“Gay is the new black.” I heard this over and over again during the Proposition 8 debate in California. While I can understand some of the reasoning behind these words, I can’t really agree with it. Perhaps most troublesome for me is the suggestion that bigotry against GLBT folks has replaced bigotry against African Americans. Clearly, this isn’t the case. Just take a look at some of the resistance to Barack Obama. And no, I’m not talking policy differences here. I’m talking cartoons and right wing commentators saying that he hates whites. I’m talking town hall meetings where folks with guns show up. To suggest that prejudice against African Americans has taken a back seat to homophobia is misleading, at best.
The great Audrey Lorde, who was both African American and a lesbian, tells us that “there is no hierarchy of oppression.” I believe she is right. And this is exactly why we in the GLBT community shouldn’t put ourselves in some sort of competition with communities of color. We can learn a great deal from the Black Civil Rights Movement. That's the work we need to do. Simply declaring ourselves "the new black" undermines our own movement and alienates people with whom we should be in dialog.
To be continued……
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