MiApogeo.com - On Marriage | Separate but Equal

On Marriage | Separate but Equal

Written by MiApogeo Staff

When it comes to civil rights for all, it seems that we are our own worst enemy. On Tuesday November 4, 2008, over 60% of US Latinos and 70% of African American voters in California voted to elect the first African American president, Barak Obama. At the same time, they voted to restrict marriage rights for same-sex couples (Proposition 8).

Proposition 8 changes the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry, and defines marriage in the state of California as only between a man and a woman. While many organizations have expressed deep regret about the passage of Prop 8, they have also been very careful to refrain from blaming people of color (or others) for the passage of the bill. However, we must ask ourselves, as people of color who have suffered from myriad forms of bigotry and prejudice, how could we separate our own struggle for civil rights from that of another community? Since when has separate but equal been acceptable to us?

For many years, our civil rights leaders and church leaders worked together, stressing the importance of all us working together to achieve equality. The same exclusionary tactics once employed to prevent people of color from marrying who they chose (Surpreme Court case Loving vs. Virginia ended race discrimination in 1967) are now being employed by us as a community to prevent other adults from choosing whom they marry. As Reverend Deborah L. Johnson of Inner Light Ministries recently pointed out on NPR's "Tell Me More" with Michel Martin, there has been a disconnect in the minds of many people of color about the gay community. For many years, people have complained that the face of the GLBT community is not always reflective of or inclusive of queers of color. This disconnect may have been part of the reason that many Latinos voted for Prop 8. But, it does not excuse it.

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craigh: ...

This article ought to mention that church leaders themselves are partially to blame for Prop 8. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints reportedly spent $25 million on a campaign pass Prop 8. (I won't even get into polygamy in that church's history, clearly they would like the rest of the world to forget it.)

Or the folks on the pulpit in so many neighborhoods in California who actively encouraged their flocks to vote for it, they should be asked why it was necessary to get politically involved... perhaps government funding for churches in California could be better spent?

As for the argument that people who have experienced bigotry should be more sensitive to it affecting others, this is as old as the hills, and throughout history there are giant examples where the second one people becomes liberated, the first thing they do with their new freedom is find another group to oppress. Sadly the saying goes, "no matter how low you are, there's always someone else to look down upon."

As a straight, married person, it baffles me how someone can say allowing all people to marry can possibly harm "the institution of marriage", which is historically secular anyway, or what possible nightmare scenario could result from (gasp!) allowing people who love each other to formalize their relationship in ceremony and law.

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November 11, 2008
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Kenia: ...

Sadly, California was not the only state to raise barriers to the marriage franchise. In this case, it is not even separate but equal, because the fundamental inequities Prop 8 creates do not allow it.

I do think that those of us who are people of color and are LGBT have a special responsibility to speak out and demand change within our families and communities of color. It is a painful, arduous task, but it will not be accomplished from the relative comfort of the white LGBT ghettos.


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