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Gay "rights" issues are radically different from race-related civil rights in the US. Every American citizen has civil liberties guaranteed by our Bill of Rights, and whenever these rights have been violated either by reason of race or gender, they have provided a proper focus for the struggle to redress those violations. Historically, civil rights have been violated based solely on a person's skin color or gender. Any effort the parallel the struggle of gays to achieve mainstream acceptance (i.e., to be considered "normal") with that of Blacks and women who suffered under a racist and male dominated society devalues those struggles.

To be fair, homophobia and laws against sodomy have caused stress and suffering for homosexuals in the past. Moreover, discrimination against a person for any reason, including sexual orientation is wrong and unlawful. The latter is gradually being codified throughout our legal system, and gay couples are even gaining the right to join in civil unions that have the legal sanction of heterosexual marriage. There is likewise a more widespread tolerance and acceptance of the gay lifestyle on the part of the public at large.

What is unfair, however, is the assertion on the part of some gay activists that their struggle is the same as what Black Americans had to endure and overcome. In fact, many Black civil rights leaders bristle at the notion the gay rights movement can be placed on the same plane as the fight for racial equality. As a group, homosexuals have never been slaves, nor have they suffered from Jim Crow laws that kept them in a state of subjugation for decades after slavery. There have never been "heterosexual only" drinking fountains and cafes in America's South; nor have homosexuals been sought out by angry white men in robes lighting wooden crosses on their front lawns.

Also, male homosexuals have never been denied the right to vote or own property in their own name. They have always had ready access to America's political process as well as highly paid jobs at the same rate of pay as their heterosexual male counterparts. No gay rights march has ever been met with fire hoses and vicious dogs and cops with truncheons.

There is also a major difference between homosexuals and African-Americans as a class of people who have experienced varying degrees of discrimination, from persecution to mild disapproval. Black Americans (and women, too) could never camouflage their unique physical characteristics and thus avoid persecution or discrimination. On the other hand, homosexuality is normally not manifested in physical appearance. If there is any manifestation, it is behavioral.

Homosexuality is a sexual preference and a lifestyle that can be practiced in plain sight or in private, depending on the preference of the practitioner. Blacks cannot hide their skin color, nor can women hide their gender. Both women and blacks have been discriminated against solely because of their physical characteristics. Gays, too, have suffered discrimination and homophobic mistreatment, but never to the degree of African-Americans and women. To claim otherwise is a disingenuous effort to garner a level of public sympathy that is disproportionate to the degree of actual "suffering" caused by gays, who want "rights" that they already have by virtue of being Americans.

Of course, the argument as to whether the institution of marriage should be extended to members of the same sex is one that society will have to resolve. However, as long as gays have the option of legalized civil unions, the complaint that they cannot "marry" is really a quibble.

Learn more about this author, Jerry Curtis.
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