was a story about a protest over Prop 8 in Cali. A spokesman in favor of prop 8 came on and gave the weak litany of reasons he was in favor of it. Then something happened that actually made me sit up and take note. Without even a prompting from the reporter, the man goes on to say how today's gay rights moment has nothing in common with the civil rights movement. Initially a thousand arguments flew into my brain, as this is just not the case. An analogy between the two is in fact very apt, but in the world of perception and public opinion facts do not always hold nearly as much weight as they should.So I started asking all the non-white people I know well enough to ask. For me, I don't have to know you all that well to ask about how we should treat other people. I was surprised to find that about half of the racial minority I spoke with (certainly nothing scientific or anything) thought there was in fact a significant difference between the two causes. Not just along lines of who was in them, but more substantively. This difference was most often expressed as the fact that skin color cannot be hid or denied. Being closeted or on the down-low is a sore spot for some people. Basically a lot of people think that GLBT issues are a matter of choice. Either, a choice in being OUT, or a choice in self-identifying as lesbian/gay, or both.
To be fair, the other half saw only the limiting of proper freedoms from a group of people solely because they are different for those in power. This is the inclusive thought about civil rights that I have always had.
Even when pointing out that the same tired arguments against gay marriage are the same as they were for interracial marriage, many people are unmoved to sympathy. here is a small example of the type of rhetoric from anti-interracial marriage proponents. These types of marriages are “abominable,” according to Virginia law. If allowed, they would “pollute” America. This and a slew of other quasi quotes I got from www.buddybuddy.com
So I started to do some looking and it turns out that black alone voted almost 70% for prop 8 in California. I don't understand this so I looked for someone who did. I found and his article Original Skin Blacks, gays, and immutability. I link it here http://www.slate.com/id/2204534/ I found it informative, and saddening.
In the end as a lesbian and transsexual person I am pretty hurt by the I got mine, now Fuck You attitude, and for those in the world who will still hate me because I'm a bit different ... I'm going to judge you on the content of your character.
Alex
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1 comment:
I don't buy into the argument that there is any difference between black vs. white and straight vs. gay as far as being able to choose. I think that there is a biological reason for people to be the sexual orientation they are. The fact that gay people are forced to choose between what others think they should do and being true to themselves is the same to me as if you were to try and force a black person to be white or a white person to be black. Now how much sense would that make?
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