Monday, November 2, 2009
Homo / News / Religion New Head of HRC Opposes Interracial Marriage, Affirmative Action, Voting Rights Act
Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 10:05 AM
I'm trying to imagine a large and historically significant gay civil rights group appointing an avowed racist as its director. I'm trying to imagine the board of HRC or GLAAD or NGLTF or GLSEN or Lambda Legal appointing a director who opposed interracial marriage or was against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act or was critical of affirmative action. But it's impossible to imagine a gay rights group appointing a racist bigot as its executive director. It couldn't happen—it shouldn't happen—not a million years.
The reverse however—a large African American civil rights group appointing an anti-gay bigot—just happened. Noted anti-gay bigot Bernice King was appointed to head the Southern Christian Leadership Conference last week. Thankfully she's being called out on her bigotry by the Daily Voice, "Black America's Daily News Source":
Bernice King can make history in two ways. She made it first by becoming the first woman in the 52 year history of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to take the organization's reins. Now she can make history in another way. She should renounce the anti-gay bigotry of her recent past. That bigotry was on shameful and insulting display in December 2004 when she and thousands of marchers stood at the gravesite of her father, Martin Luther King, Jr., and denounced gay marriage. The implication was that King might well have stood with her and them in their protest against gay rights.Nothing could be further from the truth. King's fight against bigotry and discrimination, all bigotry and discrimination, was relentless and uncompromising. If anything that day, King would have been across the street from his gravesite with the hundred or so other counter-demonstrators. They loudly shouted that what Bernice and the marchers were doing at her father's gravesite and in his name, was a travesty and a disgrace. King sullied her father's name to show her enmity to gay marriage. She also sullied her mother's too. A few years before Bernice's gravesite antic, Coretta Scott King issued a public statement forcefully denouncing anti-gay bigotry and made it perfectly clear that her husband would be a champion of gay rights if he were alive.
Via JoeMyGod.
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1
Wow, can we expect non-lgbt people to defend our rights when many lgbt people still don't? Dan, where were you on October 11? Were you marching?
2
Maybe what we learn from this is that when a minority group that was once beaten, killed, and treated as not equal to the power paradigm becomes that paradigm, they act accordingly, electing someone that will treat another minority group as "less than" and hence not worthy of equality. Did I read this in Animal Farm or some book like that? Why does this sound so familiar? Bravo to Daily Voice for speaking truth to power.
4
Oh man, here we go. LC is warming up the keyboard, turning off the spellcheck, aaaaaaand...... GO!!!
5
The paradigm mystifies me as well, you would think that having suffered one would have an enlarged capacity for social justice and compassion, but unfortunately it often seems that the once bullied become bullies. Depressing.
6
@2: Basically true, I think. "We finally made it, now we're pulling up the ladder" seems to be the attitude.
7
This is never going to change. So often various groups are treated as if they are somehow noble or more informed because they've survived discrimination, but they can be as ignorant and cruel as anyone else. Black people, gay people, white people, native Americans, blah blah blah. A tiny few will 'learn' something, but the rest will just keep looking to put down someone else. "Oppressed people suck," as the saying goes. It's built into us. Perhaps we can all achieve equality through our self-debasement and level of dismissive cruelty towards each other. I give up.
8
As long as people get together into groups it seems there are always going to be some of them who will feel a need to distinguish themselves not merely by saying, "I'm different" but "I'm superior". Perhaps it's a side-effect of being repressed, of having to pump up one's self-esteem to an exaggerated degree just to survive, and then staying pumped up long after there's a need for it.
10
There are many sound policy reasons to oppose homosexual marriage. It is convenient to call those who disagree with you bigots and leave it at that but that is intellectually lazy and dishonest.
When a minority group that is beaten, killed, and treated as not equal it develops a keen sense of what is a Civil Right and what is not.
Black who have been there and done that overwhelmingly reject the notion that homosexual marriage is a 'civil right'.
