A Comparison of Civil Rights Efforts
I have been pondering this topic for the past few weeks and came to some interesting points which I'd like you to think about. Before I deal with the sort of ground level human perception of it all, I'd like to get the facts and the basics out of the way.
What I will be discussing specifically is a comparison between the Black Civil Rights Movement and the modern Gay Civil Rights Movement. I won't be saying which is worse than the other or trying to lighten
the view of either movement, simply put, I am showing the similarities between a currently oppressed group and a previously oppressed group. Some major differences are the severity of action taken by the black civil rights activists. The action took the form of boycotting certain establishments that discriminated, sit-ins, and other form of protests. An extremist movement even took off "The Black Panthers" which to the dismay of most of the civil rights activists, took many volatile actions to achieve their goals. Currently, the gay civil rights movement employs marches, protests, petitioning city officials, and other forms of peaceful protest. The difference lies mostly in the fact that the black rights movement had more of a following, as not only did it encapsulate an entire race of people, but many white people from different regions. The magnitude created the massive spectrum that went from peaceful sit-ins, to the extremist violence.
Another difference is the reason
the groups were/are oppressed. Slavery and a rabid view of racism among whites was the major theme of the time which also contributed to some of the extremism among the activists. In the current struggle, people's religious beliefs are suppressing the homosexuals legal right to marry (and receive the legal benefits related). Their reasoning for this is summed up as "They are lying and aren't homosexual" as they do not believe the behaviour is natural or scientifically speaking 'existant.' Or "It infringes upon my religious morals". This is a big difference as no white person disputed that the color of african american skin was existant or contradictory to their religious beliefs, save the KKK who used the bible to visciously attack blacks. The magnitude of the Gay Rights Movement is large but significantly lower than the Black Rights movement due to the fact that the oppression is against a group whose 'oppressed trait' is something not outwardly seen, and sometimes supressed by the holder.
I fully believe if homosexuality was scientifically proved to be a genetic/DNA factor(which in many cases it already has) and was anounced by the scientific community to be such, it would be rebuked by the oppressive movement in the same way that african american's were scoffed at when pleading for their human rights. In my blog I try to think about situations as a whole and combat my and societies ignorance with reason and logic. And I hope my readers promote the pursuit of logic and humanity, over oppression due to factors beyond control. I try not to mix my personal life into my queries but as a homosexual myself, I cannot deny the natural presence of homosexuality in my life. My body does not physically react in the same way a heterosexual body would given the stimuli of a naked woman or a naked man. That is how I view it scientifically, logically, and as a human being with compassion.
Exeunt.
What I will be discussing specifically is a comparison between the Black Civil Rights Movement and the modern Gay Civil Rights Movement. I won't be saying which is worse than the other or trying to lighten
the view of either movement, simply put, I am showing the similarities between a currently oppressed group and a previously oppressed group. Some major differences are the severity of action taken by the black civil rights activists. The action took the form of boycotting certain establishments that discriminated, sit-ins, and other form of protests. An extremist movement even took off "The Black Panthers" which to the dismay of most of the civil rights activists, took many volatile actions to achieve their goals. Currently, the gay civil rights movement employs marches, protests, petitioning city officials, and other forms of peaceful protest. The difference lies mostly in the fact that the black rights movement had more of a following, as not only did it encapsulate an entire race of people, but many white people from different regions. The magnitude created the massive spectrum that went from peaceful sit-ins, to the extremist violence.Another difference is the reason
the groups were/are oppressed. Slavery and a rabid view of racism among whites was the major theme of the time which also contributed to some of the extremism among the activists. In the current struggle, people's religious beliefs are suppressing the homosexuals legal right to marry (and receive the legal benefits related). Their reasoning for this is summed up as "They are lying and aren't homosexual" as they do not believe the behaviour is natural or scientifically speaking 'existant.' Or "It infringes upon my religious morals". This is a big difference as no white person disputed that the color of african american skin was existant or contradictory to their religious beliefs, save the KKK who used the bible to visciously attack blacks. The magnitude of the Gay Rights Movement is large but significantly lower than the Black Rights movement due to the fact that the oppression is against a group whose 'oppressed trait' is something not outwardly seen, and sometimes supressed by the holder.
I fully believe if homosexuality was scientifically proved to be a genetic/DNA factor(which in many cases it already has) and was anounced by the scientific community to be such, it would be rebuked by the oppressive movement in the same way that african american's were scoffed at when pleading for their human rights. In my blog I try to think about situations as a whole and combat my and societies ignorance with reason and logic. And I hope my readers promote the pursuit of logic and humanity, over oppression due to factors beyond control. I try not to mix my personal life into my queries but as a homosexual myself, I cannot deny the natural presence of homosexuality in my life. My body does not physically react in the same way a heterosexual body would given the stimuli of a naked woman or a naked man. That is how I view it scientifically, logically, and as a human being with compassion.
Exeunt.
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