And if not, why not?
From Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network and Yahoo!:
With less than a month to go before Miami-Dade County voters go to the primary polls on Sept. 10, the battle to retain the county's 4-year-old gay rights ordinance could hinge on the hotly disputed African-American vote.On Tuesday, African-American leaders led by state Rep. Frederica Wilson and Bess McElroy, former president of People United Leading the Struggle for Equality (PULSE), held a press conference to oppose the ballot initiative (which would scrap the current gay rights law) and make their own appeal to the county's 184,000 registered black voters, who reflect about 20 percent of the total electorate.
In contrast, African-American civil rights activist Nathaniel Wilcox, a veteran of PULSE, is leading the charge to repeal the anti-discrimination law that took years to put back in place after Anita Bryant's Save the Children campaign scuttled it in the late 1970s.
Wilcox has helped energize the conservative black church community, with the backing of the African American Council of Christian Clergy, who recently helped circulate a flyer saying Martin Luther King would be "outraged" by the gay rights law. A spokesperson for Coretta Scott King and the King Center disavowed the flyer.
A valid criticism of this site is that I don't spend nearly enough time talking about ignorant-ass black people (the Right Rev. Reggie White excepted).
Allow me to address this concern. Nathaniel Wilcox is, officially, an ignorant-ass black person. Using MLK's name in that way pushes him close to the border between ignorant-ass and hopelessly fucked in the head.
And a trivial Google on the subject brings up:
"While Martin Luther King, Jr. never expressed publicly his views on homosexuality, in private conversations with his wife, and through his actions, he did see that gay and lesbian rights were an issue that had to be dealt with," Cothren said."Dr. King firmly believed that discrimination whether it be racism, homophobia or sexism against anyone is wrong and completely unacceptable," he said.
The King Center released an official statement Aug. 1 denouncing the invocation of the civil rights leader's name in conjunction with a fight to deny rights to gays, including a statement from his widow.
"I appeal to everybody who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbians and gay people," Mrs. King said in the statement.
-- From The Washington Blade ONLINE! National.
On good days, I think homophobia in the black community is like anti-Semitism in the black community; it's not that there's more of it, just that people don't bother hiding it. Which could be considered a refreshing breach of the constricting rules of political correctness, if you're looking for a silver lining in that cloud.
You don't want to know what I think on bad days.
Update: And here's President Bush, speaking out in support of hate crimes legislation:
The history of our country is the story of a promise, a promise of life and liberty made at our founding and fulfilled over the centuries in our laws. It is a story of expanding inclusion and protection for the ignored and the weak and the powerless. And now we extend the promise and protection to the most vulnerable members of our society.Today I sign the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.
My bad. That was President Bush, being an ignorant-ass white person, as usual.
There's also a column by Leonard Pitts Jr. in yesterday's Detroit Free Press, pointing out that Linking King to anti-gays is an outrage. Because they call themselves that, I always mistakenly think Freep.com is the Free Republic site. So initally when I saw where the article link pointed, I was like, "Wow, they must have stopped taking the stupid pills."
Tell Ford Motor Company to remove their financial support for Will & Grace!
No, I must have picked up their prescription by mistake.
the entire state of florida scares me.
I
I dunno, the parts where it kind'a fades into Alabama seemed ok.
Maybe that's just because I'd been in Alabama, and anything would have been an improvement.
You ever even been there, West Coast Guy?
one time...2 days at the UF-Talahassee (or is it FSU-Talahassee...I know floridians would be upset by that)
they had a circus on campus.
and too many folks randomly cheering about states you couldn't stop and to watch out because here they come.
I stay north of the mason dixon line for a reason.
Hell, I was born there (read the NASA FOLLIES section, you'll understand). But the family moved out before I was 6, so I guess I didn't have time to pick up the chernobyl-like radiation that comes from a combination of little old white people and pothead surfers. We went back in, like, 1978 (prolly before either of you got into grade school), and I don't recall it being that bizzare. You did fear for you life however, even then, from the bluehairs that looked through the steering wheel as they drove.
We never got far south enough to deal with the cuban-americans. No idea what that's like.
You know it can't be good when black folks say the parts that blend into alabama are OK. That's definitely not right.
i understand that Florida has hurricanes, horrible heat and humidity, and cockroaches the size of small dogs that *fly*, but other than those fascinating amenities, i've no idea why someone would want to live there.
naah, i'm just kidding, i'm sure it is lovely there, but the combination of Jeb Bush and the abysmal state of legal persecution of gays is ... shocking. i wonder what century it says on their calendars there?
