Thursday, October 29, 2009

Race and class divide is deep and wide amongst queer folks

The race and class divide amongst queer folks is wide and oh so deep, yet so often not talked about or addressed as one of THE issues in our community -- and it is.

So read this article, posted on The Griot! Here's an except:

Black working class gays left out of national gay rights agenda

When Obama delivered his "gay agenda" speech to the well-fed, well-scrubbed mostly white crowd of gays and lesbians at the Human Rights Campaign's Annual Dinner on Saturday night, anyone outside of the LGBT community would have assumed by the applause that the entire "gay community" is in agreement that access to serve in the military, gay marriage, and hate crimes legislation are our primary issues. But in reality, HRC's political agenda is not what I want. It does not speak for me, nor for the lives of many other black, poor and working class LGBT people.

Given the fact that we're in a long recession where hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in almost every month of 2009, and national unemployment numbers are at nearly 10 percent, why are we not talking about the issues that most people are concerned about - health care and the economy - and their impact on the LGBT community? The truth is, for many people at that dinner who could afford the cheapest ticket at $250 a plate, jobs and wages are of little concern.
Let's keep talking about our stuff, people!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Update from post racial America, October edition

This in the news this week (in case you though you were in a time warp, this is indeed October 2009):

Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License By Louisiana Justice of the Peace

A couple of "lowlights" from the article:

A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

Hmm, last I checked, anti-miscegenation laws were banned in 1967 by Loving v Virginia.

Seriously?!

Related post: A "Loving" kind of day, or is it?

Related photo -- heh!:





>Hmmm. Last I checked, all miscegenation laws banned by Loving v Virginia in 1967. 42 years ago.

Related post: A "Loving" kind of day, or is it?

Related photo: