Today's Must Read

John Aravosis' post on Coretta Scott King's support for gay civil rights.

Prejudice and bigotry is a bad thing. And it's motivated by the same hatred, regardless of the skin color or sexual orientation of the perpetrator or the victim. So the next time you're confronted by an anti-gay bigot like Delegate Burns, or anyone who claims that somehow racism is more evil than homophobia, quote the words of Coretta Scott King, when talking about racism and homophobia. And then tell them to STFU, unless they want to now claim that they know more about civil rights than Martin Luther King's widow.

He quotes her extensively.

I find it shameful that the black churches, which have been such a force for equal rights in this country, fail to recognize their own prejudice when it comes to gays and lesbians. It's even more disturbing that they use the same kinds of arguments against recognition of our rights that were used against blacks.

You'll remember the brouhaha over the role of black voters in California in the passage of Proposition 8, and the duel of survey results in which the politically correct -- for whom, apparently, it's fine to trash gays but you can't say anything negative about blacks, an apparent holdover from the New Left and its disdain for gays at the same time it was co-opting our movement -- essentially shouted down everyone who noticed the bigotry on the part of black voters. I think it's indisputable at this point that, although we're all very much aware that no group is monolithic (I mean, we have GOProud, after all), one of the major forces working against us is the black community, motivated by their churches. See this post from Timothy Beauchamp on why the Maryland marriage bill died. And this one from Alvin McEwen on homophobia in the black community.

And of course, this all plays into the hands of the divide-and-conquer right wing. (I won't remark on what it says about the link between blacks and privilege.)

The irony is too much.

Further thoughts: Is there a solution? Aravosis suggests throwing the statements from King back at people. I'm not sure that will work -- people's beliefs are not subject to rational thought, and that applies as much to those who believe that "civil rights" only applies to blacks as it does to those who believe that their god made the universe in seven days. I do think we have to challenge people like Bishop Harry Jackson at every opportunity, and challenge them on real moral and legal grounds, starting with the First Amendment. (And yes, opposition to same-sex marriage is fundamentally a religious belief, no matter how you dress it up as a universal tradition.) And we have to keep doing it.

And they need to know who we are, and that they are dehumanizing their brothers and sisters, their children, their neighbors, their coworkers.

That's about all I can think of.