Dallas May Make History, Not that there's anything wrong with that

I see. Blacks were slaves. Gays were not (except for the black ones, I guess).

Therefore - the fact that gays are discriminated against (sometimes violently) is completely different from blacks being discriminated against (sometimes violently).

Laws used to be in place to restrict black civil rights. That means it's a different issue from gay rights.

You make perfect sense.

 

Dallas the city is gay so that makes sense.

 

It's the same movement. Civil rights are civil rights, not black rights. Civil rights are the protections and privileges of personal power given to all citizens by law. Like MLK said, justice is indivisible.


"Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood,"

"Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma . . . and many other campaigns of the civil rights movement," she said. "Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions."

 

Umm. I just did.

Your argument is just posturing. Because blacks were slaves they were especially discriminated against. Fine.

That hardly means that the quest for civil equality is any different with respect to the 1960s civil rights movement and the gay rights movement of today.

I don't think the onus is on me to show any more proof, rather I'd like you to actually explain how the aforementioned analogy is wrong, outside of referring back to some historical difference totally non-germaine to the argument.

If you mean to say that they were not the same with respect to level of discrimination, I can kinda see your point, although the only real disparity in that case would be slavery.

 

But were gays ever discriminated by the law like blacks were? Were they ever subject to something like Jim Crow laws?

 

It was legal to discriminate in service, willingness to do business, use of public facilities, and education of blacks. Lynchings went unpunished. Crime committed against blacks was virtually ignored. And I'd even venture to say that even after the Civil Rights movement, blacks are discriminated against at least as much as gays.

Gays have one kind of contract that primarily affects them that is not recognized legally.

Not that it makes anything right, but to say that the gay rights movement is the same as the Civil Rights movement is an insult to anyone who lived through segregation.

 

Dissociate the level of discrimination from the quest for civil equality.

 

I'm sorry, I can't. Equality is certainly the goal. But that doesn't make the movements the same in my eyes.

 

Oh, by the way, I hope the mayor is elected or defeated based on his ability to lead. I hope his sexuality plays no part in it. (But it's Dallas, so I don't much care.)

 

I'm not equating anything, dammit. I am showing the parallels between the two movements as a struggle for civil equality. That's why it's analogous.

As I said in my last post, I can understand an argument that there is a disparity in the level of discrimination, but that is not the same as saying the movement for equal civil rights is different in either case.

 

But why? They are highly interconnected. If you do as you propose, you can equate all sorts of things. Fat people have been discriminated against for years in galmour modelling roles. Is the "fat people as models" movement equivalent to the civil rights movement, since they are both a quest for equality?

 

Glamour modelling roles are not a civil right.

 

My prediction is that gay mayors will be the next fad all over America, especially once Dallas has a totally fab makeover and property values rise in defiance of the burst housing bubble.

They could have a new city slogan to make up for the Mavs:
"We don't choke, we swallow."

Seriously though, I'm kinda surprised. No city in my subjective experience has more urban expressions of misplaced redneck machismo than Dallas. Then again..."misplaced redneck machismo" seems an adequate description of both Dallas sports fans and the Village People.

Seems weird that in 2007 a gay mayoral candidate is news.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choke_City

 

But you couldn't even be openly gay in this country to fairly recently. You could hide it. I think that's the difference. In the history of the world who has been discriminated more? This isn't a contest. Nobody would win. You can still be killed for being gay in some countries. Coretta Scott King did go through the movement, her husband was killed. She dealt with countless death threats. Her home was bombed. Is she insulting herself?

 

Should American Indians be insulted for blacks equating black rights to Indian rights?