Presidents and Civil Rights

[ladyoflisquill]

Today is bitter sweet for me.
In the last twenty-four hours I have been brought to tears on numerous occasions. First, shortly after the results from the east coast polls were announced, Jesse Jackson talked to BBC news about his belief in the American people, his belief in Obama and his hopes that finally, finally, the road first laid by Martin

Comments

[xanthe]

I agree with every word you've said and I *feel* that pain. I hope this is a temporary setback - and in fifty years time (hopefully less) we'll have a gay couple as President and First Spouse.

[ladyoflisquill]

I do think it's a matter of time. One thing I felt when listening to Jesse Jackson and the way he talked about the change that had happened since he ran for office was the fact that twenty years ago no-one would have voted for a black president.

When the Black movement fought for their civil rights it was not so one day Barack Obama could be voted president, they fought for the same right to education and marriage and jobs as the rest of the nation. It was for the right to live their lives without discrimination.

Some people equate the gay movement with the black civil rights movement and right now the LGBT community is fighting for the similar rights. If it leads to a gay or lesbian president that would be nice but right now all we want is to be treated with the same respect and legal support as our straight brother and sisters.

As Martin Luther King said, "It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."

[ladyoflisquill]

I know! The strange thing is that I've heard talk that because it was paired with the presidential election vote and a lot more black voters went to the polls in CA they are saying this is why it was voted down. The black community is "known" for being more homophobic.

I don't know if that's what caused it but there was only 5% split so it could have made a huge difference.

[ladyoflisquill]

It's like 1 step forward 2 steps back.

That's exactly how I felt about it.

The way I understand how this happened was that a law was passed to allow same-sex couples to marry in June. An anti same-sex marriage group took up a claim to then change the CA constitution to say that marriage was between one man and one woman (the constitution had been gender neutral) therefore by the public voting yes it meant that the earlier law was overturned by the amendment to the constitution.

I will say that the judge who reviewed the petition before it went to vote made sure it was rewritten to make it include the wording that the proposition eliminates the right for same-sex couples to marry.

And still people voted yes... it makes me want to scream.

[gemmi999]

I never commented on this, which is weird because you and I pretty much made exactly the same post within a few minutes of one another. it is sad, and yeah...

Have you seen the Keith Oberman (sp?) comment making the rounds? It made me cry.

[ladyoflisquill]

I did see the vid. I posted it here only to look at my flist after-wards and see it on your page too. We're definitely on the same page with this one.

What I really liked about the Olbermann vid was that it wasn't about himself or his family or his friends but about civil and personal rights and LOVE!

Straight or gay, we need more people like him in the world.