If One Of Us Is Chained...

At the recent centennial celebration of the NAACP's founding and courageous achievements, President Barack Obama challenged the nation's oldest civil rights group to continue pushing in the direction of eradicating the "prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination" that still blight America.

"The pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African American women
paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and a
different gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By
Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to
their God. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still
denied their rights...Discrimination cannot stand -- not on account of color or
gender; how you worship or who you love. Prejudice has no place in the United
States of America."

President Obama is not only the nation's first Black President, but he is the first U.S. President to put the struggles of the LGBT community under the umbrella of civil rights. This is so important because now it places political legitimacy on the fight of the LGBT community. That says that to deny their rights is to trample on the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. All of these landmark documents say that all men are created equal and promised freedom of liberties, but yet, the LGBT community is still being legally discriminated against in may ways. That is a damn shame and is unacceptable!

Some of the most passionate and influential supporters of full equality for gay Americans include such civil rights titans as NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, and Congressman John Lewis of Georgia. Bartlett, deputy director of the gay National Black Justice Coalition as well as a member of the NAACP, joined the President in urging the NAACP board of governors to pass supportive resolutions. "The LGBT community needs you. Black LGBT people need you," he stressed.

Bartlett is absolutely correct. Even today, Black members of the LGBT community are still shunned by the African American Community as a whole. It's sad but "gayness" is often viewed as a "White boy thing." Bartlett stated that "LGBT issues still are seen as different, and that supporting them is supporting white LGBT people rather than black LGBT people." This is a total misconception that needs to be changed. According to a 1998 national survey conducted by Time and CNN, more Hispanics find homosexuality acceptable than Blacks do.

That survey showed that only 21% of African Americans think that same sex marriage should be legal, while 36% said that it should be legal. 56% of Hispanics find the homosexual lifestyle acceptable as opposed to 44% of African Americans. Judging by the fact that more than 70% of African Americans backed Prop.8, I don't think too much has changed since then sadly. More than half of Latino voters supported Proposition 8.

That is pretty hypocritical considering what Blacks and Hispanics have gone through and continue to go through in regards to discrimination and racism. Shame on us! The saying goes that if one of us is chained, then none of us is free. That is so true. America can't claim to be the land of the free until EVERY America has equal liberties.


Some LGBT Good news:

1.) Gay rights groups' attempt to intervene in a federal challenge of California's Proposition 8.
2.)Two Valley Episcopal priests expressed support for last week's decision by the national church not to stand in the way of the ordination of openly gay clergy. This is in Virginia by the way. In 2003, the Episcopal Church approved the ordination of V. Gene Robinson, the denomination's first openly gay bishop.