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I think it's quite the toss-up as to who has been mistreated more in the history of the US - blacks or gays.
Ofcourse you do..... Some day when you grow up, you will realize how utterly ridiculous and idiotic that statement was and be ashamed. If that is a feeling that you are familiar with that is.
Ofcourse you do..... Some day when you grow up, you will realize how utterly ridiculous and idiotic that statement was and be ashamed. If that is a feeling that you are familiar with that is.
I am a grown, mature man, thank you very much. And my statement was neither ridiculous, idiotic, or something of which to be ashamed.
I think it's quite the toss-up as to who has been mistreated more in the history of the US - blacks or gays.
So in comparison, gays have experienced the terrible atrocities suffered by African-Americans for the past 150+ years, such as the slavery, lynching, rape, being beaten, and having zero rights at all.... You are so correct sir, it is a toss-up.
So in comparison, gays have experienced the terrible atrocities suffered by African-Americans for the past 150+ years, such as the slavery, lynching, rape, being beaten, and having zero rights at all.... You are so correct sir, it is a toss-up.
not too mention that, if...IF, they suffered any of the above it would have stemmed from their own behavior. As we know not the case of some one being mistreated because of the color of the skin they were born with. Like I said ridiculous, some one needs adult supervision before posting.
So in comparison, gays have experienced the terrible atrocities suffered by African-Americans for the past 150+ years, such as the slavery, lynching, rape, being beaten, and having zero rights at all.... You are so correct sir, it is a toss-up.
Yeah - they have.
During the same time period blacks were enslaved, the crime of homosexuality was a capital offense. Enslavement is bad, but so is execution.
The Jim Crow era was bad for blacks. It was bad for gays too. We weren't executed anymore, instead we were imprisoned for periods of up to life. Either that or confined to mental institutions in which castrations and lobotomies were routine "treatments" (something that continued into the 70s).
And do you not think gay people were subject to rapes, beatings, and even being killed by the public? Police use to raid gay bars and beat the living tar out of patrons. Even in places like San Francisco in the 70s, gay people carried whistles with them to call for help from other gay people when attacked - the police wouldn't respond to or investigate attacks on gay people, and were in fact often the attackers.
So yeah, gays have been horribly mistreated throughout the history of the US. It's somewhat silly to make comparisons, but it's not at all out of line to say the mistreatment of gays in this country has been on par with the mistreatment of black people.
During the same time period blacks were enslaved, the crime of homosexuality was a capital offense. Enslavement is bad, but so is execution.
The Jim Crow era was bad for blacks. It was bad for gays too. We weren't executed anymore, instead we were imprisoned for periods of up to life. Either that or confined to mental institutions in which castrations and lobotomies were routine "treatments" (something that continued into the 70s).
And do you not think gay people were subject to rapes, beatings, and even being killed by the public? Police use to raid gay bars and beat the living tar out of patrons. Even in places like San Francisco in the 70s, gay people carried whistles with them to call for help from other gay people when attacked - the police wouldn't respond to or investigate attacks on gay people, and were in fact often the attackers.
So yeah, gays have been horribly mistreated throughout the history of the US. It's somewhat silly to make comparisons, but it's not at all out of line to say the mistreatment of gays in this country has been on par with the mistreatment of black people.
It's silly to include the two in the same sentence.
Gays haven't nor will they ever experience the atrocities faced by African-Americans, you reference a few cases and portray them as if they are many, they are not. The gay community is less than 5% of the population, some put it at 1.7%, conservative studies would put it lower. They like to inflate these numbers by including the percentages who have had a gay or bisexual encounter in their life.... but the majority of these identify themselves as straight and practice heterosexual lifestyles.
The African-American represents 13.1% of the population, a lot larger.... Millions larger.
So even if the gay community suffered all the discrimination you would like to portray, it would be minuscule and mathematically it's easy to see you have never and never will come close to facing the discrimination they have if we're to go as far as to look at it in perspective of numbers.
Yes there is more gays then 50 years ago, but the population is larger as well and when you break it into percentages based on population the increase is minimal.
Do not say you faced the same. You are allowed to walk up to another person and are not beaten because you opened your mouth. You are forced to labor in a field for hours on end without hope of rest. You are allowed to voice your opinion and vote in this nation. You have been able to grow up live, be educated, and work how you see fit, don't pretend to be a victim of a cruel world you know nothing about.
It's silly to include the two in the same sentence.
