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Are LGBT Civil Rights The Same As African-American Civil Rights?

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In the fight for full LGBT equality, let’s remember that inherently, our rights are the same as everyone else’s. The battle will be won only when we join together.

Are gay rights, or LGBT civil rights, the same as African-American civil rights? Are our movements the same?

This is a pretty touchy question — and a flawed one at that — but one I’ve answered several times, often because of the name of this site, The New Civil Rights Movement — which those who were active in the LGBT movement immediately following the passage of Prop 8 fully remember being our motto. But it’s more than that. Because there’s no difference — rights are rights, not because of the color of our skin nor because of whom we love. Rights are rights because we are all human. And human rights are what we’re fighting for.

To those who accuse the LGBT civil rights movement of co-opting the African American Civil Rights Movement, I say you are wrong. And you know who else uses that flawed argument? Traditional marriage advocates, like NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, and their latest ludicrous endeavor, the Marriage Anti-​Defamation Alliance (MarriageADA), a support network for people who feel they are living in fear because of gay marriage.

And do you know who else makes that flawed and false claim? Ultra-homophobe Sally Kern, the Oklahoma lawmaker who recently said, called gays “dangerous,” “sinful,” and “an enemy who wants to destroy us,” and accused the LGBT community of hijacking freedom and equality “to destroy the future of America.”

Buying into flawed arguments put forth by professional anti-gay haters is not the smart route to take.

I fully expect some readers to refute this claim, but before you do, read on.

I just finished being interviewed by Michelle Sinhbandith, better known to her listeners at Swirl Radio as Michelle Meow, about this very topic. (By the way, I’ll post a link to the interview when it’s up. I’m a big fan of Michelle — I hope you’ll listen to it.)

“Gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights.” That’s not my statement, that’s direct from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who time and time again has come out in support of civil rights for the LGBT community around the world. (Sadly, Secretary Clinton has yet to come out in support of marriage equality. We’re waiting…)

Still, let’s look further.

Julian Bond, the iconic former head of the NAACP, America’s largest and oldest African-American civil rights organization, during the 2009 New Jersey battle for marriage equality, delivered an eloquent and impassioned speech in support of gay rights being human rights. “Gay rights are civil rights,” Bond said, and then quoted Coretta Scott King, the late wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mrs. King supported full civil rights for all, including the LGBT community.

READ: Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Gay Strategist, Deserves Better

Mrs. King, back in 1996 — 15 years ago! — spoke in full support of LGBT equality. She also said, “I believe all Americans who believe in freedom, tolerance and human rights have a responsibility to oppose bigotry and prejudice based on sexual orientation.”

Perhaps one of the most confident and accurate comments in support of LGBT equality comes from New Jersey state Senator Nia Gill. In 2009, during the same marriage battle that Julian Bond fought, Senator Gill, who is also African-American, stood in support of marriage equality in her home state of New Jersey.

“It is a civil rights issue — not because African-​Americans own the copyright to civil rights, it is a civil rights issue in the analysis of the equal protection of the fourteenth amendment in the constitution. And maybe some in my community want to hold on to it, because it’s ours. Because our blood has been shed for the right to vote, and we jealously guard that as a re-​affirmation of being American. And so we hold it, because no one can do civil rights and have civil rights better than we do. That’s emotional, but it is certainly not an analysis of the constitutional imperatives that face us. It’s a civil rights issue.

“Each side has an emotional story to tell. So I am not involved in that. But I am involved in how does this strip people of the equality under the law. And as an African-​American and as a woman who would jealously guard all the civil rights struggles, this is a civil rights struggle on the magnitude and importance for the people who have died for the right to vote, for the people who have died to allow women the right to vote. And if I took a different stand, which would be a more traditional stand, that the community that identifies with me wants me to take, then I will have breached the tradition and the trust of the elders and the ancestors. And so I vote for the equality of marriage because I believe in the constitution.”

(Note: You can hear both Julian Bond’s speech and Nia Gill’s speech on this page, just below the “You might also like” boxes.)

The LGBT community is lucky to have the support of so many icons of the African-American Civil Rights Movement supporting our movement and our struggle.

Where are LGBT supporters of the African-American Civil Rights Movement — which is far from complete?

