This is part of what are you doing I said I would ask to myself and to others on Daily Kos.
Since the November 4th election, and the passage of the odious Prop 8, there has been some very interesting thoughts going on in the blogosphere and particularly here on Daily Kos. Mainly, there is alot of anger and nastiness, and a lot of the hidden racism and white skin privilege that many ( not all, not a majority, but quite enough) who call themselves 'progressives' came out into fore. I personally have had quite enough, and this will be first and only action I will take against it- I am calling out the Kossacks who rest ever so easily on their classism and white skin privilege to. It's crappy, it's retrograde and frankly, it's annoying.
For past few weeks, and quite a few years, gay americans have described their struggle to simply be - not special rights, just a right to simply be- as being akin to African- Americans and to the Latino struggle.
That is the wrong frame, yet it is used again, and again, and yet again. Why is this done, when it is clearly the wrong frame in which to describe the struggle to be yourself, to have the right to set up your own household, have the right to set up legal partnerships ( aka marriage) and have children?
I believe that part of using another group of citizens and their experience so freely is an effect of white skin privilege (see this incomplete snapshot for the definition.) I will hazard a guess and say that the majority of Gays/Lesbians who respond here on Daily Kos are white- just based on the continous and erroneous referencing to the KKK, segregation of blacks, David Duke, et al. To be black and gay is a double bind, and require more sophisticated language and referencing, and most black gays ( not all, not a majority, but most) would not throw out such reference so cheaply, as if it was someone else's old sweater.
Of course, being someone else's clothing, it does not fit. A couple hundred years of legalised theft, rape and cruelty in service to build the most wealthiest country the world have ever known does not compare- will never compare- to being gay.
There lies the insult and the problem. After prop 8 passed, there were plenty of 'blame the blacks(or the Catholic browns)' based on an incomplete poll taken by CNN. Even after it was shown to be divided by age- older black people voted for, younger black(and brown) folks against- there was plenty of truly insulting 'blacks are hompohobes' chatter both here and throughout the blogosphere ( yeah, I am looking at Andrew Sullivan) Of course, the fact that Prop 8 would have passed with white people in California- the home of Reagan- got no more than a breath, if that.
That similar odious laws passed in passed in Oregon, land of the supposed white liberal and other states got no mention, but the not so veiled contempt and white skin privilege was on full display right here when talking about ever so horrid blacks who, you know, are stupid and could voted for Obama but their backwards religious ways get in the way of being truly smart.
This is a great way to gay rights to simply spin in the dirt. It's insulting and annoying because with white skin privilege there is truly hostility and ignorance beyond one's frame of reference. White gays think that they know something about the Civil rights movement, and randomly pick episodes without knowing the whole. Of course they can, after all, they studied stuff in school, right? But do they know the black/brown other that they used as an example? Not really, but you see, they really don't need to know. They know what they need to know, without any other outside frame to change their world view.
I find that I am sick and rather tired of the pompous, self important, lazy worldview being advocated by so many white gays/lesbians here on this site and in my state. So what am I doing? I am not donating again to HRC, which ran a crappy campaign. I am not donating to any gay advocacy causes at all in Oregon. I am more than willing to give real world time to laywers and artists here Oregon if they are willing to work hard and frame human dignity in the proper terms, and not use my ancestors experiences as an accessory to their own privileged lives.
Oh, and before I get a comment, consider that African Americans have to fight for their lives and dignity for nearly 400 years. Stonewall was in 1969. Wanna compare experiences? Let's talk in 2369.
Thanks for listening.