Support equality, focus on real issues
By RONALD MOORE, Atlanta Daily World from the Web, October 9, 2004
Atlanta, GA -- In his classic "I Have a Dream" speech, Martin Luther King Jr. quoted from the Declaration of Independence, saying, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal."
Dr. King didn't qualify equality. He didn't paraphrase the Declaration, saying, "...all men except homosexuals are created equal."
Even he would have thought such to be heresy; yet, today, some of our leaders boldly set forth their intent to change other of our founding documents
-- from the constitutions of our states to the U.S. Constitution -- to do just that:
Discriminate against our citizens who happen to be lesbian and gay.
I'm talking, of course, about the current wave of bitterness aimed at "protecting marriage," and preventing gay unions.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that preventing gay unions is about anything other than discrimination.
For one, gay marriage is already illegal in Georgia. This debate is being exaggerated by people who are playing on your fears.
These are the same people who fifty years ago would have said racial integration should be outlawed by the state constitution.
Their goal is to deflect your attention from more pressing economic, educational, social and cultural issues.
Their intent is to increase voter turnout for the Republican party, and they have found that gay issues can be used to divide the black community.
Don't let them play you like that.
Although you may be against gay marriage, my experience as an African-American gay man is that most black people are still against discrimination and against making any people second-class citizens.
The state constitutional amendment on the November 2 ballot will prevent a person from having the right to visit a long-term partner in a hospital, it will prevent a couple from leaving their homes to each other upon death, and more.
You see, the proposed amendment reaches far beyond "protecting marriage" and defining it as only being a heterosexual arrangement.
This amendment also has the power to take many other rights away from gay and lesbian people, but proponents of this measure like to obscure that fact.
I hope you will open your heart and mind and see that the marriage between two loving, consenting, responsible adults is not threatening to you or your family or to society.
There have always been gay African-Americans. Just about every family has someone who never married; everyone always knows who that family member is, they just don't talk about it.
The difference now is that people like me do not live in shame, in secret, in hiding.
For one, sexual orientation is not a choice. I did not choose to be gay any more than I chose to be African-American.
I would not change either aspect of myself just to make life easier (on me or on you).
Don't fool yourself that "gay" is so very different.
Take me, for example: I am your brother, your son, your nephew, your grandson, your uncle, your next door neighbor.
I grew up in the AME Church, went to college, pledged a fraternity, went to graduate school and have been a positive member of the African-American community.
I don't fit the stereotype any more than you fit the stereotype of what some people think of black people.
I am what God intended me to be: African-American, homosexual, 5'8 and bald.
I am a Christian, who is an active member of a United Methodist church and I believe we are all God's children.
There are many African-American ministers who agree with me, such as my former pastor, the Rev. James Forbes, of Riverside Church.
The black ministers who condemn us are the same ones who do not believe that women can be in leadership roles (except for perhaps their wives).
I feel sorry for gay African-Americans who continue to attend these mega churches that condemn us for our sexual orientation, yet take our money and let us play the organ, sing the solos and arrange the flowers.
This reminds me too much of slaves who accepted their condition so completely that they couldn't leave even when told they were free.
Likewise, the anti-gay comments I hear on African-American radio, comedy channels or music videos equate to the slurs and derision of a past generation who heard Amos and Andy-type comments.
They are stereotypical mockings that, even if intended as humor, degrade fellow human beings and send a message it is okay to treat someone else as if they are "less than."
And that's what this anti-gay marriage amendment is really about: Putting a group of people in their place.
Maybe this attack on human rights is happening because gays and lesbians are among the few groups against which it still seems politically correct to discriminate.
Maybe it is happening because it is easier than dealing with the real issues facing us, as Bill Cosby has pointed out recently.
Thank God there are African-American leaders who affirm that we are ALL human beings.
Coretta Scott King, John Lewis, Shirley Franklin and others have spoken out and acted out against discrimination against gays.
Do as these leaders do: Educate yourself about the proposed amendment, and realize that it is about much more than marriage.
It is about denying equal rights to other Americans. No one should fear someone who is different so much that it then seems okay to treat them as less than human.
We should not stand for this whether the message comes to us from pastors or politicians.
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Ronald Moore |
Ronald Moore is Diversity Manager for the Corporate Functions group of Hewlett Packard, a global group of more than 13,000 infrastructure employees. He is involved with various Metro Atlanta organizations at the board level. Moore is past president of the Atlanta Executive Network, and is an active member of St. Mark United Methodist Church. He can be reached at RONALDATLANTA1@aol.com. (Posted October 7, 2004)
(Emphasis Added.)
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