This is disappointing to self-centered spoiled white yuppie male homosexuals who resort to name calling.
Grow up.
When a minority group that is beaten, killed, and treated as not equal it develops a keen sense of what is a Civil Right and what is not.
Black who have been there and done that overwhelmingly reject the notion that homosexual marriage is a 'civil right'.
This is disappointing to self-centered spoiled white yuppie male homosexuals who resort to name calling.
Grow up.
11
Dan is comparing and equating race with behavior choices.
It is a False comparison.
You are free to choose your behavior.
You are not free to choose the consequences of it.
It is a False comparison.
You are free to choose your behavior.
You are not free to choose the consequences of it.
12
@2, others... way to paint a whole minority with an awfully large brush on the basis of a smaller group, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who doesn't even claim to represent the entire minority in their name, let alone their stands, on the basis of their electing the child of an important figure in their history, as opposed to necessarily adopting the bigoted views expressed by this one person.
In short, Bernice King ain't all black folk.
In short, Bernice King ain't all black folk.
13
@2: The big thing is that they lay cover fire by saying all gay rights issues are guided by well-monied gay white men, so who are they to know what a struggle over civil rights is all about?
You get this shuddering equivocation that plays out that says that there can't be a comparison between gay rights and the Civil Rights Movement since gay people haven't been attacked by the government, oh, and they're white. Of course, gay folks of all colors have been murdered, run out of town, their gathering places raided or burnt to the ground, their parades attacked, children ridiculed and lives made into a living hell, even by the government.
But oh, it's mostly white people, so they can't compare! And since homosexuality isn't readily apparent, there's no analog in american history! Except, you know, with anti-religious riots, riots against ostensibly white folks based on their homeland and so on and so forth.
Then again, if you guys need a Legally Non-White Homosexual Male(tm) to make a statement, here you go: she's a bigot.
You get this shuddering equivocation that plays out that says that there can't be a comparison between gay rights and the Civil Rights Movement since gay people haven't been attacked by the government, oh, and they're white. Of course, gay folks of all colors have been murdered, run out of town, their gathering places raided or burnt to the ground, their parades attacked, children ridiculed and lives made into a living hell, even by the government.
But oh, it's mostly white people, so they can't compare! And since homosexuality isn't readily apparent, there's no analog in american history! Except, you know, with anti-religious riots, riots against ostensibly white folks based on their homeland and so on and so forth.
Then again, if you guys need a Legally Non-White Homosexual Male(tm) to make a statement, here you go: she's a bigot.
16
Southern Christian Leadership Conference sounds like a Christian organization. Their primary identity is religious, not racial. They believe their magic book tells them it's okay to hate gays. The only way to convince them it doesn't is by presenting a credible alternative interpretation of their magic book. Don't worry, there's plenty of precedent. People can make the magic book say all kinds of things.
18
Folks like 'sorry'...behavior choices yada yada...I always wonder, how do 'they' know?
It's pure arrogance. 'They' know better than 'I' what my innate being is.
Fascinating.
And I always ask 'them'...if we're all born 'hetero'...each and every one of us...then shouldn't everyone have the option to be gay?
And when did 'sorry' decline that option or temptation?
And what about the kid who 'chooses' to be gay...at, age 14 or so...and then is tormented by his or her own psyche, classmates, society...because he or she is not accepted.
Why didn't that kid just 'choose' to be straight again instead of committing suicide?
Or the ones who's unforgiving parents disown them...why don't they just say 'nah, Mom', just kidding...I'm straight, can I come home now?
I expect a bunch of Bible bullshit in response.
But, 'they' can never answer this question in a 2009, reality-based fashion.
It's pure arrogance. 'They' know better than 'I' what my innate being is.
Fascinating.
And I always ask 'them'...if we're all born 'hetero'...each and every one of us...then shouldn't everyone have the option to be gay?
