Still Dreaming...

In 1963, at a rally following a civil rights march on Washington DC, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The organizer of that 1963 rally was Bayard Rustin, a gay man and friend of MLK.

Yesterday, in Jena Louisiana, LGBTQ leaders again joined with the Black Community to stand against racial inequality, hatred and oppression. We wholeheartedly support that action and oppose race-based discrimination of any kind.

Although many Black leaders refuse to stand up for our rights for what they claim are religious and moral reasons, we know that those who oppress Blacks use the same reasoning to justify oppressing and discriminating against the LGBTQ Community.

All discrimination is based on fear of the unknown. That fear is easily manipulated by those who stand to gain power and money from exploiting "difference" and encouraging hatred.

Even though some Blacks, some Hispanics, some Muslims and some Jews feel obligated to climb on to the homophobic bandwagon and join the gay-bashing bunch, we understand that they do so out of ignorance.

Nevertheless, we will continue to oppose inequality and injustice wherever we see it because, as a very wise man once said, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Thus, like King, we long for a world where all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion or sexual orientation, are treated as whole and equal human beings. That day will come only when people realize we are not all that different from one another.

Next month, on October 11, we will celebrate National Coming Out Day.

This day is our opportunity to introduce our true selves to our friends, co-workers and family. By coming out and being proud of who we are and who we love, our lives become irrefutable evidence that hate-mongers are lying about our community and our agenda.

Out in the open -- in the light of day -- they will be outed as bigots as more and more people see that we pose no threat, no harm to anyone.

And remember, even though it may feel as though we are not supported by Civil Rights leaders, that too, is a lie since many prominent Blacks have had the courage to speak out for our rights.

Just as we speak out for theirs.

Rights, Rites and Whites

Today marks the 87th anniversary of the ratification of the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. Furthermore, August 6^th was the 43^rd anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act, which Congress passed in order to enforce the then 95 year old 15^th Amendment giving Blacks the right to vote.

So happy anniversary to all of you who – not so long ago -- had to beg powerful white men to bequeath upon you rights that were already (according to the original Constitution) yours!

You would think – given the circumstances – that the greatest ally of the LGBTQ Community’s struggle for equality would be women and Blacks.

For who could better understand our cause than those people who only recently (historically speaking) were forced to organize, petition, picket, lecture, write, march, lobby, and practice civil disobedience to achieve rights that should have been theirs by virtue of their U.S. citizenship?

Unfortunately, some women and some Blacks make it their life’s work to deny full citizenship rights to us and our families.

But if we have learned anything at all over the last 7 years it is to be skeptical about simple, sloganeering-style explanations for complex issues:

• Why DO groups like Concerned Women for America and some Black churches resist equal marriage rights?
• Who benefits when disenfranchised minorities are pitted against one another?
• Who has a motive for causing fractures where there need not be any?
• Who needs to cause a distraction away from real issues of economic and social injustice?

Dig a little deeper into the issue and you will discover that equal marriage rights are fraught with racial politics.

For example, did you know that the anti-marriage crusade carried out by opposition groups (and churches) are -- in large part -- being financially backed by various right-wing Christian groups like the Christian Coalition and Family Research Council?

And also, were you aware that both of these groups have histories and overlapping staff ties to white supremacist/anti-feminist organizations?

And surely you are aware that even as they play up Christian allegiances regarding the equal marriage issue, these so-called “Christian” groups solidly oppose affirmative action, a woman’s right to choose, pay equity and more?

Since the Christian Right has loads of money and lots of access to corporate media, they help to set the racial/sexual paradigm that much of America gets in the equal marriage rights debate.

And their message to the Black community is simple: queers, fags and homos are rich, white sinners who want their dysfunctional sexual activity to be normalized, accepted and taught to children… oh, and, we do not need special rights, unlike Black people and heterosexual women, who are, (at least in this one little narrow case), morally superior, with the right kind of “family values.”

We haven’t even touched on the issue of “illegal immigration” or on the misinformation campaign on “Islamofascists.” These are just two more examples of ways in which we are made to be and feel afraid of each other, keeping us separate and apart and unable to organize a collaborative effort to overcome the stranglehold of our white, wealthy and mostly male oppressors.

Suffice it to say that there are multiple networks of right-wing organizations and “conservative” funders – some with altruistic agendas and others with missions that are intended to oppress one group and elevate another -- who support each other ideologically and financially. They have created a bizarre coalition of differing and sometimes competing agendas.

Why can't we -- their ultimate targets -- do the same?

Despite having the right to vote, only 79% of American’s who are eligible to vote are actually registered – and of those 79% of registered voters, only 55% actually DO vote!

Even when you factor in all of the problems with voting machines and ballots, voter suppression efforts, etc., can you imagine the power we could have if we could somehow cut through the smokescreen and organize together?

The lesson to be learned from the struggles of other groups who have “won” their rights (yet still await their deliverance) is that we need each other.

As the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. so wisely said “Justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Until all oppressed minorities recognize our common (if not equal) oppressions, we are doomed to continue to unwittingly do the work of the powerful elite by oppressing one another on their behalf – leaving them with lots of time and money to continue to rape and pillage our communities and families.