by Indigo Blu

Created on: March 26, 2009

Gay rights issues are COMPLETELY different from civil rights "Jim Crow" issues. Every time I hear this argument, I am insulted more and more. Just that gay issues are being compared to race-related issues is baffling.

First, let's address the basics. Homosexuality is a lifestyle. It focuses on the preference of the group one chooses to be intimate with, an activity that generally is done behind closed doors. In general, one cannot walk down the street and everyone will know that he or she is gay (unless he or she wants it to be known). That is his or her choice. It is not a choice to be black. Everyone knows what I am when I walk down the street. I cannot hide it (not that I would want to, but I couldn't even if I felt differently).

I feel like people belittle the civil rights struggle and slavery when they compare those atrocities to gay rights. How, and more importantly, WHY do people want to compare gay rights to Jim Crow? Is it for sympathy or to inflict guilt on the country? What are the intentions of doing so? I have yet to hear gay rights being compared to the Holocaust, nor should it be. Granted, the Holocaust did not take place here in the U.S., but nonetheless, it was an inhumane atrocity that is a part of this world's history...just like slavery and Jim Crow.

During the civil rights era, black people were not allowed to use certain bathrooms. Black people could not get a decent education. Black people were demeaned, raped, spat upon, ignored, beaten, hung...just for being black. The worst part is that the majority of the time, NOTHING WAS DONE ABOUT IT. White people were not convicted for wrongdoings against blacks. If they have been convicted, they were convicted years later. Gay rights are equivalent to Emmett Till? Equivalent to Medgar Evers? If anyone thinks so, that is unbelievably insulting.

That's not to say that a gay person has never been discriminated against. Quite the contrary. We hear about the hate crimes constantly. However, the major part of this argument is that there is a zero tolerance for hate crimes against the gay community. Yes, you have sick people that have allowed hatred against gays to make them do horrible things. However, there are laws protecting the gay community. There were no laws protecting blacks, and even when there were, those laws were not enforced. They just looked good on paper. This is a subject matter that really needs to be kept in perspective.

I want to wrap this up by telling a quick story. I have a friend who is a gay black man. He and I were discussing racism and civil rights as a whole, specifically this very issue. I wanted to know his take, both as a black person, and as a gay man. I asked him, "Do you equate gay rights with civil rights?" He replied, "Absolutely not! There are gay people who are racists to, you know. Trust me, I fight the same fight in that community too."

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