And when did 'sorry' decline that option or temptation?
And what about the kid who 'chooses' to be gay...at, age 14 or so...and then is tormented by his or her own psyche, classmates, society...because he or she is not accepted.
Why didn't that kid just 'choose' to be straight again instead of committing suicide?
Or the ones who's unforgiving parents disown them...why don't they just say 'nah, Mom', just kidding...I'm straight, can I come home now?
I expect a bunch of Bible bullshit in response.
But, 'they' can never answer this question in a 2009, reality-based fashion.
19
A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.-Nelson Mandela
Why is it that those who fought for civil rights, and happen to be gay, in South Africa were rewarded with constitutional protections for gays and gay marriage? Why is it that those who fought for civil rights, and happen to be gay, in the United States were rewarded with prejudice and narrow-mindedness?
Why is it that those who fought for civil rights, and happen to be gay, in South Africa were rewarded with constitutional protections for gays and gay marriage? Why is it that those who fought for civil rights, and happen to be gay, in the United States were rewarded with prejudice and narrow-mindedness?
20
The worst part of this story is that when I read the title of Dan's posting about the new head of the HRC, I thought "Typical HRC bullshit"
Which is really, really sad if that is what a relatively well read, out, politically active lesbian thinks instead of shock and confusion.
Which is really, really sad if that is what a relatively well read, out, politically active lesbian thinks instead of shock and confusion.
21
To be fair: did MLK have an official stance on gay rights? They were hardly on the table back then. For all I know he might well have been a raging homophobe, had he been so lucky as to be here still. In fact, who would know better than his family what his views were?
Just because MLK was right on rave, doesn't mean he'd necessarily be right on homosexuality. People are damn good at compartmentalising.
Just because MLK was right on rave, doesn't mean he'd necessarily be right on homosexuality. People are damn good at compartmentalising.
22
1. Homophobia is magical - it's the hate that brings people together! Even oppressed minorities can join with those who enslaved them to hate the gays together. Kinda touches your heart.
2. If people can't understand the difference between COMPARING two things and declaring them EQUIVALENT they are too stupid to be out in public.
3. If it's about choice, that presumably the SCLC (and all those asserting this) support the rights of anti-Semites to oppress Jews, the Chinese gov't and assorted Muslim nations to oppress Christians, etc. Because if anything is clearly a matter of choice, it's religion. Nobody's born with one.
2. If people can't understand the difference between COMPARING two things and declaring them EQUIVALENT they are too stupid to be out in public.
3. If it's about choice, that presumably the SCLC (and all those asserting this) support the rights of anti-Semites to oppress Jews, the Chinese gov't and assorted Muslim nations to oppress Christians, etc. Because if anything is clearly a matter of choice, it's religion. Nobody's born with one.
23
Should we really care what MLK would have thought? I mean, it's kind of disgusting that people are trying to get posthumous credit from the man. My guess is that if anyone was able to get an answer, neither side would be willing to say "wow, MLK disagreed with me? I'm giving up the fight."
He was a charismatic guy but he could still be completely wrong. Heck, it seems like Gandhi probably didn't like gay people too much. That doesn't mean ALL his ideas were therefore wrong.
We're just going to do what we want at the end of the day and shit on people we dislike. We learn surprisingly few of life's lessons, even when they're staring at us in the mirror. End of story.
He was a charismatic guy but he could still be completely wrong. Heck, it seems like Gandhi probably didn't like gay people too much. That doesn't mean ALL his ideas were therefore wrong.
We're just going to do what we want at the end of the day and shit on people we dislike. We learn surprisingly few of life's lessons, even when they're staring at us in the mirror. End of story.
24
dan.. this action by the sclc is of the most deplorable sort..no disagreement there. but i want to weigh in that there is some eveidence that while not isolated it's hardly representaive of 'the community' ..it may not even be evidence that her family is of a singular mind over this. .remember she parted with her siblings and her mother coretta scott king over these issues. in response to the rev fauntroy pice last week..i sent this from pam's house blend..but PLEASE..please would you post it ..there is evidence that many many more in the balck clergy support equal rights in the lgbt community than not...
