Thursday, November 13, 2008

My hate is better than your hate!

I haven't blogged in awhile now, as I haven't had anything really strike me lately and inspire me to take up the pen (keyboard?) again. There was, of course, the recent US Presidential Election that blew my mind and broke records across the board for voter turn out, youth voters, first time voters, etc., not to mention how it made history in general, but as much as I was touched by that election and personally inspired by Barack Obama, I couldn't bring myself to blog about it. I mean, what was there to say? It was all a great whirlwind of excitement, hope and even frustration at times, but there was nothing special for me to point out that people weren't already thinking and feeling, or that hadn't already been beaten to death by other bloggers or media outlets. And that's cool.

But now that the dust has settled, the other issues that were voted on that night, specifically the issue of banning gay marriage in California, have been raising my eyebrows. The vote turned out unfavourably for anyone who happens to be a homosexual (or anyone who happens to have a soul for that matter) - 52% voted for the ban, 48% against. Pretty close, but still, no cigar. And in that light, while surfing the luscious, salty waves of the internet today, I came across something that struck me to my very [feminist] core.

It's the issue of black voters being homophobic. Now, of course not ALL voters who HAPPEN to be black are homophobic, but according to a few credible sources, one of those being The Guardian news, the stats show that "black voters went 2 to 1 against gay marriage". Interesting. This resonated with me particularly, because I derive my understanding and support of feminism from the works of bell hooks, a black American feminist writer. hooks essentially argues that feminism is not about banging loudly on the table just for women's rights and equality and ignoring other issues, but about the conviction to end all forms of oppression and discrimination, no matter whom they are directed at. hooks emphasizes that one can not call herself/himself a feminist and yet still be racist, homophobic, or prejudice in general. I have to agree with her. You can't actively support one form of discrimination and condemn another, right? It just doesn't make any sense, as a matter of principle... right? Wrong.

Obama himself has been quoted on this issue: "If we are honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community. We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them."

Giles Fraser of The Guardian sums up Obama's stance nicely: "Taking his scriptural text from Joshua, Chapter 6, the story of the walls of Jericho, the now president elect emphasised that although the walls were too strong to be breached by sheer force, God's plan was that if his people would stand together and march together and, at the sound of the ram's horn, speak with one voice, then the walls would fall. In other words, there needs to be greater solidarity amongst people that have experienced discrimination."

Exactly.

So what boggles my mind are guys like this one:

http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2007/05/rev-gregory-daniels/

Reverend Gregory Daniels. "A key player in the religiously based black anti-gay movement". Daniels has traveled around America to states where same-sex marriage is legal, and has confronted and lobbied lawmakers on issues related to homosexuality. In this reprint of an interview with Daniels, found at the link above, the Reverend has said that he "chose" not to become gay, even though there were times growing up where he may have become susceptible to the influence of homosexual tendencies, such as being a broke teenager and seriously considering the offer when an older man repeatedly propositioned him with money for sex, which he managed to get out of by, you guessed it, getting a job. Or how about the fact that Daniels found himself wanting to play with his sisters and their paper dolls more than he wanted to horse around with his brothers. Apparently "cooking and cleaning house for his mother" also made him apprehensive that people were going to think he was a "sissy", which is what finally prompted him to "decide" not to be a homosexual. Riiiiiight.

This is what just kills me about this shit. The social conditioning of children, of everyone for that matter, to believe that if they are to align themselves with the acceptable gender based on their biological sex, then there is a list of activities that are okay for them to participate in, and another list of activites that they should not participate in, if they want to be fully accepted into the "boy camp" or the "girl camp". It's really absurd to me, and entirely unfair. I have to say that I firmly believe one of the biggest challenges we face as the human race is getting over these completely arbitrary metaphorical "lists" of acceptable appearance and behaviour for each gender and just allowing people to be individuals without punishing them, without judging them and hurting them. Maybe the guy just wanted to play with paper dolls and interact with some girls, instead of being punched in the arm by his brothers or wrestling on the lawn (I believe those activities are on the "acceptable" list for boy behaviour.) Or maybe he's actually gay and recognized that people would likely judge him and punish him if he admitted to it, so he consciously chose to hide from his own truth. Either way, it is deeply sad to me that he felt he had to change who he naturally was in order to just survive.

Then again, in this particular case, the good Reverend might have a few other mental issues we need to take into consideration. *ahem* The main reason that Daniels was getting so much attention about this issue is that he was quoted in the New York Times February 2004 issue as saying: “If the KKK opposes gay marriage, I would ride with them.”

Really? Really?? Alright, come on, now. Re-think that statement. This guy is aligning himself with the friggin' Ku Klux Klan, for christ's sake. And HE'S BLACK!!! What the hell is going on here?!!?!

According to Daniels, it is not division, or discrimination, or drugs, or vicious cyclical poverty, or the sex trade that has crippled the black community. No, no, not at all. It is, in fact, homosexuality, that has "destroyed the black community.” Dun dun dunnnnn.. Big ol' evil gay folk, ravaging the ties that bind! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

Bottom line: You can not perpetrate and support hatred and discrimination against one group of individuals, and denounce it for another. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't fly. If you choose to do this, then you are no better than a rascist or a white supremacist or any other kind of bigot out there, Reverend. It's really just as simple as that.

The funniest part about all this (yes, there's a funny part) was a letter that Rev. Daniels received from a black woman after this statement about the KKK became public. “What do you think they gonna do to you,” she asked, “after the ride?”

I rest my case.