Carrie and I were on our way to our (3rd to last!!!) master's class weekend this morning when we heard this story on NPR.
What really struck me was what the interviewee had to say about gay rights history. He (correctly) pointed out that the gay community is different that any other minority community in two ways: 1. They lost a lot of their heritage and history to the AIDS epidemic; and 2. They don't necessarily have a chance to pass their heritage to their children. For example, while African-Americans parents have African-American kids (to pass on their history) that is not necessarily true of the gay community. I hadn't really thought of either of those before this story, but both things rang very true with me.
Novel 4!
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Desert Divide is live and out in the world! What a great week it has been.
The book was published Monday. Since, I’ve confirmed one book signing in
August,...
4 years ago
2 comments:
will some person/people more so white gay america stop comparing gay to african americans as if their discrimination is the same. there are too many white gay people who use african americans struggle and demise in america to set the stage for their woes this, is anathema, crude and beyond comparison. would gay whites with their constant need to be understood compare themselves to the survivors of the holocaust? are you aware that african americans are survivors of an american holocaust? if the answer is no, then why choose the african american who is discriminated/hated and maligned because of his/her color of skin. this has nothing to do with loving another of the same gender. to this i must exclaim that this speaker is no better than the oppressor who oppresses all since he contends to reduce and make superficial the impact of white supremacy upon the african american.
Jubal, thank you for your comment; however, first off, next time you comment please provide a valid blogger profile (or a link to your site) to help spur on community-based discussion. I find that anonymous comments (which yours basically is because we don't have a link to respond to you) don't help with authentic conversation. Thanks!
With that out of the way, I'd like to address your comment. First off, I think that there are some huge truths in your comment. I can't speak for the gay community (as I am not gay) but my guess would be that they are not trying to directly compare their struggle to the travesty that African-American's went (and still go) through. Rather, as in this example, this speaker is specifically pointing out that the gay community does not have the opportunity to pass on their history/heritage to their children because their children are not always going to be gay. In other words, while an African-Americans will always have children of African-American dissent, gay people will not always have gay children; therefore they wont necessarily be able to pass on their heritage directly through their children.
As far as this post (and my beliefs) go, I in NO way was intending to downplay the horrific things that African-Americans went through. And my apologies if it came across that way.
That being said, I have a hard time with this quote of yours:
“to this i must exclaim that this speaker is no better than the oppressor who oppresses all since he contends to reduce and make superficial the impact of white supremacy upon the african american.”
It seems a bit over the top to compare this speaker (who I can’t speak for directly) to those who oppressed African-Americans. I don’t believe he (nor others in the gay community) mean to diminish the atrocities that took place in this country.
PS: I truly hope that you will read this response and respond again... but my experience in the past is that these types of commenters seem to never return to the conversation. I hope that you break this pattern. Thanks!
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