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/1383…
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/1383…
26
@21 there is eveidence that dr king had some apprehension about gay inclusion in the struggle and paid the price heavily for his embrace of bayard rustin the openly gay architect of the march on washington in 1964. his wife suggested before her death that her husband would have supported this struggle and we may infer that he most likely would have . she and so did his daughter the also late yolanda king.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolanda_Kin…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolanda_Kin…
27
@ 21 - MLK did indeed hava a stance regarding gay people, and it was of acceptance and love. In fact, Bayard Rustin, an out gay man in the 50s & 60s, was one of MLK's closest advisors (he organized the 1963 March on Washington), and a close friend. MLK believed deeply in equality for all people, and that specifically included gay people. Additonally, Coretta Scott King also held these beliefs, and it apparently was a source of pain to here that some of her children became such ugly bigots on the subject of gay rights.
28
Going back a bit, @10 said, "There are many sound policy reasons to oppose homosexual marriage." Why is it that such statements are never followed by any actual "sound policy reasons"? Perhaps it's because there really aren't any sound policy reasons. Or, to be generous, maybe the person who makes such a statement has some reasons in mind but is afraid to state them because he or she knows they're not really all that sound.
29
Gays are just the latest group to be subject to the double standards when it comes to African Americans and, well, everyone else.
In the 90's speakers who were opposed to Affirmative Action were not allowed to speak at colleges but Louis Farrakhan could. Nothing has changed. The black hate group New Black Panther Party has spoken at colleges recently, but no one who talks about blacks the way they talk about whites, jews, gays would be allowed within 5000 ft of campus. Gays are just finding out what asians, jews and women have known for a long time-when the perpetrators of injustice or hate speech are african american you are expected to ignore it while continuing to condemn and "fight" racism, but you can bet your ass it would never happen the other way around. Anyone who violates this is subject to the wrath of black anger.
In the 90's speakers who were opposed to Affirmative Action were not allowed to speak at colleges but Louis Farrakhan could. Nothing has changed. The black hate group New Black Panther Party has spoken at colleges recently, but no one who talks about blacks the way they talk about whites, jews, gays would be allowed within 5000 ft of campus. Gays are just finding out what asians, jews and women have known for a long time-when the perpetrators of injustice or hate speech are african american you are expected to ignore it while continuing to condemn and "fight" racism, but you can bet your ass it would never happen the other way around. Anyone who violates this is subject to the wrath of black anger.
30
The Seattle Medium recommended their readers vote against 71. Maybe the SGN should suggest their readers vote to bring back a ban on interracial marriage. The Seattle Medium recently had a headline "BLACK MALE SHOT BY WHITE MALE" and about a year ago this headline "BLACK MAN KILLED IN CAR ACCIDENT CAUSED BY WHITE DRIVER"
Perhaps the SGN needs to match them with this headline "BLACK NEWSPAPER-SEATTLE MEDIUM-FIGHTS AGAINST CIVIL RIGHTS FOR GAYS"
Perhaps the SGN needs to match them with this headline "BLACK NEWSPAPER-SEATTLE MEDIUM-FIGHTS AGAINST CIVIL RIGHTS FOR GAYS"
31
Comparing the discrimination gays face today to the discrimination blacks faced in the 60's and prior is laughable on its face
32
Almost as repellent as Bernice King's hate speech against gays is the simple nepotism of the story. What does Bernice King have going for her except her parentage? She's a nothing, a nobody, a zero, but she's allowed to become this grand spokesman for "her people". Because of her dad.