In out interview today, Michelle talked about Troy Davis, and his execution.

We have a problem in this country. America ranks number one in the world for putting people in jail. That’s right — we have more people in jail per capita than any other country around the world. And guess what — blacks in America are incarcerated six time more than whites. Why is that?

(Take a look at state by state statistics.)

How about this: Blacks make up just 12.6% of the U.S. population, yet  35% of all people executed in this country are black. Why is that?

The only LGBT organization I could find that made any reference to Troy Davis (and I am very happy to be called out if I’ve missed any!) was the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). That’s not only unfortunate, it’s a scathing indictment of the avenues we as a community have barricaded from our fight.

READ: Death Penalty: We Are All Troy Davis. And We Are All His Executioners.

Because it is a fight, and it is a shared fight, and we have so much in common, and so much more work to do.

I don’t pretend I’ve done enough. I’m not an expert on the African-American Civil Rights Movement, nor do I think of myself as an expert on our LGBT civil rights movement.

But I could do a better job reaching out to other communities. Most of us, I think, can.

A wise man told me a few years ago that people only fight for their own self-interests. That may be true (and, I think, more true of conservatives than liberals,) but isn’t it in our own self-interest to fight for the interests of other minorities? We cannot possibly achieve full equality on our own. Let’s get better at working together.

 

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‘Stop Talking’: Johnson Suggests Jeffries Is Lying in Marathon Budget Speech

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July 3, 2025

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House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in an apparent attempt to prevent the Republican Speaker, Mike Johnson, from passing President Donald Trump’s massive budget bill in the dead of night, has been delivering a speech on the floor for over six hours, and may break the record of 8 hours and 32 minutes set in 2021 by then GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Speaker Johnson reportedly allowed minimal time for debate on what Trump calls his “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which cuts Medicaid by about $1 trillion, and forces cuts to Medicare and SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, by hundreds of billions of dollars while carving out tax breaks that largely favor the wealthy. An estimated 17 million people could lose insurance as a result of the legislation.

Once Leader Jeffries concludes his remarks—which he began around 5 AM—Johnson will put the bill to a final vote, and he’s anxious to get the legislation to the President’s desk before Trump’s arbitrary July 4 deadline.

READ MORE: Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms

“What is contemplated in this one big, ugly bill is wrong,” Leader Jeffries said, as NBC News reported. “It’s dangerous, and it’s cruel, and cruelty should not be either the objective or the outcome of legislation that we consider here in the United States House of Representatives.”

Jeffries also called it “cruel” to cut Medicaid.

“Republicans are trying to take a chain saw to Social Security, a chain saw to Medicare, a chain saw to Medicaid, a chain saw to the health care of the American people, a chain saw to nutritional assistance for hungry children, a chain saw to farm country and a chain saw to vulnerable Americans,” Jeffries added.

Speaker Johnson, speaking to reporters, appeared displeased.

“If Hakeem will stop talking, we’ll, we’ll get the job done for the American people,” Johnson, using the Democratic Leader’s first name, told reporters.

“It takes a lot longer to build a lie than to tell the truth,” Johnson claimed. “So he’s really spinning a long tale in there, but we’re excited. The people will see the effect of this bill—the extraordinary legislation.”

Johnson offered no evidence to support his accusation.

READ MORE: Trump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report

“It’s going to get the economy humming again, really, at a record pace, and it will help every American,” he added.

“So the sooner we can get to it, the sooner the Democrats will stop talking, we’ll get this bill done for the people, and we’re really excited about it.”

Critics blasted Speaker Johnson.

Walter Kimbrough, a three-time HBCU president, responded by posting a meme quoting the famous historian Alexis de Tocqueville, that reads: “It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Special Place in Hell’: Top Dem Slams ‘Cult’ of ‘People Who Take Food Away’ From Kids

 

Image via Reuters 

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Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms

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2 hours ago

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July 3, 2025

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Well-known veteran Democratic strategist James Carville is out with a second dire warning about President Donald Trump and the 2026 midterm elections.

Earlier this week, Carville, a political consultant and strategist since the 1970s and now a political commentator, warned that Trump might try to rig the 2026 elections in one way or another—including, he suggested, by possibly trying to cancel them.

