No More Mr. Nice Gay

[Happyhippychick]

Awesome article. Read the whole thing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rowe/no-more-mr-nice-gay_b_208345.html

As hard as I try to find another way to say this, yesterday's California Supreme Court decision makes this unattractive concept abundantly clear: gays and lesbians are now the only minority in America against whom discrimination is not only legal, but in many cases, encouraged. California has become the first state in U.S. history to amend its constitution to deprive a minority of a right that they had been legally granted. Now, with both the courts and the legislature unwilling to defend their rights, California's LGBT population must return to the people who consider them unequal citizens, and try to convince them that they're worthy of equal protections under the law. If the irony of this decision being handed down on the day Barack Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court wasn't so pernicious, there might be room for levity. Alas there is not.

For years, and with the best of intentions, gay activists have been reluctant to call the struggle for full and equal rights under the law what is actually is: the defining civil rights battle of our era. Sensitive to the feelings of other minority civil rights activists and historians, and often accused of "appropriating the civil rights movement" (as though there were a limited number of civil rights battles to go around) gays and lesbians have hesitated to equate the struggle for gay rights with the struggle with African American civil rights in the 1960's in spite of the undeniable parallels.

"Loving vs. Virginia," the landmark case that ended the ban on interracial marriage, is the most obvious parallel, and the most germane to the discussion at hand. In 1967, 70% of Americans opposed interracial marriage, and the repeal of its ban was not put to the public for obvious reasons.

[Psychic Consortium]

1. Yes it is the defining civil rights battle of our era. Those rights must be fought for....

like other groups did years ago.
Women, African Americans, etc.

Fight the good fight.
It will happen.
Equal rights for all. And soon.

Gandhi, MLK, the suffragettes, all smile down on you
and will be with you in spirit.

[billyoc]

2. Stonewall was a riot, not a candlelight vigil.

[GodlessBiker]

3. Indeed. A riot begun by brave drag queens. God bless em.

[livefreest]

4. it's time to fight harder

[Aslanspal]

Jim Garlow contradiction

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5726534&mesg_id=5726534

[Aslanspal]

5. sorry double post

[santamargarita]

6. This is in every way a civil rights issue and must be fought as a...

civil rights issue!

[nichomachus]

7. We need to put this on a postcard and send it to Obama

In 1967, 70% of Americans opposed interracial marriage, and the repeal of its ban was not put to the public for obvious reasons.

[nichomachus]

8. As I said in my thread the other day

I will no longer serve on jury duty. (It's not much, but it's one way I can resist.)


In fact, the same day I posted the thread, I received my notice to appear June 29.

I will appear and I will tell the just that as an officially designated second-class citizen, I have no confidence in the state laws or the court system to provide justice or protect the rights of its citizens, I will give zero credence to any testimony offered or witnesses brought forth by the state, and therefore I cannot render an objective verdict in the case.