This coming from Dan Savage: The biggest race-baiting idiot that the gay community unfortunately has to put up with. Go fuck yourself, Dan, you ignorant piece of shit.

Sorry, Dan.

Gay IS the new Black.

And Savage is the new Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson.

Casting everything that happens to a gay person as homophobia, and proof that society is out to get gays.

And it is not just Blacks who are tired of it.

21
it's 2009, not 1889.

Unfortunately when things like what Mr. Granderson put down are written, folks get visceral. I think he made small points but for the most part, I totally disagreed with him, especially omitting the fact that black gays were at Stonewall.

I guess my point is that everyone should try to not be visceral in putting down their opinion. The last time (Proposition 8 vote) something like this happened, blacks and gays were seemingly at each other's throats and who suffered the most? Lgbts of color like myself. All I am saying is that those who want to dispute Mr. Granderson's line should do so with a proper mixture of intelligence and anger and not just anger alone.

@22 That's fucked up.

Dan Savage is racist and irrelevant.

And the rest of us are really really sick of gay people whining about everything all the time.

Only fools compete for victim status.

Um, let's see... Dan Savage was all pro-Obama and now against.... kinda reminds me of the Iraq War... seems Danny boy has a problem making up his mind.

thanks for commenting on this Dan. I read it on CNN this morning and commented on it there. The fact is that his rhetoric is the same old, same old. It, in a different form has been used for half a century to justify black anti-semitism (one of many excuses is that becuase Jews can "pass" for white somehow it makes villifying them less condemnable).
As far as the report of 2 gay men using the n-word. Well I have personally heard more than 2 straight black men spouting anti-gay, misogynicistic, anti-semetic bs. Why does the unverified report that 2 gays made racial slurs mean all gays need to up their game.... whilte thousands of veriable incidents of black bigotry that haven't demanded the same. The most recent is Jerimiah Wright's "them Jews aren't letting Obama talk to me" rant. It was ugly, but Jerimiah is back on the tour circuit, reputation unscathed amoung his followers. How many instances like this does it take until blacks are deemed to need to look at THEIR bigotry? How many?

@40. "Danny-boy"? Would you be calling a grown black man "boy"?

@27: Interesting post.

I'll start by saying that I don't think that black homophobia is any greater than it is among other races. It was about on par with everyone else.

But it is a bit much to have black folk call out gay folk for not having enough black faces in the gay movement, when I would presume that it is the fear of pushback from the black community that makes it harder for black gays to come out and vocally participate in the gay community. Does LZ honestly think that the way to endear ourselves to the black community is to dialogue with black people and have them come out? It sounds reasonable, until you remember that we are always being accused of recruiting. How exactly is it going to work for us to send white people into black communities and then all of a sudden their sons and daughters start coming out?

I'm @51. I should add that I am neither black nor white, so I don't have a horse in that bitch-fest. I don't know how bad it is for black folk (although since I am not white I have some inkling) nor do I know what it is like to receive white privilege.

I did like the point that someone made upthread about how at least black people receive support in their families, churches, and community. Gays often do not. Not that I think it is useful to have a victim-a-thon, but being able to "pass" is a mixed blessing. Being free to avoid prejudice by just denying everything true about yourself isn't really a benefit...

@52 - what exactly was racist about my post @51? All I'm saying is that outreach could be perceived in a negative way and we should be careful.

I guess I am just basing my post on things I have read by gay black people who have described how it is more difficult for black gays to come out. If I am mistaken, I am sorry.

@44
I wouldn't call a grown man, black or white, "boy".
Why do you ask?

48
If you are Mexican-American why are you using a white name like Mark?

@50... no YOUR people are known for their bigotry and treatment of their gay citizens.
Mark is 100% correct. The biggest anti-semities I've met are black and it is the same rhethoric that they are using against gays (fyi I'm not gay). Blame the victim. When you look at hate crimes where one person in black and the other is a white woman, jewish, or gay the black person is the perpetuator 99% of the time. God help anyone who points this out. We are told all 3 groups victimize blacks yet look at the hate speech that is out there. If a gay man (or woman, jew, asain) speaks about straight black men the way some black's openly speak about gays, blacks would demand he be shunned, and he would be. But it's not a two way street.

@64 I don't judge the world by how much they embrace " Afrolatino citizens".
It is NOT all about you. You need to up your own game before I start caring about about black folks being dissed. Obama's black preacher and the white supremist who shot up the holocaust museum (killing a black security guard) had the same opinions about jews. If the black community had any decency at all they would be ashamed about this and reflect on their own long standing pattern on intolerence. But no...........

Well, I don't think gay is the new black. But what does gay blacks not being upset with Obama have to do with anything? Saying that your blackness comes before your gayness in the same article just suggests that you're not upset with him simply because he's the first black president, not because he's actually doing a good job on gay issues. I don't think he's anywhere near as bad as Bush on gay issues, and I do believe he plans on moving on gay issues at some point. Perhaps political considerations are staying his hand. Or he just doesn't consider them as important. But, no, I don't think he's a huge homophobe. But I do think it's a good idea to put pressure on him.

