The Spencer Hamilton Blog

On December 5 th , I got on my computer like I do every day at the end of my day and found out something that made me both sad and proud at the same time. Nelson Mandela, South African Freedom Fighter and its first Black President had died at the age of 95. I pause here to take a look at the people we will never know who fought for freedom and by freedom I don’t mean the ability to push their version of freedom on others, but the ability to respect all people as equally valid before each other. For the Christian, the Atheist, The Muslin, the Jew, The Rastafari, the Geek, the Judge, the Worker, The Teacher…and so on. There are many people who fought for a just society whose names we will never know but were represented well by the faces of those we do know. We may never know their names, but their sacrifice, hardship, and struggle are no less than the leaders and faces, whose bold voices lead them to their path to independence and self-autonomy in a fair and just society. Their sacri...

Pride 2013 This year the theme was fearless which I think based on community politics was a very ironic theme. That’s another video for another day. But I’ll note that I can’t count how many times people have complained that their PRIDE center is more of a Center sans the PRIDE and unwilling to actually make a difference or reach out to grassroots LGBT organizations. But let me run you through my PRIDE 2013. Now, PRIDE 2012 was weird because I actually didn’t march in the parade I walked after it because I had to take a nap after I woke up late because I worked overnights. NOT THIS TIME! I decided that I would go and march with a group called Fabulous Friends this year and the night before I couldn’t sleep. I was too excited and I was also watching that show in the UK called Playing it Straight with a HILARIOUS commentator as well as some Boy Meets Boys. So 10am comes around and I’m showering, 1 and 12 is lineup and I eat some eggs and chicken don my shirt that says Bottoms Love...

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. 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...

I will forever wonder why people feel as if family is only defined by those who are related to us by blood or adoption. Adoption usually is a legal process in which a child under 18 becomes a part of your family, often called a forever family. Yet, I also say that this is not the only definition of adoption, because I've adopted people into my family and no legal paperwork has been filled out. It is because family to me is not solely defined on if we all look alike or are related by blood. I often found that family is a closeness, indicated by your willingness to become a part of a family, like church, fraternities, sororities, groups of people who have one or or more things in common and are active in their lives on a consistent basis. I have to say that I have family that folks at the American Family Council would say are not my family. As crazy as my Lovey's family is, I consider them family only because I'm there and I'll have to deal with them if Darryl and ...

After reading a book of the same title by George Chauncey (who testified in the Prop 8 trial) I began to think about the legacy of anti-gay discrimination against gay and lesbian people which included sodomy laws, firing from their government jobs whether civilian or military, losing child custody once you were found out...so many things in your world can come crashing down once they knew about you. You could be arrested after being propositioned by a plainclothes policeman and your name printed in the paper, where you worked and lived and there was nothing you could do about it. Stonewall After Stonewall, things changed though not overnight in many places. In NYC, when the LGBT community had enough, beer bottles, stilettos, rocks, and whatever could be found had been hurled at the policeman. THey had to take refuge in the same place they raided--the bar. I believe reinforcements came and they were routed, no one really remembers piece by piece what happened that nigh...

Hello Everyone Background As  an African American, the irony of the black vs. gay debate is not lost on me. I find it funny that one minority would be itching to vote to strip another minority of their civil rights. Is gay marriage a civil right? What is a civil right? Do blacks have a monopoly on civil rights? Apparently not, as all minorities have had to fight for their rights especially through the courts, like Asian Americans in cases like Korematsu v. United States which tested the constitutionality of internment camps for Japanese Americans, another one called Yick Wo v. Hopkins said that a law that's race neutral on it's face but administered in a prejudicial manner is unconstitutional. Hernandez v. Texas ,that decided that Mexican Americans are protected under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, and we have heard of the numerous cases that forced schools to administer black students most famous being the Little Rock 9, who had to be e...