There are three things I can't control. Who my parents were, who I fall in love with, and what turns me on sexually. As a child naked manikins did something too me. I know that is TMI. But I'm trying to make a point. I did not wake up with this information. I had to learn it.
Yesterday President Obama made an historic announcement stating that he supports marriage equality. And immediately the question arose, how will Black voters view his disclosure? To listen to the questions from a middle aged black man's perspective, it's really insulting. It's as if African Americans are homogeneous in every thing we do. Just like in other cultures there are differences in thought about a variety of subjects, depending on your family background, belief systems, morals teachings, religion and education. The Blacks from the South can have different views from all other Blacks in the Country, and the Blacks from Mississippi have different views than from Blacks from Georgia. We are not of the Borg Collective. Yet because we share a common heritage there are things that bond use like no other race.
As I stated before I had to learn that you cannot control who you fall in love with. It happens. What arouses me sexually I don't have a choice. As a man I can tell you, I have a meter indicator that lets me know when I am aroused and believe me it seems to work on it's own.
Many African Americans believe that Homosexuality is a life style choice. They don't believe that people are born that way. The problem is education. Most African Americans get their education on Gays from Church. And most Black Churches like in White or Hispanic Churches all point to Sodom And Gomorrah as the reason God hates Gays. It's pretty hard to combat something that has been embedded in you since Sunday School.
African Americans know more than any other race that prejudice in learned from repeated lies passed down from generations.
There are a variety of other reasons Blacks can't get the Gay thing. One is they don't believe that Gay Rights is equal to Civil Rights in the 60's. You can hide that fact that you are Gay but you can't hide that fact that your skin is dark and your hair is kinky. And of course there is the fact that a lot of Gays wore White Hoods and Burned Crosses. Oh! You didn't think we knew that? And if my child already faces discrimination because of the color of his/her skin, I would be concerned that them being Gay would be another burden. I might discourage it if I did not know better.
All that said, I think it's time for African Americans to look at the big picture. Look at the similarities and not the differences in Gay civil rights issues. If we allow the civil rights of others to be controlled by majority vote, who do you think is next? We are not in a post racial society. Tea Party folks are still teaching that blacks are bad and dangerous and race mixing is still an issue down south. Denying the civil rights of one group is a template for denying the rights of another group. Blacks in California may remember we were repaid by supporting proposition 187 with the passage of proposition 209. Google it.
To my LGBT friends I have one suggestion. Go into Black Churches and educate the congregation.Get them to understand that being Gay is not a life style choice. You will see a change in African American attitudes. Trust that.
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