Reply #81: VERY CRUCIAL ISSUE -- key aspect is that many LGBT rights advocates are in denial [View All]

[cloudythescribbler]

First off, I speak not merely as a supporter of LGBTQ but as someone in that "category" myself. Again, I agree w/the OP's support of these rights.

But scanning all the responses, there is enormous denialism on the part of many LGBTQers here, and it is this:

The issue of African Americans and gay rights, and of race & gay rights issues is a delicate one, with many different nuances and of course oversensitivies in various different quarters that are at issue. When advocates of LGBT rights, for example, as is commonly done, say that "Gay Rights are THE Civil Rights Issue of Our Time", this false statement and various other statements of the kind of sentiment of this oft-repeated falsehood spark unnecessary resentment and opposition. When organizing to win various rights, it behooves us to recognize another parrallel to the Civil Rights movement of the 60s: the leadership and movement were, certainly up through the passage of the key legislation of 64-5, overwhelmingly careful about joining forces as broadly as possible, and not treading on the sensibilities of white supporters and potential supporters of Civil Rights. Whites may of course, not realize this, but it is there in the history, and it is key. Indeed, it was SO central, that it was a major force in engendering a backlash, including within the Civil Rights movement, particularly starting in the mid-60s.

It is a falsehood to suggest that "gay rights" (LGBTQ rights) are THE civil rights issue of our era. They are A MAJOR issue, one of the foremost in our era, but are NOT the only or the single foremost issue. To suggest that it does, while for example, police killings and profiling still cast a pall over America and nonstatehood for New Columbia (which they've voted through -- how many other prospective states have been denied statehood) remains the reality, and in race-based political agenda-mongering by white elites, New Orleans still languishes in the wake of Katrina, and the relative % income of the median African American is basically no higher than it was 35 years ago, it is AN INSULT to say that LGBTQ rights are THE or THE FOREMOST civil rights issue of our era. It is also unnecessary and counterproductive.

Now, there is a LOT of anti-gay sentiment in all communities, and the vote of African Americans (exit polls in CA suggesting 70% of African Americans voting on it supported Prop 8) IS definitely an issue, as Obama rightly addressed during the election campaign in a key speech, much slighted-by-ignoring, in Atlanta. Clearly the supporters of Prop 8 and of LGBTQ rights need to address this issue, especially by mobilizing black leaders who support LGBTQ rights to address them, including, as Obama did, from the pulpit.
As one quip has about the Communists in East Germany has it -- you can't dissolve the public and select a new one. If there are problems, it is up to organizers to organize and address them to the maximum effective degree possible. This is NOT to in any way excuse or diminish ANYONE'S bigotry, whether anti-gay, or whatever.

Again, there are issues of oversensitivity and of over-reaction on all sides of this very sensitive issue. But the key onus is on the organizers of Civil Rights to address issues that build up larger unity, and much that is said, both in demonization and in gross insensitivity (as in the THE Civil Rights issue canard) are something that the LGBTQ rights movement simply has to rise above, and fast.