Why Gay Rights Is Not the Same as Civil Rights for Blacks, Part 2

(Read Part 1 here or here.)

Some readers may brand me homophobic for the views espoused in this article. I do not appreciate the label, which is similar to how some blacks label "racist" any non-black person who disagrees with their ideas. Let it be know that I am for the equal protection of all people under the law. I do not advocate the mistreatment of homosexuals because of their sexual orientation. For the record, I have homosexual friends. One of them recently asked to tape me for his TV program. I have lived under the same roof with a homosexual couple, who are two of the finest, funniest people I know. In fact, I can honestly say, if one of my children were homosexual, I would maintain a loving relationship with that child.

My beef is not with homosexuals in general, but with gay activists and their heterosexual sympathizers who seek to twist our arms towards their agenda, or force us to pay a high price for daring to oppose their relentless attempts to legislate homosexuality. Let it be said that most homosexuals do not fall into this activist camp. Indeed, some homosexuals actually disagree with the push to gain special rights for themselves.

When activists tell us that gay rights is no different from civil rights for blacks, they want us to respond in the affirmative, or risk being regarded as intolerant, homophobic, offensive, haters, etc.

Accused or not, I still argue that a reasonable observation of the basic elements of equal rights for blacks quickly reveal that the comparison to gays rights does not hold water. Indeed, activists have latched on to the civil rights bandwagon, because it is their best chance of garnering the sympathy they need to succeed in their cause. Let's continue from where we left off in Part 1 of this article.

5. Segregation

There was a time in America when restaurants, hotels, and other facilities displayed signs like "For Whites Only", "Colored Section", etc. Have homosexuals, lesbians, transgender and bisexuals ever been subjected to such discriminatory displays? Has any homosexual in America ever gotten on a bus or train and read a sign that says, "Gay Section", or "Heterosexuals Only"? Have schools ever been segregated along lines of homosexual students being separated from their heterosexual fellow students?

6. The Civil Rights Struggle

In their struggle for true civil rights that are actually found in the Constitution of the United States, blacks and their white friends were sprayed, had dogs unleashed on them, suffered floggings at the hand of law enforcement officers. Where is the equivalent of such a struggle for homosexuals? Where is the Rosa Park moment of the homosexual agenda? And who is the Martin Luther King Jr of the homosexual movement? Where is the "I Have A Dream" speech of the gay rights movement?

They call the demand to legalize or moralize sex between two men or two women a right on the same plane as what was denied black people? The equivalence robs some of us as bordering on sacrilege. Yes, I know I may be sued or jailed one day soon for sharing these views, but I do not fear that one bit. In fact, I may have lost some friends already for publishing my thoughts; I don't enjoy that, but it's worth the pain.

7. Former Status

There are many former homosexuals, but there are no former blacks. Also, there are gays who have proven to control their homosexual desires or tendencies temporarily, or long-term. By contrast, a black person cannot control or temper his blackness, whether temporarily or for a lifetime. The reason is that blackness is exclusively a matter of identity, whereas homosexuality is behavioral, though stemming from an innate bent.

8. The Marriage Test

When on May 8, 2012, North Carolina voted by a whopping 61% to 39% voted to define marriage in that state's constitution as a union between one man and one woman, some gay activists compared the outcome to North Carolina banning "interracial marriage" in the past. Another example of how eager these activists are to usurp the civil rights agenda for their cause.

This misguided comparison has tricked many blacks into sympathizing with the agenda of civil union or homosexual marriage. Some blacks are helping the campaign to win for homosexuals in this generation what blacks won for our people in the previous. I understand the thinking: black civil rights leaders do not want to be called hypocrites for denying to homosexuals what they won for their own people.

But is marriage between a black-and-white couple really the same as union between two men or two women? Is "gay marriage" morally or ethically on par with "biracial marriage"?

Years ago, in my ethics class, if I recall correctly, I was introduced to a simple litmus test to determine if a given behavior is really ethical or right: What if EVERYONE were to behave that way, would societies EVERYWHERE benefit? It is the test of universality.

Let's apply this test to "interracial" marriage, then to "gay marriage". If the entire human race were to switch wholesale to "interracial marriage", would the human race survive? A white husband and a black woman, or vice versa, can biologically reproduce a baby, and keep perpetuating the human race.

Now, let us propose homosexual union as the universal norm for marriage among humans. Would that form of marriage or sexual activity guarantee that humankind continue to thrive? The answer is obvious. Two men or two women cannot biologically reproduce a human baby, and when reproductive cycle ceases, humankind eventually becomes extinct. How can that be a good thing for all of us?

We know that not procreation is not the only reason for marriage or sex. And not every heterosexual union reproduces a human baby. There are options like adoption, surrogate mothers, and test-tube babies, which are commendable for couples who are infertile. Also, there are heterosexual couples who do not want to have children for various reasons. I get that. But that's the exception, not the rule, and the rule of procreation as an inherent purpose for marriage has preserved homosapiens thus far. Why normalize the exception when the norm has served to preserve the human race for thousands of years?

When homosexual activists and their sympathizers draw a straight line between black civil rights and their agenda, we should be courageous enough to let them know that they are belittling the significant, co-opting the special, and usurping what was won by the blood of honorable martyrs. I see in their political craftiness to grab the civil rights trophy a twisted form of envy directed at the authentic civil rights that blacks won. That's why I'm not falling for the lie that "gay rights" equal civil rights, that "gay marriage" is the same as "interracial marriage". Theirs is a reasoning that is mostly emotional, sensational and sentimental. But good feelings are not a sufficient basis for this grand proposal to redesign human civilization, and drag us all along, against our will.

