Many African Americans become appalled when gays and lesbians attempt to associate their struggle for equality with that of the African American.  Yet there are both similarities and dissimilarities between the gay and lesbian struggle for equal rights and the African American struggle for equality. Each are outlined below.

(1) Similarities

  (a) Both African Americans and gays and lesbians have been discriminated against. African Americans because of their race, and gays and lesbians because of their sexual preference.

  (b) Both African Americans and gays and lesbians have been mocked and made fun of, because of who they are. Historically, and presently in the U. S., there were a great deal of jokes which made fun of black folks, and, there are a lot of people, who sit around and make  fun of  homosexuals.

 (c) Historically, in the U. S. , to be black in America meant that you were an outcast.  Gays and lesbians are considered by many to be outcasts.

(2)Dissimilarities

 (a) African Americans came out of a legacy of slavery, while gays and lesbians have not.

 (b) African Americans cannot hide their skin color, but, gays and lesbians can hide their sexuality.

 (c) Gays and lesbians have not suffered the magnitude of political oppression, economic exploitation, and social deprivation, that African Americans have experienced in the United States.

 (d) Historically, the Gay and lesbian struggle has been of of civil liberties, particularly the Ninth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which has been interpreted as the right to privacy.  Whereas, the African American struggle has been that of civil rights.  However, today the gay and lesbian struggle has focused more toward civil rights.

 (e) African Americans were considered three-fifths of a person in the U.S. Constitution, gays and lesbians were not.

 (f) African Americans were denied the right to vote, and to go into public accommodations.  This was not the case for homosexuals. 

As one can observe, the dissimilarities between the African American and gay and lesbian, struggle for equality outweigh the similarities.  By no means, am I, implying that the above are conclusive, but it does gave one an ideal concerning the similarities and differences between the two groups, and this is so important because often when I watch the news, I will notice the black clergy protesting against gays and lesbians, who associate their struggle with African Americans.  However, when the journalist or reporter inquire of the clergy as how the gay and lesbian struggle, differ from that of African Americans, the clergy will say something like, “I really do not know, but their struggle is just different from ours”.  Nevertheless, a few ministers have  occasionally given a decent response by saying that “being gay is a choice, but, being black is not”.

  There is, however, one group, who I think comes closer to the struggle of African Americans, than any other group in the U.S. , and that group is “Little People”.  Some may refer to them as  midgets, but the politically correct term is Little People.  Little People, like blacks, cannot hide their identity.  When a black person is walking down the street, he or she cannot hide his or her skin color.  The same scenario can be applied to a little person.  When one sees a little person, automatically, one will notice his or her size, and yes, little people get made fun of all the time.  They cannot join the military, and, due to their size, they get discrimination against in other walks of life as well.  So, I would say that little people have much more in common with the African American struggle, than do gays and lesbians. 

  The Bowtie Professor Speaks!

Leave a Reply