I found
this news article highly disturbing. At issue here is an effort to create a gay district, with gay-oriented houses and businesses.
This is one thing that really bothers me as a liberal about the left. We complain of the history of segregation and discrimination in this country. We hold dear to our ideals the colorblind tolerant society that MLK spoke of. But then we go and segregate ourselves.
Minorities and gays cannot fully integrate into society if we choose to surround ourselves exclusively with our kind. We cannot hope to change the hearts and minds of racists and create a tolerant culture if we live separate from it.
I want to see blacks and whites living as neighbors in Harlem and the Hamptons. I want to see gay activists and conservative Christians go to the same grocery store. I want to see Latino children play with white children, unsegregated by language and cultural barriers. Yes we should celebrate our differences and respect them. At the same time, we must not lose sight of our classless colorblind ideal.