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Clearly, the right understands the importance of heroes all too well. Perhaps that is why the object so strenuously when gays and lesbians want to claim Mark as their own.

Reporting by the media has improved somewhat since Mark's death, but remains far from perfect. Far too many articles and reviews about United 93 have ignored the fact he was gay. An interview on April 27, 2006 in the Orlando Sentinel with Mark's father, Jerry Bingham, made no mention that his son was gay. It did, however, take time to mention Mark had once tackled an opposing team's mascot at a game. When the reporter was contacted to explain why she had not included the fact Mark was gay, no reply was given.

On that same day, the Seattle Times carried a profile of Cheyenne Jackson, the openly gay actor who played Mark in the film. In more than a thousand words no mention was made of the fact either Mark or Cheyenne were gay.

Other examples abound. The Abington Mariner tells us Mark was “a strapping rugby player” but not that he was gay. A story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette finds it fitting to mention that Mark was tall, a rugby player, and ran his own public relations firm. An article in the Louisville Courier-Journal mentions a man who knew Mark. Again, no mention of Mark's sexuality was made.

Given the current political climate of this country, can anyone honestly argue the most relevant fact of Mark Bingham's life is that he was a rugby player? (That being said, everyone in Mark's life has stressed rugby was a very large part of his life. But no one is trying to keep rugby players from getting married.)

Conservative columnist Debbie Schlussel recently wrote in regards to United 93. “Actually, I do not care about his sexuality. It is completely irrelevant to the actions of Bingham.”

In other words, Mark's his sexuality is only irrelevant for Schlussel, and those like her, when the topic is Flight 93. Mark's sexuality is only too relevant when discussing marriage, adoption, or any of the other myriad hot button issues swirling around gays and lesbians.

Lori, a poster on Schlussel's website adds her two cents saying, “I feel sorrow for the loss of Mark Bingham regardless of what his sexual proclivities were. But to use his loss as a tool for radical activism is beyond the pale in my opinion.”

No doubt Lori feels equally dismayed by Lisa Beamer's use of Todd's religious “proclivities”. For the record, I have no complaint with Lisa or Todd's father, David. Clearly, David's faith was important and he should be remembered for that.

Since Mark isn't here to speak for himself, I asked Alice, Mark's mother, how she felt, and more importantly, how Mark would have felt, about having the fact he was gay linked to his acts on Flight 93.

“It took him a while to get used to the idea of being gay," Alice said. "It took him a while to muster the courage to tell people who loved him that he was gay. And it took the people who loved him a while to accept that. And all of that is good and is normal and now that Mark has died in such a public and heroic way, I know that he would be glad to declare that he is, was—I still talk about him the present tense—a gay man. He was a human being with lots of foibles and shortcomings, but he was very proud of his essential nature and part of his essential nature is that he was a gay man.”

Alice paused then said, “It [homophobia] reminds me of a poem by Edwin Markham:

He drew a circle that shut me out
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout
But love and I had the wit to win
We drew a circle that took him in.

She continued, “Mark Bingham was all about love and inclusion and reaching a hand across the aisle to shake the hand of a stranger and bringing people into the conversation. And that's the spirit I want to continue.”

And that is why gay men and lesbians say that it's perfectly appropriate, and only fair, that Mark Bingham be remembered as a hero who happened to be gay.

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