Pacific Views

Getting a piece of the dream.

As this magpie knows from experience, being a lesbian or gay man in the US can be very difficult. If you are queer and a person of color, however, things can be even worse, as many communities of color are more conservative on issues of sexuality and morals than is the US in general.

African American gay men and lesbians have recently been the target of attacks from conservative black clerics and black Republicans, who claim that there is no comparison between the lesbian/gay civil rights struggle and that waged by African Americans. These critics are especially disturbed by the possibility that same-sex unions could be legalized anywhere in the US.

Partially in response to these attacks, a group called the National Black Justice Coalition is planning a national media campaign to educate the African American community about lesbian/gay relationships and same-sex marriage. Their goal is to show that discrimination against committed lesbian and gay couples on the basis of their sexual orientation is a social justice issue. The group also hopes to mobilize opposition to any constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriages.

Coalition member Maurice Franklin, who once worked for the SCLC, called on [civil rights] groups to work with them in the memory of Bayard Rustin, a gay black man who helped orchestrate the 1963 March on Washington with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"For decades, black gays and lesbians sat at the table silently and patiently while everyone got their piece of the American dream," Franklin said. "So today we are asking the civil rights leadership to live up to their legacy and moral compass and not let the American dream of freedom turn into a nightmare for gays and lesbians."

Via Washington Post.