One fight or many?

[BenL]

http://www.telegram.com/article/20071031/NEWS/710310648/1008/NEWSREWIND

Gay rights are not necessarily civil rights to some
By Mark Melady TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER— To be gay and black is to be invisible to much of the African-American community, black panelists at a town hall meeting on the subject agreed last night.

“When I was growing up, gays and lesbians were not black, they were the crazy white people’s problem,” Joyce McNickles, diversity professor at Anna Maria College, said during the outreach program at the Martin Luther King Jr. Business Empowerment Center. The forum was sponsored by MassEquality to promote gay marriage.

Homosexuality is still seen as a white issue by blacks, the panelists said, and partly for the reason that the black community remains largely resistant to the notion that the fight for same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination laws are an extension of the civil rights movement.

[Alecto]

Just throwing this out there: there's a LOT of perspectives on the issue. Gay rights are also seen as a "white" issue in large part because a lot of the gay organizations don't make much of an effort to reach out to (or even, y'know, acknowledge sometimes) the Black community. Or any non-white community.

I think that the Black civil rights movement was in many ways a great example for how to get things started. Methodology. Etc. But I too would be "resistant" to the idea that we're somehow the "next" CR movement. For one thing, that thinking often implies that the fight against racism is over. Which...needless to say...not so much.
Furthermore, I think that idea almost cheapens the way our argument is framed. We shouldn't have to piggyback off of another movement. This goes back, in large part, to what I've said elsewhere about "biology vs. choice": even if it IS a choice, it's one we should be allowed to make.

In short, I think it's many fights, but that we share many common oppressors. If we can take care to be aware of that, and to not join in on the oppressing, and be aware of our own privilige, then an alliance of those fights could be unified and strong and successful.

[Steven E. Webster]

Just throwing this out there: there's a LOT of perspectives on the issue. Gay rights are also seen as a "white" issue in large part because a lot of the gay organizations don't make much of an effort to reach out to (or even, y'know, acknowledge sometimes) the Black community. Or any non-white community.

I think that the Black civil rights movement was in many ways a great example for how to get things started. Methodology. Etc. But I too would be "resistant" to the idea that we're somehow the "next" CR movement. For one thing, that thinking often implies that the fight against racism is over. Which...needless to say...not so much.
Furthermore, I think that idea almost cheapens the way our argument is framed. We shouldn't have to piggyback off of another movement. This goes back, in large part, to what I've said elsewhere about "biology vs. choice": even if it IS a choice, it's one we should be allowed to make.

In short, I think it's many fights, but that we share many common oppressors. If we can take care to be aware of that, and to not join in on the oppressing, and be aware of our own privilige, then an alliance of those fights could be unified and strong and successful.

Alecto,
I really don't think I would dispute anything that you have said. You are right on about the blindness of the dominant white culture to racism, and the racism within the predominantly white gay movement.

Still, I would like us all to try to see that there is ONE movement for human freedom that I would see as rooted in the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries and continuing forward. (Sorry, my analysis may be too Euro-centric) This movement for human freedom included the abolitionist movement, the feminist movement beginning almost the same time, and there is even some evidence of the movement for LGBT equality going back almost that far. This movement also includes aspects of the labor movement, and such international events as the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As a matter of fact, I am reminded of the excellent Civil Rights museum I vistited in Birmingham, Alabama (please go if you can!). After learning a whole lot about the Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's there is also a display with a lot of information about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We need to respect and appreciate each individual part of this big movement for human rights, but that shouldn't prevent us from recognizing the whole big movement of which we are part (and vice versa).

There is a need for us to gain a deeper appreciation of each part of this big movement for human rights.

We are probably also pretty weak on understanding the international nature of this struggle. I'm reminded of Gandhi's involvement in this struggle in both South Africa and in India.

Steven Webster