Offensive Equivalence: Why Gay Rights Is Not the Same as Civil Rights for Blacks

What is more ridiculous than treating "gay rights" for homosexuals exactly the same as civil rights for blacks? That people really believe this deceptive reasoning that some otherwise intelligent people, yearning to be politically correct, have fallen for. Homosexual activists really hope most everyone else will fall for their dubious logic.

Homosexual activists are betting that people will just "feel for them", rather than "think about" the ramifications of the massive social engineering that they want us all to experiment with. It may well be a social experiment that dooms its guinea pigs....all of human society.

Common-sense people everywhere must confront and combat the homosexual intelligentsia in the arena of ideas. As an African-America, and with my gloves on, I step into that ring, prepared to get punched, and to punch back with some logical blows of my own. My premise is straightforward: Blackness and black civil rights struggle have nothing in common with homosexuality and gay activism. Here are my reasons.

1. Sense of Guilt

It is common for a homosexual or lesbian to feel guilty for his or her same-sex inclinations. That is very strange, if we are to believe that homosexuality is about a person's who a person IS ("being"), and not about what a person DOES (behavior).

Is a feeling of guilt usually associated with one's "being"? Example: An amputee may feel awful for losing his limbs, for "being" that way, but it would be abnormal for the amputee to feel guilty about his condition, unless he himself somehow caused the losing of his limps. The amputee may feel sorry for himself, but not feel guilty.

On the other hand, guilt is a feeling often associated with behavior....misbehavior to be exact. Whatever summons guilt is related to one's conduct, not his essence. If homosexuality is about "who homosexuals are" (their identity), as we often hear, then why do so many homosexuals harbor feelings of guilt for which they crave the affirmation of everyone else to ease that guilt? Why does the guilt-feeling homosexual have to be talked out of his guilt, to be counseled, to be persuaded or educated into believing he is okay? And why is it so important to his psychological well-being that the rest of society be brainwashed to condone his sexuality? Why all that battle going on at the conscience level?

Compare: As one born black, I may have felt inferior to a white person, but never have I ever felt guilty for "being" black. You know why? Because I have never at any point in any way caused or contributed to my blackness. The biological fact of my dark skin is purely natal, not behavioral.

2. Low-Income versus Elite Class

Historically, blacks have been at the basement of the economic ladder. Forty years after the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, blacks, in 2004, made up about 13% of the US population. That's about 36 million African-Americans, and their buying power was $688 billion.

By contrast, in 2004, homosexuals made up just 7% of the US population, or about 15 million persons. But their buying power was riding at a whopping $580 billion, projected to reach $660 billion by 2007, and $835 billion by 2011. According to the Commercial Closet, "The numbers grow annually in tandem with the overall U.S. population and its buying power." As the numbers show, the homosexual community is economically well off, though their efforts to align themselves with the black struggle have enticed them towards underestimating their income figures so they can appear nearly as poor as blacks. This is a laughable farce.

Furthermore, homosexuals' stroll with expensive gadgets exposes their "We are poor like blacks" facade. "For some time, gays have also been considered early adopters of technology, particularly online. A 2003 Forrester Research study shows that 80% of gay men are Internet users, compared with 70% of heterosexual men. And 76% of lesbians are online, compared with 69% of straight women. And they have been online longer. Almost 30% of all gay men and women have been online for more than seven years, compared with 18% of straight men and women. In addition, gay men are more likely to own portable MP3 players, browser-enabled phones and personal video recorders." ( Commercial Closet)

Indeed, there is much affluence within "gayhood", enough money to finance the campaigns of their preferred politicians. Homosexuals may be described as an elite club already, a wealthy one at that. Yet, not satisfied with all their perks, they keep making demands for even greater power, economic and political. It is shameless that gayhood is pretending to be just regular guys and girls in the same hood where so many blacks have hung over the years. I guess we should now switch our compassion from "inner-city blacks" to "inner-city gays"?

3. Selfishness on Display

Civil rights for blacks was as much about income as it was about equality with whites. The civil rights struggle was also about fair wages for sanitation workers and other low-income workers, many of whom were whites. In that sense, the civil rights battle was an unselfish struggle on the part of blacks, not only for themselves, but for all disadvantaged people within society.

Contrast that with the "gay rights" camp. Who else benefit from their struggle but only homosexuals themselves? How does any other group of people in society benefit from what homosexuals are demanding or getting. Isn't it all about them? How does their victory benefit the poor, the needy, the victims of sex slavery and human trafficking?

4. Slavery: Black Holocaust

Blacks were enslaved for no other reason than for the color of their skin. Homosexuals have never been enslaved on the basis of their homosexuality. Neither have homosexuals as a class known the holocaust of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Industry. Quoting the New York Times, "Estimates of how many blacks were lost at sea in the roughly 400 years of the slave trade in the Americas vary wildly. Some, like Mr. Akeem, place the figure between 100 million and 200 million. Others say perhaps as many as 14 million people perished. Whichever is true, many historians note that the numbers of enslaved Africans who died at sea were so great that sharks learned to follow the slave routes because they fed on the bodies thrown overboard."

How can someone read that and still believe "gay marriage" is like black civil rights? Show me the holocaust directed at homosexuals! Does it not border on exhuming the graves of the victims of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to parallel what Africans suffered as an ethnic group to the mostly made-up plight of homosexuals? (See Part 2 for more.)