Reply #419: All that is true, but it isn't a level playing field. One group does not have equal rights. [View All]

[yardwork]

One of the big frustrations for me is to see "gay rights" treated like a football game for the entertainment of straight people who have no idea what it is like to be denied basic human rights.

On the one hand you have a diverse group of people - black, white, Latino, Asian, American Indian, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, atheist, west coasters, rural southerners, New Yorkers, midwesterners, union members, Wall St. brokers, teachers, firefighters, homeless, young, old, middle-aged, grandparents, childless, men, women, transgender, etc. etc. - all of whom are denied basic human rights because of who we love. Not allowed to get married. Having our right to marriage voted away by! Kicked out of the military not because of any behavior but just because of who we say we are. Kicked out of housing. Fired for being gay. Beat up - physically and verbally. Committing suicide out of despair. Besieged every single day by people who call us abominations to our faces.

On the other "side" - if you can call it that - are individuals who decide that today would be a fun day to pick on gay people on DU. Or maybe start a fight. Maybe accuse every gay poster on DU of being racist. That one always gets a rise out of people. Or another favorite chestnut - accuse gay people of being affluent white gay men who don't give a damn about anybody else. Or - a very common game on DU - let's blame gay people for Democrats losing elections.

It's not like anybody is pretending that there isn't racism, sexism, ageism, and a whole lot of other bigoted attitudes and behaviors in the "gay community." It would be foolish to claim that such a huge demographic was made of 100% kind, thoughtful, progressive people. We're all flawed human beings.

I would like to see more of an acknowledgement on DU that right now in the United States there is a human rights struggle going on - a deadly serious battle - and a whole entire demographic is still systematically denied basic human rights. This is not comparable to having one's feelings hurt by some anonymous poster on an internet board. Not comparable at all.