On Wednesday night, he offered up another possibility: martial law.

On NewsNation (video below), Carville predicted a “Democratic blowout” in this November’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, and that President Trump will be forced to see the writing on the wall.

READ MORE: Trump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report

“I think he’s gonna read the election,” Carville said. “And I think he’s going to see this big, beautiful bill, is about 25 points underwater. It’s going to be 30 points underwater,” Carville added, referring to the Republican budget bill that guts Medicaid and Medicare, and is likely to pass the House and head to Trump’s desk for a July 4 signing.

“He’s going to see a massive defeat coming, and he’s going to try to do anything he can to extricate himself in that defeat,” Carville warned.

“And I would not put it at all past him to try to call martial law or declare that there’s some kind of national emergency in the country, or anything like that, because the hoofprints are coming, you can hear ’em, and they’re gonna get a shellacking in November of ’26.”

READ MORE: ‘Special Place in Hell’: Top Dem Slams ‘Cult’ of ‘People Who Take Food Away’ From Kids

Mediaite noted that “Bill O’Reilly and Stephen A. Smith also joined the panel discussion, with O’Reilly mocking Carville’s mention of ‘martial law,’ calling it a ‘scare tactic’ and arguing the economy will dictate the midterms.”

On Tuesday, Carville spoke about Trump with former CNN journalist Jim Acosta.

“I don’t put anything past him, nothing,” Carville warned. “To try to call the election off, to do anything he can. He can think of things like that that we can’t because we’re not accustomed to thinking like that.”

“You know people come up to me all the time and say, ‘James. I’m really scared,’” Carville told Acosta on “The Jim Acosta Show.”

“I said, ‘you should be, you have every reason to be scared. Don’t kid yourself,’” Carville added.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Threatens to Block NYC Democratic Mayoral Nominee He Calls a ‘Communist Lunatic’

 

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Trump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report

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19 hours ago

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July 2, 2025

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President Donald Trump reportedly appeared to be unaware that the Republican budget legislation, formerly his “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” cuts approximately $1 trillion from Medicaid. In a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Trump told moderate Republicans not to cut Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security.

“Trump still doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp about what his signature legislative achievement does,” NOTUS reports. “According to three sources with direct knowledge of the comments, the president told Republicans at this meeting that there are three things Congress shouldn’t touch if they want to win elections: Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”

The legislation not only cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid, it effectively forces cuts of hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare, and takes a large chunk—also possibly hundreds of billions—out of SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The President has repeatedly vowed he will not touch Medicaid.

And as recently as Tuesday, Trump wrote: “Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security Benefits are not being cut, but are being STRENGTHENED and PROTECTED from the Radical and Destructive Democrats by eliminating Waste, Fraud, and Abuse from those Programs.”

READ MORE: ‘Every Reason to Be Scared’: Strategist Worried Trump Could Try to Rig or Cancel Midterms

“As the President has said numerous times, there will be no cuts to Medicaid,” a June 29 White House memo claimed. “The One Big Beautiful Bill protects and strengthens Medicaid for those who rely on it—pregnant women, children, seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families—while eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.”

That memo also claimed, “Medicare has not been touched in this bill— absolutely nothing in the bill reduces spending on Medicare benefits.”

At least 17 million people will lose health care coverage due to the bill’s cuts, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

READ MORE: ‘Special Place in Hell’: Top Dem Slams ‘Cult’ of ‘People Who Take Food Away’ From Kids

Critics blasted the President.

“No matter how far into physical or mental decline he was, there was never a single moment in Biden’s presidency that he appeared to be as checked out about what his administration was doing as Trump appears to be about this bill,” wrote Yahoo Finance reporter Jordan Weissmann.

“Imagine for a moment if Joe Biden did not know at a basic level of generality what the signature piece of legislation he was attempting to pass contained. The media outrage would be measured on the Richter scale but oddly, Trump is not held to this standard,” added another social media user.

And Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias made this request: “Can a reporter ask Trump to explain what Medicaid is? Does he know?”

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Threatens to Block NYC Democratic Mayoral Nominee He Calls a ‘Communist Lunatic’

 

Image via Reuters

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