Comparing Black Civil Rights to Gay Civil Rights

Townhall ^ | 09/27/2013 | Michael Brown

[SeekAndFind]

The cover of the December 16, 2008 issue of The Advocate, the flagship gay publication, proclaimed boldly that, “Gay is the New Black,” stating that this is “The Last Great Civil Rights Struggle.” But whenever I mention this topic on my national talk radio show, asking my listeners if they believe it is fair to equate the black Civil Rights movement with today’s gay rights movement, I am flooded with African American callers who take strong exception to this comparison.

Some of them remind me of the public lynchings, of blacks being hosed down with fire hoses and attacked by police dogs, of families having to spend the night sleeping in their car because the hotels wouldn’t serve them, of water fountains marked “No coloreds” – not to mention the horrible history of African slavery in our nation.

They feel that gays and lesbians are hijacking their movement, even if they recognize that there has been real suffering experienced by many LGBT individuals. They simply feel that the comparison is totally unfair, also pointing out that the financial situation of the average gay or lesbian in America today is far better than the average situation of an African American during the days of segregation (or even today, for that matter).

Of course, there are quite a few compelling reasons why it is wrong to claim that “gay is the new black” (for a relevant article, click here), but during a recent TV interview, I made the comment that “during the days of segregation, we didn’t have people like Ellen DeGeneres who were national celebrities who were black and just loved by the whole nation.”

For this, I was mocked by RightWingWatch.org (always a good sign) and ridiculed by the ironically named gay activist website TruthWinsOut.org (always a badge of honor). Both sites pointed to people like Jackie Robinson, Althea Gibson, Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, and Langston Hughes, none of whom, in my opinion, could be compared with someone like Ellen DeGeneres in terms of her platform and popularity.

And did any of these black celebrities have an interracial wedding of such prominence that it was celebrated on the front pages of our national magazines (as Ellen’s lesbian wedding was)? (To be clear: I’m not comparing interracial marriage with same-sex “marriage.” I’m simply illustrating a point.)

And when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the big leagues, did he receive a congratulatory call from the president, as did Jason Collins when he came out as the first gay NBA player?

Even the conservative gay journalist Charles Winecoff once wrote, “Newsflash: blacks in America didn’t start out as hip-hop fashion designers; they were slaves. There’s a big difference between being able to enjoy a civil union with the same sex partner of your choice – and not being able to drink out of a water fountain, eat at a lunch counter, or use a rest room because you don’t have the right skin color.”

But let’s test my theory a little further, since I simply used Ellen as one example of a larger phenomenon, and I do understand why these websites chose to challenge me on that point.

So, I personally invite Evan Hurst, who penned the aforementioned article on TruthWinsOut, along with Kyle Mantyla, who wrote the article on RightWingWatch, to help fill in the gaps of my apparent historical ignorance.

Should they prove me wrong in my assumptions about the false nature of the “gay rights equals black rights” social comparison, I will gladly admit my error. Should they be unable to answer my simple questions, I hope they would have the candor to admit their error.

Looking at the list of the 50 most powerful gay Americans (according to Out.com), and using 1964 as an end date for official segregation (with the passing of the Civil Rights Act), would someone please be kind enough to let me know who the pre-1964 African American equivalents were for the following gay leaders:

Suze Orman, the national TV host and respected financial guru. (No one comes to mind? Really?)

Anderson Cooper, one of the most familiar faces on CNN, and Rachel Maddow, of MSNBC fame. (What? No similarly famous, national black newscasters prior to 1964?)

Annise Parker, mayor of Houston. (So, there were no black mayors of major American cities prior to 1964?)

David Geffen, one of the most powerful media moguls. (Surely you have a list of black Americans during the days of segregation who carried the clout that Geffen carried, right?)

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. (How about just one black CEO of any of the Fortune 500 companies in America before 1964, let alone the CEO of the 6th-ranked company on the most recent list?)

Well, these are just a few to get us started, so it should be pretty easy to provide me with answers, right? After all, if it’s idiotic to say that we cannot fairly compare the social situation of gays in America today to the social situation of African Americans in the days of segregation (again, without even mentioning their prior, horrific mistreatment in our nation as slaves), then it should be relatively easy to answer my questions. Evan and Kyle, I’m all ears!

That being said, I stand with Evan and Kyle in denouncing any acts of violence or hatred against any person who identifies as LGBT, and one gay kid bullied by his peers at school is one too many.

So, I’m not minimizing the poor treatment experienced by many gays and lesbians in America to this day. I’m simply saying that it is grossly inaccurate to compare the current “gay rights” movement with the black Civil Rights movement of the past, not to mention downright insulting to African Americans.

[SeekAndFind]

[Resolute Conservative]

I cannot get any joy of seeing real rainbows anymore since the deviants have hijacked the image.

[BuckeyeTexan]

Um, no.

