It's Official: Gay Is the New Black | HuffPost Voic

Contents:

• IS GAY THE NEW BLACK? DEBATE OM MARRIAGE BAN
• IS GAY NOW THE NEW BLACK?
• GAY IS THE NEW BLACK?
• GAY IS NOT THE NEW BLACK
• IT'S OFFICIAL: GAY IS THE NEW BLACK
• IS GAY THE NEW BLACK?
• IS GAY THE NEW BLACK? MARRIAGE BAN SPURS DEBATE
• ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK MA TV—AND ME—GAY

IS GAY THE NEW BLACK? DEBATE OM MARRIAGE BAN

Gay is the new black, say the prott signs and magaze vers, stg the gay marriage battle as the last ontier of equal rights for marriage is not a civil right, opponents unter, sistg that mory stat om who you are rather than what you gay rights movement entered a new era when Barack Obama was elected the first black print the same day that voters California and Florida passed referendums to prevent gays and lbians om marryg, while Arizonans turned down civil unns and Arkansans said no to adoptns by same-sex 's victory a triumph agast racismRacism was fanged by Obama's triumph, leavg gays as perhaps the last group of Amerins claimg that their basic rights are beg systematilly nied. "Black people are equal now, and gay people aren't, " said E Wilbek, a black gay man and the edor of Giant magaze. "A lot of people the gay muny have been nmned for their liftyle and promiscuy and dgs and sex, so 's odd that when they want to nform and mol themselv after straight people and have the same rights for marriage and domtic partnership and adoptn, they're beg blocked.

"In a ver story for the Advote magaze tled "Gay is the New Black, " Michael Joseph Gross wrote, "The past few years we've ma so much progrs that we'd begun to thk everybody saw as we see ourselv. "Yet even some gay lears are reluctant to directly tie their fight to the Ain-Amerin legacy.

IS GAY NOW THE NEW BLACK?

They acknowledge signifint differenc the experienc of gays and blacks, rangg om slavery to the relative affluence of whe gay men to the choice ma by some gays to nceal their sexual orientatn, which is not an optn for those wh darker sk. "I believe we are very much a morn-day civil rights stggle, " said Joe Solmone, print of the Human Rights Campaign, the natn's largt gay rights anizatn. "Mory polics plite the issueComplitg the issue is the domatn of mory polics by blacks and Latos, who n be ls than iendly to gay the vote on Proposn 8 California, which repealed gay marriage, about 70 percent of blacks favored the ban, acrdg to an ex poll; Latos' close vote may have favored , though the poll's small sample left some uncertaty.

Opposn often has a relig basisOpposn to gay rights often has a relig basis, and blacks and Latos are more churchgog than society at large. "I do not nsir (gays) to be a mory legal and adjudited terms, the same way people who only like to eat brocli wh butter aren't a mory, " said the Rev.

GAY IS THE NEW BLACK?

"The gay fight for marriage has s own tegry, s own background, " said Andrew Cherl, a profsor of soclogy and public policy at Johns Hopks Universy.

Gay partners had few rights to help their ailg loved on, vis them hospals or her their property, which led to the ph for civil, only Connecticut and Massachetts perm gay marriage, and a few stat allow civil unns or domtic partnerships that grant some rights of marriage. The recent natnwi gay protts were stigated by a Seattle blogger who set up a Web page three days after the California viewed as symbol of gay progrsAnd some ways, gays see Obama himself as a symbol of gay progrs — even though he oppos gay is favor of civil unns, and durg his victory speech, when he clud gays his scriptn of Ameri, ma them feel part of the historic racial tone. ” It’s been repeated over and over recent years to equate the plight of blacks Ameri durg the Civil Rights era wh the new plight of homosexuals today.

GAY IS NOT THE NEW BLACK

Even if someone n be “born gay, ” the gospel sav sners and has the power to change evil sir. In this four-mute vio, Voddie Bcham explas the siari between the Civil Rights and so-lled Gay Rights Movement, while highlightg the signifint differenc between ethnicy and sexual orientatn.

What is the difference between the Civil Rights Movement and the so-lled Gay Rights Movement of today?

IT'S OFFICIAL: GAY IS THE NEW BLACK

And those thgs are beg applied the Gay Rights Movement the exact same way and now we are llg them out. The homosexual muny has latched onto that approach and has intified self as a nstuency servg of our attentn and py. " She said that she was straight, and she told me about one of the first tim she ever hung out wh gay people, New Orleans the 1970s.

' "The next day, Barack Obama was elected print, and gay marriage rights California were taken away.

IS GAY THE NEW BLACK?

At the same time, Arizona voters amend their state nstutn to preemptively outlaw gay marriage. Other electn rults were even more enuragg: In New York State, where a marriage bill is pendg, we won enough legislative seats to secure a pro-equaly majory; Connecticut voters rejected a nstutnal nventn that uld have reversed that state's legalizatn of, the electn was a bldsidg remr that the majory of voters, even a state as liberal as California, still see gay people as send-class cizens. Then h me that my own angry nfn was nothg pared to what my black gay iends were probably feelg.

8 (though accurately statg that he is opposed to gay marriage), addg signifint nfn to an already nfg ballot qutn. 8 was a vote agast marriage blame this loss on black people would be a terrible mistake, and would only crease enmy between gays and blacks. And they did this even though whe gay people have never, en masse and force, showed up to support them and their issu.

News reports mostly showed the same typ of imag the media sists on g when verg gay pri paras.

IS GAY THE NEW BLACK? MARRIAGE BAN SPURS DEBATE

I was a taxi on Market Street, and as we passed Cy Hall the driver mentned the prott and asked me what I thought of gay marriage.

Gay is the dark p where our society lets people throw their fears about what's wrong wh the world.

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK MA TV—AND ME—GAY

) The parison be eful, though, forcg to nsir the differenc between our civil rights stggle and a few statistilly signifint s (the gay kid who happens to be the child of gay parents), beg gay begs wh regnizg your difference om the people wh whom you have your earlit, most timate relatnships. As such, 's an sentially isolatg experience and therefore breeds many gay people certa quali -- such as pennce and perfectnism -- that n unrme our abily to operate and promise wh others. Though some of were lucky enough to fd role mols, mentors, or gay iends early life, we weren't born to the kd of beloved muny that the Ain-Amerin church aspir to be.

While is illegal this untry to fire an Ain-Amerin whout e and most plac 's still legal to fire a gay person for beg gay, we are more likely to have rmal means of reurse than black people have. Of urse, we shouldn't have to make that choice, and our civil rights stggle is about makg sure that we don't have a eper level, though, the gay civil rights stggle is about preventg discrimatn based on our proclivy to love, as distct om the msier foundatn of racial discrimatn, which primarily has to do wh protectg whe privilege and wealth.