We have made quite the stride, but we have sadly replaced a minority

[nadinbrzezinski]

with a minority

Today I am elated that a black man is about to become the 44th President of the United States... but my heart is heavy

Proposition Eight, and similar laws in other places of the Union, remind me that hate still remains in the society

We have replaced the Negro for the Fag.

We have replaced the wetback (not fully) with the fag

We have replaced in the popular imagination the Jew with the Fag

And what troubles me is that when we pass laws that take away rights... we set the stage to go back to Separate but Equal, no Italians or Irish served here, Negroes and Spicks off the grass... and so it goes

The battle never ends

And if any of you was offended by the language... consider this... people will call a GLBT member FAG to his or her face, but no longer will call an AA negro, or worst, or a Hispanic Spick, or a Jew... whatever they called us (it changes you see, from country to country and decade to decade)

fact is that at one time you could not buy property in areas of the state of california if you were black, irish or jewish... I fear today it is if you are gay... welcome to the new reality and realize the fight is never over (and yes, that was written in property deeds)

[AndyA]

1. If you MUST be graphic, how about f*g?

It's close enough, and everyone would still get your point.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I chose to use the language for its full effect

I have friends who are GLBT

I have treated patients who are GLBT and who were abused and discriminated by police, EMS and medical doctors (granted not in the US, but I get it why a certain group of the population voted that way... and I remember fighting those battles then)

We must refuse to turn away from the language, and actually need to expose it

Oh and one more fact, hate crimes are on the rise against this mythically powerful minority... they are capable of feats that amaze me, like every other minority out there that was on the outside looking in

[AndyA]

6. Thanks for the education.

I'm intimately aware of what it is to be gay, thank you.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. You are welcome and I am on your side

for god sakes

[FirstTimeVoterAt37]

8. Myself

I understand the use of language here. I've been called a fag many times and have never once been called a f*g. Three measly letters put together in a particular order don't hurt my feelings one bit, and this is an issue that I feel demands a harsh spotlight be thrown on it so it cannot be ignored.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Exactly and welcome to DU

:hi:

The first step to getting away from the language and making it less than socially acceptable is to first expose it for what it is

I still remember an AA kid when I was a TA at a local college

He got PISSED when in the course of the class we read some works from the 19th century... he was LIVID that the word NEGRO was all over the map

Me and my instructor had to point out calmly that the word had its rightful place as part of history... and that those posters or rather bills of sale for slaves that had the words "negro" were part of the culture. It took a while to get away from the language and to make it unacceptable, mostly 100 years and the civil rights movement. Hell, when we showed him the use of the word in the I have a Dream speech he sort of got it.

I am mostly paraphrasing since it's been a while... but he said... so the first step to make language unacceptable is to expose it.

I was so proud of him... he got it

He was also pissed when we covered the holocaust in far more detail than in his view we did with slavery... which we didn't but in his perception the wrong of slavery was not covered at all... and I see in that the seeds of what I hear from some folks... but this is not about our struggle about civil rights... and very technically they are correct, but it is a struggle for civil rights... no less or more than that other struggle a generation ago

[FirstTimeVoterAt37]

19. Sounds like you handled that well

Homophobic and racial slurs bother me when they’re genuine, spoken by someone who intends to wound. I use “the F-word” all the time and think little of it, as do my straight friends around me. Among us, it has been reduced to a silly in-joke. Yesterday I said that now all we need is an atheist dyke for president and we’ll have officially become a bona-fide equal nation. I stand by that.

I speak for no one but myself on this matter. This is my own attitude, not necessarily anyone else’s, and it took me some time to reach it. For awhile there I was pretty touchy.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. I get it, I had to deal with the language of anti-Semitism from folks

who had never ever met a Jew until they met me

And some day the word FAG will become like oh Nigger in the popular culture... but we are far from there

That said I wish some of the hip hop artists realized why they are using a language of hate, even if they are making fun of it

I fear at times they don't

[FirstTimeVoterAt37]

24. For me...

It's kind of like robbing the word of it's power. Using (and yes, I'm going to say it) the word 'nigger' in a different context turns it from a nasty verbal weapon into a handful of letters that have no impact. I think that’s the general idea behind it all anyway, but I wouldn't know for sure because I'm not a hip hop artist. :)

To me, much worse than the word “fag” is the fact that (especially among the younger crowd) calling something “gay” is a nasty insult, yet completely acceptable. Yell out “That's fucking GAY!” and it's not terribly likely anyone will call you on it. You'll probably get laughs. It’s insidious if that makes any sense - common usage that IS intended to be insulting and hurtful yet is generally considered innocuous by your random passer-by. It’s a casual hate rather than an aggressive one, and so it can be pervasive without anyone even really noticing.

[Eryemil]

14. Ignore the whining. This faggot for one understands your point

And I thank you.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. I am by your side by the way

:hugs:

We need to stop this

We need to make it unacceptable

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Oh and I just noticed you only took exception to ONE of the racial slurs?

