I'm 19, and a gay guy. I have been out since I was 16. I used to be fully on the LGBT rights side...
...until last night, when I found myself smiling at the news that North Carolina voted to ban gay marriage in their Constitution.
Why, you may ask?
Well, I also happen to be a black gay guy. And over the couple years I've been hanging around LGBT circles, I've noticed an astounding amount of racism among them. Yes, I know, racism is everywhere... but I've noticed that most of the racism I've been on the receiving end of has been from gay people.
How can I tell that the racism is from gay people? Well, I'd figure two guys holding hands is a pretty good sign, and seeing that in Dallas/Fort Worth here is common as pigeons nowadays. Plus, there's looking at Facebook profiles, clothing, bumper stickers, et cetera. I'd say 75% of racist crap hurled at me comes from them.
Upper-middle-class white guys--many of them gay--are busy gentrifying the inner cities of Dallas and Fort Worth... but are also busy looking down their noses at African-Americans who have been here most or all of our lives, years and decades before they even hatched the idea to move here from the suburbs. I get death glares from them when I ride my bike through what they consider "their" districts (Oak Lawn in Dallas is a perfect example) as if they're afraid I'll steal their hideous little pink mopeds or something.
I've also noticed how the majority of white gay guys (at least in my city) won't even befriend a black guy, as if we're a different species or something. Many of them are what I call "romantic racists", who shut out blacks (and sometimes even Asians too) from their romantic lives, under the guise of "just their preference", as if that's a valid excuse to be a racist. (For the record, I "prefer" catfish over fried chicken, but that don't mean I never eat chicken! In fact, I love both!)
Then, on the flip side, are the racist black gay guys. Not just the ones who won't date whites, but the ones who look down on other black guys who they don't think act "black enough". If I had an actual Oreo cookie for every time I've been called an Oreo, I'd be able to send them cookies to a third-world country and not only solve the hunger problem, but probably cause an explosion in the diabetes rate, too!
And no, I still don't know what "black enough" is. Perhaps if I drove a clown car that looks like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and a Terminator made love and had a hideous kid? No Earthly idea.
I've even been on the receiving end of physical attack where racial slurs were being yelled... and then later found out 3 of the 4 perpetrators were gay. The irony is disgusting.
My overall point is, the LGBT "community" needs to get its own house in order when it comes to discrimination before they start complaining about discrimination against them. A white gay guy that whines about not having equal rights and being discriminated against, then tells a black guy "no" because they're black, ain't nothing but a hypocrite.
I have stopped standing for gay rights, and don't plan to restart any time soon.
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