be perceived as the party of nasty, old, white men and will create the conditions for its own extinction.