Some gay rights advocates have heralded their movement as similar to the civil rights movement. I feel like this is an insult to the civil rights movement. I know, the person who just stood up for the confederate flag as not a symbol of racism is calling the gay rights advocates worse of an insult to the civil rights movement than the confederate flag. But hear me out as to why it is more like the anti-prohibition movement.
As I discussed in my last post, slavery was a horrible and even the North winning the civil war did little to change the perspective of white supremacists as to the fact that blacks were human too and deserved to be treated as such. The civil rights movement was getting the rights for blacks that they were legally given with the 15th amendment. At that point, blacks were not allowed to occupy the same public space as white people in many places, had to go to inferior schools, and were not permitted to vote even though they were permitted legally.
None of this is something that gays go through. I attend school and did attend school with homosexuals, homosexuals can vote and do vote, and I have seen gay couples in the same public places as heterosexuals. This is why I think it is an insult to the blacks' struggle. It is true that there have been instances of discrimination of individuals and businesses that are debatable as to treating everyone equal, but that pales in comparison to what the blacks faced. In fact, I doubt there has been any group in the United States of America whose individuals have not faced some form of discrimination similar to what homosexuals have faced as individuals.
Now this does not mean that I do not believe that there is no place for the discussion and legalization of same-sex marriage, but it does mean that I take a different perspective on the two sides of the argument. This is a lead in for my next (formerly previous) post about how the gay rights movement is more like the anti-prohibition movement.
As I discussed in my last post, slavery was a horrible and even the North winning the civil war did little to change the perspective of white supremacists as to the fact that blacks were human too and deserved to be treated as such. The civil rights movement was getting the rights for blacks that they were legally given with the 15th amendment. At that point, blacks were not allowed to occupy the same public space as white people in many places, had to go to inferior schools, and were not permitted to vote even though they were permitted legally.
None of this is something that gays go through. I attend school and did attend school with homosexuals, homosexuals can vote and do vote, and I have seen gay couples in the same public places as heterosexuals. This is why I think it is an insult to the blacks' struggle. It is true that there have been instances of discrimination of individuals and businesses that are debatable as to treating everyone equal, but that pales in comparison to what the blacks faced. In fact, I doubt there has been any group in the United States of America whose individuals have not faced some form of discrimination similar to what homosexuals have faced as individuals.
Now this does not mean that I do not believe that there is no place for the discussion and legalization of same-sex marriage, but it does mean that I take a different perspective on the two sides of the argument. This is a lead in for my next (formerly previous) post about how the gay rights movement is more like the anti-prohibition movement.
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