What Pete Buttigieg really said about being gay, prejudice and blacks

[demmiblue]

When you’re black and gay, there are times when you feel that the two identities integral to your whole self are in conflict. Actually, let me rephrase that. There are times when other folks put your two identities in conflict and you feel compelled to respond.

When I thundered against the ugly lie that homophobia among African Americans was the reason Democratic presidential contender Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., wasn’t gaining their support, I had more than a few white gay men lecture me about black people as they hurled studies at me in the worst-ever display of apples meeting oranges. Those folks were blocked. Now, I have to push back against African Americans who are ripping Buttigieg for what they see as his equating his experience being gay with that of being black.

That’s not what happened. That’s not what he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/03/what-mayor-pete-really-said-about-being-gay-prejudice-blacks/

Link to tweet

[IluvPitties]

1. Pete is another candidate I like but

I feel he has not found his true voice. He's so close to being the ideal candidate but there is something missing.

[pangaia]

3. Everybody has 'something missing,'

[BuffaloJackalope]

4. 20 yrs experience

Pete 2040

[IluvPitties]

5. Could be. He will be relatively young in 20 years, so yeah.

[Joinfortmill]

2. Not for nothing..

Blacks and minorities of all types have suffered discrimination and harassment. I would venture to argue (feel free to check the stats) that the most universally discriminated group worldwide is women. But that is not my main point. My main point is, it is not about who has suffered the most, it is about empathy for all who have suffered. Let us all keep it real, folks.

[regnaD kciN]

6. Absolutely true!

And, frankly, the thing that has been used the most to divide those of us fighting for social change has been the “MY group is more oppressed than yours” gambit. Those in power have used this to stay that way for decades, so it’s not surprising to see it being used heavily right now, especially on quasi-anonymous media like Twitter, where it’s next to impossible to not get hit with in-your-face posts on how this-or-that Democrat hates (insert name of one or another such group)...and, if you don’t oppose that candidate with every fiber of your being, that means you do, too.