Moving Beyond Race on the Gay Rights Debate

[marmar]

from The American Prospect:



Moving Beyond Race on the Gay Rights Debate
The central role the black community has played on both sides of the fight should put to rest the notion that black folks are uniformly opposed to marriage equality.

Adam Serwer | December 9, 2009 | web only



Supporters of marriage equality were crushed last week when a marriage-equality bill in the New York Senate was defeated 24 to 38, despite high hopes that a few Republicans would cross the aisle and the bill, which had the support of New York's African American governor David Paterson, would pass.

The debate itself was curiously lopsided. Only one senator, Ruben Diaz Jr. of the Bronx, took the floor to argue against the bill. By contrast, those who supported the bill made one speech after another pleading with their colleagues to cast a vote for marriage equality -- and many of those who spoke were black.

Brooklyn Sen. Eric Adams, referring to openly gay Sen. Tom Duane of Manhattan (the bill's chief sponsor), likened the battle for marriage equality to the fight to end prohibitions against interracial marriage. "The same statements that are being made about Tom Duane falling in love with someone, and deciding he wanted to live in a relationship with that person, that's the same comment my grandmother in Alabama received when she wanted to marry my grandfather," Adams said. Queens Sen. Malcolm Smith compared Duane to Rosa Parks. Harlem Sen. Bill Perkins declared, "I can see Dr. Martin Luther King smiling down on us today, recognizing that his sacrifice was not in vain."

"My eldest brother was gay," Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson of Westchester said. "Publicly, that's the first time that I've said that. … For a long time it was not something my parents could admit, or something they could talk about." In an emotional speech, Hassell-Thompson recounted how her brother was so alienated from their family growing up because of his sexuality that he left the country. She described the years she spent tracking him down and convincing him to return home and how his partner was denied the benefits due to a spouse when her brother died. Defending her support for the bill, Hassell-Thompson said, "This bill is not about encouraging people, enticing people, but rather giving them the right to make the choice for themselves." ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=moving_beyond_race_on_the_gay_rights_debate