And Savage is absolutely correct to point out the hypocrisy in blaming some gays for the N-word at post-Prop 8 rallies while saying that blacks (who did vote for Prop 8 at higher levels than whites, altho it's not necessarily as disproportionate as those exit polls suggest, since those exit polls were problematic) aren't responsible for Prop 8 passing. Of course, the true tale of the exit polls was that religion was responsible for Prop 8 passing (atheists voted against it at a rate of 90%... 90%!). That did mean disproportionately more black people, as black Californians are more religious than white Californians... but as noted, they're only 10% of the electorate. White people bear plenty of responsibility too.

Then he goes on to make the whole "gay vs. black" comparison, which is of course not terribly relevant to anything. And he doesn't even do a good job at it. Gay history starts at Stonewall, while black history starts at the beginning of slavery? Gays were being executed by the gov't, or murdered without repercussions for hundreds of years before Stonewall - while gays can insulate themselves to some extent against that by passing, it's not like the only fear was the fear of being arrested. It's like acting like the black history of oppression starts with Brown v. Board of Education. DADT is younger than Miley Cyrus? DADT is just a continuation of the homophobia that was already in the military! Gays were officially banned from the military and actively rooted out before - anti-gay policy in the military is older than Billy Ray Cyrus, and his dad too. Gays didn't start to exist at Stonewall, and neither did gay advocacy - gays have had to wait a long time for their rights too. *Longer*, in fact, since gays were being oppressed before the African slave trade even started.

Of course, the whole comparison is bullshit and irrelevant, since there are significant differences in how racism and homophobia play out, and not every gay or black person even experiences them the same way... and woe to both of us when a lesbian Native American comes along and schools both of us in what it means to be oppressed (i.e. I don't think the comparison is particularly productive). But, nevertheless, it does you no favors to act as if gays have only been oppressed for 40 years, self-contradictory comments about not wanting to trivialize gay oppression aside.

Why are blacks bristling at calling Obama's White House reception for LGBT leaders "too little, too late"? What does blackness have to do with a time-table for when Obama should act on his campaign promises to the LGBT community?

Is the article to be summarized as "Blacks had to wait a lot longer than you for rights and were more oppressed, so it's time to sit down and wait faggots (remember, the N-word outranks the F-word!), or blacks will get annoyed"? How does that make any sense?

You're such a dumbass, Loveschild. No one is defending my fellow Coloradan here; even your archnemesis Rob in Baltimore isn't doing that.

Gay white people should not be upset with blacks, per se, on the subject of anti gay marriage sentiment because the crux of the issue is due to religion, not race. In any event, there’s only one race – the human one.

F--king SPARE ME the pity party of the lily white always right supposedly 'gay rights' movement!! The bottom line is a-holes like Savage and those defending him FAIL on every level to see how full of it you all are! You shove your privilege in people of color's face EVERY chance you get then try to play the 'brother' crap and when THAT b.s. work play the blame the evil darkie game. It's stupid,arrogant,self-centered,self-serving,and VERY divisive let's get one thing and one thing straight[no pun intended]people of color black epsecially have felt rejected by the 'gay rights' movement because a LOT of white people want it that way! You all are the ones who turned this into a 'whites only' issue then have the nerve of nerve to be on the attack and try to play victim because god FORBID you ever be seen as those who share your skin color and allow you all your perks. Like the SAME old,white,Conservative males you lament by enjoy EVERY emnity from please you all get off on your privilege so don't whine to a group of people who have NEVER had any about how much it 'sucks' to be you!! and I'll be sure as ask Oscar Grant and Amadou Diallo and Sean Bells' families if being gay 'trumps' being black.

I also think it would be wrong to suggest that the No on Prop 8 campaign does not need to take responsibility for how poorly the campaign reached out to Black and Latino voters, and then blamed them for its passage--even though they're less than a third of the electorate combined. I read a great article in the LA Times shortly after its passage that was written by an African American lesbian who talked about how issues important to LGBTQ people of color (e.g., incarceration rates) are marginalized in the queer community, while they are then expected to line up to support gay marriage. She also talked about how the campaign did poor outreach in the Black community. I have also read about how leaders and activists familiar to the Black and Latino communities (such as Dolores Huertas) offered to do TV ads against Prop 8, but were rejected in favor of preachy, cliched commercials.

I think that we in the (white) queer community need to clean up our own house before preaching to African Americans. As a white member of the queer community, I assure you that my perception of the mainstream queer community, especially in places like California, is of a racist, classist, and elitist community. Otherwise the fight for gay marriage would not be so strong--instead we would be fighting for domestic partnership and for everyone to have those rights, because all you need to have a gay marriage is a religious official willing to marry you.