I have two gay uncles, so this issue is something that is not far from me. Every year my uncles come to our house for Christmas Eve, and every Christmas Eve we go to church. But it was not until recently that my mom questioned wether or not it was morally correct to attend a Catholic church service with two people that aren't allowed to get married because of the beliefs of some of the people standing in the same room. Although not all people of this faith, including my family, believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, a lot of people do. Many representatives have used this excuse to prevent gay marriage from being legal in America.
Comparing the struggles of homosexual people and other groups of people that have been discriminated against throughout the history of America is accurate because of the way people people approached this issue at first, and how progress is countered by negative reactions. Richard Alther says, ""Forget these jerks," some say. My response: Forget them like we forget racists because it's decades after the Civil Rights Act and we have a black president? Forget them like we forget misogynists and the ongoing subjugation of women because Susan B. Anthony and Roe v. Wade happened so long ago? Forget them like we forget anti-Semites because the Holocaust is ancient history for so many under 40?" I think that this is such a smart way to address the problems with the lack of progress of gay rights. I am not saying that there is not progress because there is, but the fact that there still is this backlash everytime something good happens for this community of people (and America as a whole) represents that there is a long way to go.
Comparing the struggles of homosexual people and other groups of people that have been discriminated against throughout the history of America is accurate because of the way people people approached this issue at first, and how progress is countered by negative reactions. Richard Alther says, ""Forget these jerks," some say. My response: Forget them like we forget racists because it's decades after the Civil Rights Act and we have a black president? Forget them like we forget misogynists and the ongoing subjugation of women because Susan B. Anthony and Roe v. Wade happened so long ago? Forget them like we forget anti-Semites because the Holocaust is ancient history for so many under 40?" I think that this is such a smart way to address the problems with the lack of progress of gay rights. I am not saying that there is not progress because there is, but the fact that there still is this backlash everytime something good happens for this community of people (and America as a whole) represents that there is a long way to go.
The saying "one step forward two steps back" seems to be a parallel to what Alther is saying. We can't just ignore the people who so violently reject the ideas of equality for gay people. We have to remember that during the Holocust, America turned a blind eye for quite some time. It was not until everyone was forced to face this horrible situation that it actually changed. There is no way to ignore these issues because if we do, we will only be changing part of America. I think that it is completely necessary to understand why people are so against this so that we are able to change the reaction to progress.
I remember talking about this issue in class but you really brought a lot of other things to the table because you can speak from your own experience with your uncles. I think your parallels to other times in history like civil rights and the holocaust help to compare to this current issue of gay rights. I do think that now that 15 states in America are allowing same sex marriage some people forget that it is still very hard for homosexuals to live our society because there are still a lot of haters out there. You bring up a good point that we can't ignore the people who are against same sex marriage, we have to acknowledge how hard it is for homosexuals in our society so that we can avoid taking 2 steps back now that we have taken 1 step forward.
ReplyDelete