Response to Gay is NOT the New Black

Video Response to 5 Reasons Gay Is NOT The New Black by ItsGOTtobegroovy

Let me state that I am profoundly surprised in a good way on the video I watched by ItsGOTtobegroovy’s 5 Reasons Gay is NOT The New Black, it wasn’t the same old: You can change gay but not black and they weren’t beaten and whipped. It was a pretty articulate case though I feel it was a way off from looking at the similarities between gay and black oppression from a historic point of view and one of simply: Same oppression, different group. That is the case with the whole gay v. black debate. I want to catch the 5 points that he mentioned in this video because it’s also important to state where I agree and where there’s a bit of disagreement.

1. Oppression is as oppression does

This is an interesting point as we’ve often seen the oppressed become the oppressors, when African decolonized we saw a lot of governments spring up and become as corrupt as the European nations they drove out. When The Republic of South Africa was recognized in 1961, the gov’t of South Africa made people come into work and celebrations of this new freedom won by a referendum that black South Africans didn’t vote in. They felt oppressed by British colonialism and they heavily oppressed Africans by laws like the Group Areas Act. Now to the black community, Liberia, they did the same thing to Liberians that whites did to them AND the black community never reached back to LGBT people and said: Our fight is your fight. I agree that comparing discrimination may fragment people, but those people don’t get it if they are overly offended when people mention that they occupy the same seat as Rosa Parks.

2. Black is still black – He mentions Arizona’s immigration law, but let’s take a look at the state’s domestic partnership law that was supposed to be wiped out of the state’s budget. It would’ve affected a lot of straight Arizonans but it was clear the aim was at gay people. Black marriages, Muslim marriages, Latino marriages of the state’s prescribed man-woman aren’t affected by this and they don’t have to fight for their right to marry, it is recognized. THIS also creates a climate of fear when people have to do something like get medical care. A NC couples’ child had been denied healthcare because their parents weren’t married. LGBT people are ROUTINELY denied healthcare because we’re gay and someone doesn’t approve of our ‘lifestyle’.  Sally Kern an OK state Representative—said something disparaging about black people, was censured by the OK House which is R controlled but didn’t get similar censure for what she said about gay people something along the lines of ‘we’re worse than terrorists’ Things that were easily said about gay people would not be tolerated by any other group

3. ………..IS THE NEW BLACK—saying that gay people aren’t the only ones that face discrimination—we know that. . Let me also mention that oftentimes gay people will protest things like the stop and frisk searches, the unethical treatment of prisoners, will be at rallies and work on immigration—let’s not fail to mention that many gay people are affected by these policies too especially binational gay couples. Also not forgetting that undocumented persons are a distant second when it comes to ballot initiatives targeting their rights. Focusing on gay rights doesn’t mean that we don’t care about other issues. While I can’t speak for every gay person, not all people are going to care about every issue. I would venture to state that gay people know that their equality is tied to the equality of blacks, Latinos, immigrants, and socioeconomic justice. I know more gay people that would protest against racist policies but when the black community is called upon to denounce open and blatant homophobia they refuse. This is something I hate the black community for most of all. They have experienced this kind of discrimination but get mad when I say that our plight is like theirs, they are openly denying that history is repeating themselves they are like the Rs that say that they got theirs and now you are fending for yourselves. Now, about trans protections: Many gay people have demanded that protections cover transgender persons but even openly gay legislators have said that the bill wouldn’t have a chance to pass with it. The trans community has to step up and become the face of its own issue like gays do when things come up that affect them. Also, they have many more gays and lesbians that will help them if they’d stop being so openly hostile and jealous of us because we’ve taken ours and run with them. We need to be hand in hand not fighting each other, we have plenty of that against us

4. Ain’t nothing new about GAY—Most of the early gay activism was done in secret, they would appear one or two at a time and allow enough time to pass so they wouldn’t think they were together. Gay people also faced discrimination in federal jobs at a time when Eisenhower desegregated the military, Frank Kameny’s firing from a federal job. They were relegated to obvious careers when they were openly gay and had to create their own Mecca where they could be themselves and create the businesses that hired other gay people. And what other movements were done in secret? Labor, Civil Rights and many others that the Government was spying on to harass their membership, socialists were also on the list. When I say that Gay is the New Black, I am doing so from a point that is not ignorant of history, it is acknowledging history and the fact that it is repeating and many of the larger black community are too blind to see it mostly because they don’t know their history.

5. Trans is the new gay—Well gay is the new gay since we don’t have the liberties that straight people have and I believe I tackled this point fair enough in the first four points. I also say that when it comes down to Trans people—they are often lumped in with LGB people but unfortunately, even some in the LGB often ignore trans people and issues that face my brothers and sisters.

Mainly, those blacks who are overly sensitive about comparing gay and black often say we can change being gay, but—telling someone to change to avoid discrimination is ludicrous. Gay IS the new black. I can muster a bunch of gay people to come out against racist policies of the Tea Party but I’d like to see the larger black community’s Pastors and clergy—WELL KNOWN AND ESTABLISHED in the black community to do the same. I won’t hold my breath for that one.