As homophobic as a lot of Florida is you still have Miami, Miami Beach and of course Key West. That are pretty close to being gay meccas. Every state has its pockets of deep conservativism and pockets of progressiveness.
I'm from Kentucky and I have never had any problems being gay here. Most people wouldn't assume that. I'm not saying that others haven't suffered from homophobia here, just that there are good and bad people everywhere.
Including Florida.
Don't forget Disneyworld. Don't they have an annual "gay day" there? I think Aaron has provided links in the (distant) past about some right-wing evangelical or baptist church group that was boycotting Disney for their support and employment of the "blasphemous fornicators".
The idea that laws forbiding discrimination are needed is a sickening comment on society.
Hey, my <idealistic naivete> tags were removed around that last comment!
I simply lurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrve it when people refer to anyplace wehre a lot of somthins or other so and sos go as a MECCA... nuthin like reducing am major theological and historical center into a bunch of queens and a few dyke bars.
Hey Aaron,(speaking of hate in minority groups... which my lil sis could never understand... damn slopes - that was a joke) you should come to the rez with me when I get my badge and gun back... and they say Ireland is the only place on earth where people will call you nigger to your face.
Lancaster County has a fairly active gay community (yeah, in the middle of AMISH COUNTRY), but it still sucks to live here and be out. Though, in fact, Lancaster City has anti-discrimination laws on the books regarding firing and hiring that specifically deal with sexual orientation, it's rather like the case of the Virginia woman recently who wanted to adopt -- they'll find a way, and they'll find a way to leave you with little recourse.
And, re: Disney World, I'm not sure one day balances out the frightening work experiences I've heard from people who've worked at what they refer to as "Mauschwitz," not even considering the rest of the state as a whole. Florida kind of frightens me, even though I wouldn't get any shit because I blend, if I'm not wearing anything political.
Er, actually got called nigger to my face in Alabama, which is one of the reasons Florida seemed better. On the other hand, I didn't stop in Florida, so no one had the opportunity.
Shinob, don't piss off Michelle. I take care not to piss off Michelle. Haven't had a decent photo taken recently, so they'd have to use an old one at my closed-casket funeral. Once they figured out the body was never going to be found, let alone identified, that is.
Not that I'm saying you're violent or nothing, hon. As long as no one uses the right shade of pink in your general vicinity.
Corporate Shill, bug reports go to the MovableType developers. I merely freeload off their hard work without expressing any gratitude or fronting the cash for a license, because I'm a cheap, ungrateful fuck.
Jason, you spelled Manson-Nixon Line wrong.
Whatever.
i really enjoyed the "on good days...silver lining" bit. that was good. thank you.
what you think on your bad days is your business, but a few of us out here might welcome it as a tonic. after all, we look to you as our heroic speaker of the unspeakable/afflicter of the comfortable.
but then again i'm a sagittarius and we seldom measure our words before meting them out...leading to an awful lot of step 10.....
Oh, on bad I think that people who have been fucked with on a consistent basis don't end up more tolerant and empathic. They end up really, really wanting to find someone they can fuck with on a consistent basis.
This is why the new boss is not only the same as the old boss, but often even worse.
Low blood sugar today. At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
I believe all gay and lesbians and supporters should keep up the fight for basic and distinctive human rights. This shows the urgency even more. It is the 21st Century, a new Century of change for us all. We need to accept differences, regardless of beliefs (and by the way, as a devout Catholic, I consider the whole "Homosexuality is a sin, unnatural, etc." a bunch of BULLSHIT! It is NOT a sin, is NOT unnatural, and is TOTALLY unchangeable!) and personal feelings to unite under one wordL love. Hate has divided many, love has conquered all. One we stand, and together we fall.
~"Akaterine"
I happened here on a search of "redneck white trash fundamentalists". Weird hunh? Let me say that I DISLIKE (is hate too harsh) them immensely. And if there really is a God, may they fry and burn to a crisp in a hotter than hell HELL. I don't have anything to do with some of my own family because they have this Anita Bryant/Falwell Pro Life anti homo agenda. Why? Because they are right wing fundametalist white trash Bush groupies. Hey I used to have a nice Jewish boyfriend years ago.....they didnt like him cause he had a beard and long pony tailed hair..theydidnt know about the Jewish part but I heard em make an anti Semitic comment once. Wonder if they'd love my gal partner now? Screw them. Down with all right winged rednecked white trash Falwell Bush fundaentalist groupies. They are the scum S C U M of this earth. Yeah Im white and told ma pa and the rest to go stick it where the sun dont shine. Their values arent mine. My they burn their white butts fried black in a hot Hell. Hypocrites deserve to fry in Hell. I am your sistah and you would never know it by seeing me but I am.