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

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.