Gays haven't nor will they ever experience the atrocities faced by African-Americans, you reference a few cases and portray them as if they are many, they are not. The gay community is less than 5% of the population, some put it at 1.7%, conservative studies would put it lower. They like to inflate these numbers by including the percentages who have had a gay or bisexual encounter in their life.... but the majority of these identify themselves as straight and practice heterosexual lifestyles.
The African-American represents 13.1% of the population, a lot larger.... Millions larger.
So even if the gay community suffered all the discrimination you would like to portray, it would be minuscule and mathematically it's easy to see you have never and never will come close to facing the discrimination they have if we're to go as far as to look at it in perspective of numbers.
Yes there is more gays then 50 years ago, but the population is larger as well and when you break it into percentages based on population the increase is minimal.
This is a bizarre and incredibly weak argument. Whether a group of people has been targeted for mistreatment and discrimination and suffered atrocity depends upon the size of that group? Really?
So if blacks were only 2% of the American population, their enslavement, subjection to Jim Crow laws, etc, wouldn't have been an atrocity? Strange.
So in comparison, gays have experienced the terrible atrocities suffered by African-Americans for the past 150+ years, such as the slavery, lynching, rape, being beaten, and having zero rights at all.... You are so correct sir, it is a toss-up.
Apart from the death penalty, life imprisonment, public floggings and facial disfigurement for homosexuals in the early days of America?
Or the bashings, lynchings, murder, rape, police raids and brutal assaults, imprisonment, public humiliation, government sanctioned discrimination in employment, housing and the military, being categorized as being mentally ill, never being able to live their lives openly, societal vilification (especially religious vilification and virulent anti-gay propaganda and lobbying in more recent times), being routinely tossed out and disowned by families just for being gay/lesbian etc ?
Here's just one example of how gay and lesbian people were treated in the past:
Homosexual Dachau? This name doesn't have anything to do with World War II. More than any other mental institution in the United States, Atascadero State Hospital was a chamber of horrors for homosexuals. The tag "Homosexual Dachau" was well-earned for its forced lobotomies, castrations and brutal treatments practiced at that facility. Hundreds of gays and lesbians were forcibly sent by their families to be cured of homosexuality which, as recently as the early 1970s, was considered a sexual and psychological disorder.
The 1950's were an especially dark time for homosexuals. Because of the witch hunts by Senator Joseph McCarthy, Americans started passing horrible and oppressive laws against homosexuality. Same-sex behavior was linked to treason and Communism in that period. As the witch hunt spread across America, homosexuals with no politics were sent to the worst institutions imaginable.
The most notorious was a Dr. Walter J. Freeman who perfected the ice pick lobotomy. He jammed an ice pick through a homosexual's eyes into the brain and performed a primitive lobotomy. He believed deeply this was the only way to cure homosexuality.
Source: Reuters, March 31, 1998.
Coretta Scott King, speaking four days before the 30th anniversary of her husband's assassination, said Tuesday the civil rights leader's memory demanded a strong stand for gay and lesbian rights.
"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice," she said. "But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'" "I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people," she said.
Source: Chicago Defender, April 1, 1998, front page. Speaking before nearly 600 people at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel, Coretta Scott King, the wife of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Tuesday called on the civil rights community to join in the struggle against homophobia and anti-gay bias. "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood," King stated. "This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group."
Source: Chicago Sun Times, April 1, 1998, p.18. "We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny . . . I can never be what I ought to be until you are allowed to be what you ought to be," she said, quoting her husband. "I've always felt that homophobic attitudes and policies were unjust and unworthy of a free society and must be opposed by all Americans who believe in democracy," King told 600 people at the Palmer House Hilton, days before the 30th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination on April 4, 1968. She said the civil rights movement "thrives on unity and inclusion, not division and exclusion." Her husband's struggle parallels that of the gay rights movement, she said.
Source: Chicago Tribune, April 1, 1998, sec.2, p.4. "For many years now, I have been an outspoken supporter of civil and human rights for gay and lesbian people," King said at the 25th Anniversary Luncheon for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.... "Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Ga. and St. Augustine, Fla., and many other campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement," she said. "Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions." - Chicago Tribune, April 1, 1998, sec.2, p.4.
Source: Coretta Scott King, remarks, Opening Plenary Session, 13th annual Creating Change conference of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Atlanta, Georgia, November 9, 2000. "We have a lot more work to do in our common struggle against bigotry and discrimination. I say 'common struggle' because I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right-thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination."
Source: Reuters, June 8, 2001. "We have to launch a national campaign against homophobia in the black community," said Coretta Scott King, widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the slain civil rights leader.
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