That's what black civil rights has devolved to: Instead of Martin Luther King, Jr., we have his idiot daughter, and Sharpton, and Jesse. You might think that's bad news for the civil rights movement, but I don't think it is; I think it just reflects the death of a paradigm, the old way of thinking where white society wouldn't deal with black people but demanded that they send them representatives. Black people don't need unelected representatives anymore. They speak for themselves.
Bernice King doesn't speak for anybody except old bigots stuck in the 1950s.
That's what black civil rights has devolved to: Instead of Martin Luther King, Jr., we have his idiot daughter, and Sharpton, and Jesse. You might think that's bad news for the civil rights movement, but I don't think it is; I think it just reflects the death of a paradigm, the old way of thinking where white society wouldn't deal with black people but demanded that they send them representatives. Black people don't need unelected representatives anymore. They speak for themselves.
Bernice King doesn't speak for anybody except old bigots stuck in the 1950s.
33
Do you really believe that this woman will renounce her anti-gay bigotry and move the SCLC forwards, in the direction of acceptance of gay Americans?
She represents an embarrassment to the memory of her father, who would almost certainly be rolling over in his grave were he aware of the poisonous views that she espouses...
Shamefully, the attitude of so many minorities who have suffered a long history of discrimination and abuse seems to be accepting of the promotion of such discrimination and abuse when they attain a measure of power. "Pull up the gangplank, I am on board" seems to sum up the attitude of Bernice King and those who applaud her efforts to relegate gay men and lesbians to second-class status...
PHILIP CHANDLER
She represents an embarrassment to the memory of her father, who would almost certainly be rolling over in his grave were he aware of the poisonous views that she espouses...
Shamefully, the attitude of so many minorities who have suffered a long history of discrimination and abuse seems to be accepting of the promotion of such discrimination and abuse when they attain a measure of power. "Pull up the gangplank, I am on board" seems to sum up the attitude of Bernice King and those who applaud her efforts to relegate gay men and lesbians to second-class status...
PHILIP CHANDLER
34
@11,
By your argument, African Americans who were lynched for being "uppity" in the time of Jim Crow deserved it, since they "chose" not to be Uncle Toms. After all, that's a behavior choice.
@28,
Yes, corporations would have to shell out for benefits for a few same-sex spouses. Horrors!
By your argument, African Americans who were lynched for being "uppity" in the time of Jim Crow deserved it, since they "chose" not to be Uncle Toms. After all, that's a behavior choice.
@28,
Yes, corporations would have to shell out for benefits for a few same-sex spouses. Horrors!
35
Thanks for the evidence. I am glad to hear that MLK might have been as nice as he's made out to be.
But even if he hadn't been, my point still stands, that it wouldn't have mattered for the present struggle.
Good luck over there! I sincerely hope you won't need it.
But even if he hadn't been, my point still stands, that it wouldn't have mattered for the present struggle.
Good luck over there! I sincerely hope you won't need it.
36
Many posters have mentioned the phenomenon of the "oppressed becoming the oppressors" or minorities "pulling up the gangplank behind them." Of course this is often the case, but no one seems to be mentioning the exception to that rule: the Jews. NY Jews went into the deep South to fight for Black civil rights at great risk to their own lives. And I have yet to meet an American Jew who doesn't support gay rights.
We can still learn a lot of history's most oppressed people.
We can still learn a lot of history's most oppressed people.
37
Well, I wouldn't call American Jews the most oppressed. Though of course antisemitism was rampant. But, yes, reform Judaïsm seems to be largely a force of good.
Now Zionism on the other hand, really should sit down and take bloody good loooooong look at "history's most oppressed people" and learn a lesson or two.
Now Zionism on the other hand, really should sit down and take bloody good loooooong look at "history's most oppressed people" and learn a lesson or two.
38
But dan, having gay sex is an abomination, like mixing wool and flax in your clothing. No wonder Bernice King cannot support it.
39
@10: Right, homosexuality is restricted to rich white men. 'Cause it's not like there are any black homosexuals.
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