This weekend, I saw one of the top 5 movies of the year – Milk, starring Sean Penn. How I wish this movie had been released prior to the passage of California’s Prop 8. It seems incredible to me that 3 years after defeating Prop 6, we have moved so far back in terms of Gay rights. As a few brave states move toward legalizing Gay marriage (why is it called gay marriage – why isn’t it just marriage? Never mind, I know the answer to that), many states are moving to constitutionalize bigotry and hate. I have some questions to ask for whoever finds this blog:
1. if someone African-American reads this, can you say “miscegenation”? It wasn’t all that long ago that interracial marriages were illegal. Why aren’t more African-Americans fighting for Gay marriage?
2. Where is the next Harvey Milk? I’ve been out for 31 years (yikes! I am a tired old queen!); I can’t name a single national Gay Rights leader since him.
3. Where is Cleve Jones? And why isn’t he a national leader? He was directly involved with Harvey Milk, and founded the Names Project. Where is he?
4. Has the Gay community become so complacent because of what we’ve accomplished that we no longer have the courage to fight for what we haven’t?
I have to say that I shoulder some of the burden myself. The last time I went to a political meeting was in the last 70s, when I was 19. And frankly, that was to meet men. In the last 30 years, I can honestly say that the only overtly political action I’ve taken has been to protest proposed cuts in HASA in New York City last year. I vote, but that’s about it. So what, besides a movie that Hollywood has been talking about making for 20n years but was too chicken to actually make, has spurred me to write this? An Ecuadorian immigrant died this week, after being attacked while wlking in Brooklyn arm and arm with another man. While he was being beaten, the attackers were yelling anti-Gay and anti-Hispanic slurs. I hope the story is getting national press. The ironic thing is he was straight
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Posted by sschimel 