With the election of President-Elect Barack Obama, one can easily say that our country has changed forever. The fact that we have just voted in an African American to the highest office of our nation speak volumes. Yet there are things that haven't changed at all; in fact they've gone backwards.
You see, also on November 4Th, we as a country voted against gay marriage in the state of California. This is something that was given and then taken away. It wasn't or isn't a matter of agreement or not, but a matter of civil rights. As a country, we took away something that was fought for a given. The people at the forefront of this decision behind the Mormon church: African Americans: about 70% voted in favor of this ban. The very people that fought for equality had now helped to take that same right away from people because they were different. How ironic is this?
As an African American, I can understand and relate to what's instilled in the minds of blacks during upbringing, regarding this issue. Most of us are brought up in church, the black church, where we're taught that God doesn't like homosexuals. Whether done purposely or not, this creates an obvious homophobic mentality. There's nothing to excuse this behavior because it exudes the exact same mentality that got us discriminated against, killed, beat up and so on.
Imagine if someone came along and said that blacks shouldn't have the right to vote? What if they were influential and rich enough to get the law passed. It's a scary thought, but that's how gays all over the country felt on November 4Th: a day that should have been a day for celebration all around.
It's time to wake up and make the change that this country so badly called for.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
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