Black Americans suffered pure, unadulterated hate and violence. The violation of their civil rights was systemic.

Homosexuals have not endured anything even remotely close to what black Americans suffered. To compare the two movements is a disgusting insult to black Americans who were humiliated, beaten, tortured, raped, burned, and hanged.

[Robert Burkholder]

I stand with Alveda King whose father—and Uncle were murdered because of the color of their skin. She said she knows of no gays who were lynched because of the color of their skin. she said calling Gay rights a civil right would be the “death of the civil rights movement” see The Washington Times Jan.1999 Julia Duine story. I stand with General Colin Powell who published that comparing sexual Orientation to Skin Color was a convenient but invalid argument.” And who has been penalized for that.I sat in a room at Mesa College and heard a self
proclaimed “gay Rights Advocate” claim passage of Amendment #2 by Colorado cause the gay community to suffer PTSD “just like” Combat veterans. I was the only one in that room with the nerve to ask Who defines who is “gay” — she admitted she went to the Southern States to “learn” how the treatment of the former African slaves could serve their “cause” She went to Germany to “learn” how the Nazi Concentration Camps and the Holocaust could be used to “piggyback” their “cause”
to a righteous cause. She diagnosed herself as suffering PTSD because of Colorado Passing Amendment #2. Yet I have seen Combat—and I have spent nearly 8 yrs as a combat Medic in the US Army I am diagnosed by the Veterans Administration as having bi-polar (of the same family as PTSD. I survived
Colorado after we voted YES to Amendment#2 And the Hollywood
act of Boycot Colorado and the years following passage of Amendment #2 in No way compared to Combat—nor could it be rightly said to cause PTSD.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Lawsiut!

[Blood of Tyrants]

Lawsuit!

[onedoug]

I don’t recall Blacks referring specifically to their sexual practices in their struggle, if at all.

With queers that is ALL and EVERYTHING it’s about.

(The down-low is a separate issue.)

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

this is “The Last Great Civil Rights Struggle.”

Sorry....but there are a great many more on the horizon.

Just as an example; What happens when artificial human forms gain sentience and demand to be treated as humans?

These self important faggots live in a sexual centric universe and that seems to have affected their ability to conceive of future time.

[Wurlitzer]

While I am highly suspect of the high percentage of the black community who are on the left side of the bell curve, on this issue blacks have every right to be upset with the vile deviants even thinking their struggle to freely fudge pack is in anyway similar to the REAL pain and suffering of blacks which occurred long before I was born.

[Westbrook]

Black is an ancestry.

“Gay” is a behavior, and a sexually perverted one at that.

[I want the USA back]

Blacks were kept and sold as slaves. They were victims of massive discrimination. Gays, let’s see. The males had aids, which they got through their own actions, and they managed skillfully to turn into a reason for becoming a victim group, which suddenly included females, and lo and behold, the BI and T crowd.

Blacks needed to fight for their rights. The other group invented victimhood.

[Cowboy Bob]

Maybe we should get Cory Booker’s advice?

[wardaddy]

fodase civil rights canard

its been way overplayed for blacks

our nation and culture are in ruins

a mere shadow of our former cohesiveness

and still folks shill victimhood

[ClearCase_guy]

Yup. I didn't agree with Gore Vidal on too many things, but he never liked being called a homosexual. He thought it was improper use of language. He made the point that you canot BE homosexual and you cannot BE heterosexual. What you can do is enagage in either homosexual acts or heterosexual acts at various times in your life. It's all about the behavior.

This completely raises the topic of free will, personal change, and lifestyle choices. Modern homosexual activists do NOT appreciate this sort of viewpoint.

[DeWalt]

The Liberals already hijacked your futures, now they are hijacking your Blackness.

[DeWalt]

Besides, one of the most brutal attacks on a ethnic or religious group, the homosexuals took an active part in, ie.Hitlers Brown Shirts.

[driftless2]

No homosexual American has ever had their rights denied because they were per se homosexuals. For instance, no homosexual has ever been denied the right to marry. It's just the rules stated you had to marry someone of the opposite sex. No homosexual has ever been denied the right to march in a parade. Only when they tried to use their sexual identity for political gain were they turned down. But not because they were homosexuals.

Undoubtedly, tens of thousands of homosexuals have probably marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade over the decades. But few people probably knew they were homosexuals. Because they weren't carrying banners announcing their sexuality.

[Thoreauaway]

Don’t you dare forget the self-described “queers,” who consider themselves to be separate from lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and trans!

[CodeToad]

Black is something a person is. Homosexual is something a person chooses. It is a behavior. They might as well say there should be special rights for people that like to hump animals. Oh, wait, they do say that.

[DeWalt]

There are no special class of rights given under the Constitution to a persons sexual perversions. There are no gay rights, pedophilia rights, or necrophilia rights.