Barely opening my eyes one morning, exactly one week ago today, I switched on the news. Watching Judge Sonia Sotomayer accept the nomination to the Supreme Court was a high way to start the day. For Hispanics, for women, for my fellow Bronx-ites (BX – stand-up!) for “marginalized groups,” this was a step in the right direction for all American people. I was thoroughly elated. However, the news that followed was not so positive. The report was on the California high court’s decision not to reverse the ban on same sex marriage. All eyes were on Cali. With the ban in place, I thought, what could this mean for New York – with its own battle coming up in the not so distant future? As a native New Yorker, its easy to take certain things for granted since I live in a city with a high concentration of liberals. Like California, known for its own open minded, cosmopolitan/metropolitan enclaves like Los Angeles and San Francisco – what we tend to forget about is the high concentration of conservative-minded suburban to rural areas that make up large portions of these two states. And these voters bare no or at least little resemblance to their more “hip,” urban, more tolerant neighbors.
So my early news high was cut short by the disappointing news – one step forward, one step back. My partner and I have been together for many years, sharing a home together with our son (and our treacherous terrier). The recent Prop 8 ruling continues to remind us that our family is not equally protected and that certain decisions by law are unfair and unjust. Even in this day and age, citizens of these United States are not given the same rights and protections as other American citizens. It’s something women and people of color are no stranger to.
That night there were protests all around the nation – and the local news channel covered one such protest that took place one neighborhood over from my own. The footage showed a legion of protestors taking it to the streets to protest the decision. The reporter began interviewing one of the protestors – a middle aged man carrying his toddler in his arms. When the reporter pressed him on what he thought about the courts decision, he quipped, “It all boils down to one thing – this is racism. Pure and simple.” I leaned in closer to the flat screen to see if I could make out the expression on this guy’s face to see if he was for real. He was dead serious.
Since when is homosexuality considered a race? Did I miss something?
Okay – maybe I should give the protester the benefit of the doubt and say – perhaps he meant racism is synonymous with homophobia. Well, being that I have experienced both forms of discrimination in my life time, I believe I am more than qualified to testify to the fact that although similar, both are uniquely different experiences. Said differently, although there are obvious parallels between the Black Civil Rights Movement and the LGBT’s community’s struggle for Equal Rights, there is an unavoidable amount of evidence supporting the fact that this alignment of the two movements trivializes the potency and the profound cultural significance of the Black Civil Rights Movement and its deep, centuries old roots – pregnant with its connection to colonialism, slavery, racism, exploitation, torture, discrimination and beyond. Certain segments of the white LGBT elite denies its obvious access to its own white privilege, carelessly co-opting much of the language of the Civil Rights movement to advance the same sex marriage agenda – diminishing the importance of a critically, painful piece of American history in the process.
To watch how this entire Prop 8 scenario plays out is terribly interesting. Since the initial passage of the proposition there has been a considerable groundswell of renewed determination within the LGBT community to increase support for same sex marriage. It has now become the community’s most galvanized effort since the push became a central issue some years ago; so aggressive its reminiscent of the grass roots efforts put forth during the AIDS crisis during the 90’s with rallies, marches, fundraising drives, etc. It’s almost like November 2008 became something of a wake-up call for the community – which is a somewhat different attitude PRE to POST Election Day 2008. Am I the only one to notice this?
I’ve surfed the web checking out the coverage of Prop 8 and my research has been quite interesting. For example, one gay website which published several stories on the subject, one in particular caught my eye, titled something like “California Decision brings the issue of Race and Gay Divide to the Forefront Again.” While I won’t give an analysis of their POV, I did want to highlight a posting in response to the piece – where the poster declared, “Strange how homosexuals think of Latinos and Afro-Americans as their natural allies.” (sidebar - it really did read AFRO-American...I'm serious). Oh really? Since when? Segregation in gay & lesbian bars, organized groups, etc., continues even today in the 21st century. I hate to admit this, but there isn’t this extensive amount of racial mixing between white and people of color gays and lesbians even in the most sophisticated cities like NYC and LA. Yes, much of this is voluntary, but to me, it is still a startling fact to absorb. You can easily walk into a club in New York City that is almost entirely Black or White or upper-class - etc. Over fifteen years ago, as a young, free-lance journalist, I covered stories about gay and lesbian bars implementing the racist procedure of “carding” people of color before allowing them entrance. There continues to be minimal representation of people of color in LGBT publications (both in their editorial staff and in marketing and advertising), websites, along with minimal representation in the upper echelons of LGBT organizations. I consider it offensive to say that there is so-called unity between persons of color with the organized, largely white LGBT “elite,” when this is not totally the case. Coming out as a black, lesbian - I’ve experienced my share of racial antagonism from members of the LGBT community in a variety of social settings. Many times it was just awkward and uncomfortable but for the most part I didn’t feel the warm and fuzzy welcome. Now this was many years ago and things have certainly changed and I’m not suggesting at all that the cadre of LGBT movers and shakers have racist sentiments. But to imply that a portion of the white LGBT elite isn’t racist at all is absurd (I'll refer those who don't know to the blogs of Andrew Sullivan Dan Savage). Their response to the initial passage back in November - targeting blacks with racist venom because of their overwhelming support of Prop 8 was no surprise to me. It was, in fact, predictable. So taking this into account, I understand that I am neither warmly welcomed within the "white" LGBT elite or within the Black community completely. This really sucks. But it helps to know who my enemies are and who they continue to be.
One of my absolute favorite bloggers of all time, Jasmyne Cannick, pretty much summed up perfectly the problem with the “elite” LGBT community and its handling of Prop 8.
THE PROBLEM:
Strong feelings of entitlement, refusal to work with others, racism, extreme issues with class, sudden temper tantrums.
THE PRESCRIPTION
Take as needed, one chill pill with a large glass of reality….
All I’m really trying to say is that the LGBT community’s fight for same sex marriage is a very important cause with a more than worthy agenda. It’s a human rights issue without a doubt. But it should advance this agenda without dragging the Black Civil Rights Movement into their propaganda. As politically astute as the LGBT community has become in recent years, to simply gloss over their own dirty laundry which includes denying their own racism, classism and sometimes treating the bisexual and transgender communities as if they are evil step twins, is no way to move forward in unity as a movement. In other words, stop being such hypocrites.
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