From Indifference To Activism
Written by brooklynbadboy Monday, 24 May 2010 06:31
No matter how you feel about anyone's sexuality. No matter your religious beliefs. No matter your cultural traditions. If you are straight in America, choice or not, you've got advantages. A society where one group has advantages over the other enshrined into law is not an equal society. Wasn't equality the whole point of the Civil Rights movement?
Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood.
That's Coretta Scott King. She was one of the few Black leaders to openly and aggressively address the issue of homophobia in the Black community directly. She called it what it was: bigotry. If you ask comedian Wanda Sykes, being gay is even more complicated:
"It’s harder being gay than being black. There’s some things that I had to do as gay that I didn’t have to do as black. I didn’t have to come out black. I didn’t have to sit my parents down and tell them about my blackness.
Mom, dad I have to tell ya’ll something...I hope you still love me. Mom- dad I’m black, " she joked.
While we certainly can enjoy the humor, Wanda Sykes is on to something serious here. We all know about the ill feelings left between the two communities after reading the exit polls from California's Proposition 8. Lola Adesioye framed the situation this way:
Gay rights supporters are surprised that African Americans could have voted against gay marriage believing that they, more than anyone, should understand discrimination having suffered from it for so long. However, not only are African Americans traditionally conservative when it comes to homosexuality -- carrying strong, often negative and deeply religious feelings about the issue -- some are not convinced that that gay rights are, as many activists believe, on a par with the civil rights issues that black people have faced.
...
Regardless of who is to blame, the African-American community (and black communities around the world) does have an issue -- a deep rooted and as yet very much unresolved one - with homosexuality that needs to be addressed.
I won't take a crack at that, but I will try and make what I think is the more important point.
My thoughts towards LGBT issues have made for an interesting journey over the years. I was a fairly typical Black boy growing up in Brooklyn in the 1980's. I made fun of "sissys" and "batty men," but never joined the crews that went around beating them up as other boys did. There were rumors the guy who played the organ at church was slightly different in a way not discernible to me then. I knew what the Bible taught. If you could sum my attitude, it was one of basic indifference. Perhaps if you are White and grew up in distant reaches of the Rockies, for example, perhaps you had a similar indifference towards black people. No deep hostility or hatred. Maybe you used a "darkie" here or a "sambo" there, but only out of peer pressure. You never would have thought of joining the Klan because it seemed so stupid, ridiculous and unnecessary. Not out of any deep desire for good race relations. No malice, just indifference.
Somewhere along the way, possibly through education, possibly through a journey to a jazz or blues club, possibly from values taught by your parents, or possibly through love, you had a moment of clarity of a sort. It was a point where you understood: there is injustice going on here. And after that moment, you would never be the same. For me, that happened in the military. In 1993 I was fixed at Camp Lejeune, NC. The memory is in no way fuzzy, because this occurred during the height of the DADT debate. A member of my company who was my PT buddy, weightlifting homeboy, and was a fellow HTHC instructor informed me rather bluntly that he was being kicked out of the Corps. He had been seen at a bar in Wilmington and somehow this became known to brass. He told the truth to the chain of command. Because he was my buddy, everyone starting looking at me differently. Clarity.
I don't know why a man would find other men attractive. I lived with men in the military and I can say with 100% certainty that I prefer living with a woman. Men suck. Generally and specifically. Given the choice, I'll take the fairer sex when it comes to companionship, leadership, and spaceship. In my opinion, it's a mistake to assume this is some sort of choice. It's just how I'm wired. Beards, no. Breasts, yes. It's pretty simple. Guys in the junior high locker room don't put things on a scale and say "you know...I think I'd like a girl." I don't put much stock in the "they choose to be this way" argument. Avoiding getting into nature or nurture, it's best to say I really don't know.
I do know this: It doesn't matter if sexuality is a choice or not. It doesn't matter if, like Wanda, you can hide your sexuality while you can't hide your race. The disadvantageous effects are the same. The injustice is the same. When it comes to serving in the military or getting married, this injustice is enshrined in law. Recently, I wrote a controversial diary titled It Pays To Be White. I wrote that diary because I know it to be true. The empirical evidence, history, and my personal experience have me pretty much convinced. Well, guess what? It pays to be straight, too.
If you are a straight black male, and you wish to marry the woman of your choice, every court of law in this nation must recognize the union between you and your loved one. If you happen to encounter some crazy racist judge who refuses you this choice because of your race, you will get justice in the end. This sort of thing is now illegal. But if you are a gay black woman, and you wish to marry the woman of your choice, you will be rejected in many states and the federal government will not recognize it if you live in a state that won't. That is, just as Coretta Scott King said, unjust. It is the injustice that is the problem, not the sexuality. If you happen to be a gay white male in the military, like my buddy from long ago, and you do everything your country asks you to do, including make the ultimate sacrifice, you don't have the same rights as an equally dutiful straight black male. That's not right, pure and simple. No matter how you feel about anyone's sexuality. No matter your religious beliefs. No matter your cultural traditions. If you are straight in America, choice or not, you've got advantages. A society where one group has advantages over the other enshrined into law is not an equal society.
Wasn't equality the whole point of the Civil Rights movement? It wasn't a movement to make everyone like each other. It was a movement to end legally enshrined injustice. Let's never forget:
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
It is because of the injustice that everyone can no longer remain indifferent. Especially those who have experienced legalized injustice for centuries. Come out against injustice, and leave that other debate for another day.
Read the original article in The Daily Kos
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of us at RainbowZine. The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). RainbowZine and/or Rainbow Law will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this article.
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