I used all of them because all of them are wrong

[AndyA]

4. I thought you'd be smart enough to figure out you could use that for ALL of them.

:eyes:

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. It struck me as strange and this is not about smarts

And I am sorry for what you go through on a regular basis... but realize the first thing we need to do is categorize what is going on

By the by... this morning I actually raised that point with an AA young man and a Latina lady... and last week I confronted a white woman

Hell, I might just go ahead and do some serious writing on this... from the taxonomy of hate... as we need that to move on and challenge it

[Juche]

5. Give it time

I don't support people dying but the reality is the older you are the more you oppose gay rights. Younger people support them. The exit polls from CA prove this.

Every year about 1% of the population dies of old age and about 1% is old enough to start voting. What that means is in 10 years about 10% of the electorate will be gone and replaced by 10% that are open to GLBT rights. So by 2018 we will have lost 10% of the electorate that is most hostile to gay rights and seen them replaced by 10% that are most open to them. That will shift the polls maybe 20% or so.

I'm sorry this happened. But gay marriage will likely be national policy by 2020. I know people don't wnat to wait that long, but hopefully we can get civil unions, hate crime laws, discrimination laws and more funding for GLBT runaways in the near future and get gay marriage in 10 years. That seems the most realistic path.

I don't understand political conservatism myself. In the US not too long ago protestants hated the catholics. They talked about how JFK woudl take orders from the Pope. Now catholics like O'reilly or Hannity want to take rights away from gay people. There are black, latino, catholic, female, etc conservatives who want to take rights away from gays. Sadly in 40 years there will be openly gay political conservatives (just as there are female conservatives and black conservatives today despite the fact taht up until recently conservatives fought very hard to keep blacks and women down and still do to a degree) who want to take rights away from some other minority group. Sucks, but what can you do.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. I am approaching Methusalean territory, and I am nothing if not MORE supportive

And I continue to evolve.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. It will happen earlier the same way we got rights for other minorities

mark my words, this will end in the courts, in fact the USSC

[Juche]

25. I hope so

Even the concept of civil unions, although a step forward, should violate the 14th amendment the same way segregation (seperate but equal) did.

[HooptieWagon]

26. That was true in Florida, too.

Polling data in today's St Pete Times showed 18-29YO voters were strongly against Amendment 2. That's the only positive I am able to draw from yesterday's disappointment.

[cali]

13. Disappointing and yes, tragic and bigoted as yesterday's vote in

CA, AZ and FL were, your analysis is still simplistic. Just because one prejudice takes center stage, doesn't mean others fade away. Anyone who thinks racism will magically disappear because of Obama's election, is deceiving themself. Anyone who thinks the ugly xenophobia displayed by so many, is fading, is wrong.

Furthermore, the fight for full marriage rights for gays and lesbians isn't remotely over. Oh, and in CT marriage for GLBT folks will not be curtailed. Same in MA.

[Cleita]

16. I was surfing conservative and neo-con, white power websites

today to get their reaction and some of the stuff being posted is bat shit crazy and scary. I think if there is one thing Americans need to concentrate on changing in their collective culture is attacking the problem of racism and bigotry that too many Americans are hard wired into. We need to start changing that one bigot at a time if it's even possible. I don't know where to start but there needs to be a plan to do this.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. The first thing we need to do is confront the code

and to do that is to expose the language

Next we need to become hard wired as to HOW the code is changing

The more I think about the Yes on 8 crap... the children are part of the code (re gays and lesbians) but it is also part of the code about blacks (who are no longer called the N word in polite company, but plenty behind their backs)

Part of the code involves how these minorities have these magical powers to attack the family

I am very familiar with the language used against Jews during teh holocaust (partly family history partly that course on anti-Semitism) but the taxonomy is similar

1.- The (insert minority here) is a threat to traditional values

2.- They are lazy, they are worthless and they will destroy the family by destroying our family

3.- They are out to control the world

Oh never mind that 1 and 3 oppose each other.

But that is the first mission... create a real taxonomy of hate and the code and be aware that even we use the code at times, without noticing we are doing it

[Cleita]

18. Don't forget the meme that they have nasty personal hygiene habits.

This one gets used regularly against the black or latino family that moves in the neighborhood, that they pee and defecate out in the alley or peoples' front yard because they don't fix their plumbing or don't pay their bills and on and on.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Yep and of course the use of certain insects such as cockroaches

connecting them to insects

Or my favorite, but next thing is they will have sex with dogs... implication, they are animals.. subhuman

This is just the tip of the iceberg

[Barack_America]

22. The very same voters that moved us so far in one civil rights struggle...

Moved us so far backwards in another.

And I can't believe that it's because of some hatred that is held in their hearts. I believe it's because nobody reached out to them to explain the GLBT struggle to them. This wasn't bigotry, it was ignorance. The Democratic party needs to find a better way of reaching out to minority voters on issues that their churches will not promote.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. It is also code... and actually VERY CONSERVATIVE social values

But you are right, though .... at one point slavery was justified as a good part of the social order...