Board Chairman, NAACP
Are gay rights civil rights? Of course they are. "Civil rights" are positive legal prerogatives -- the right to equal treatment before the law. These are rights shared by all -- there is no one in the United States who does not -- or should not -- share in these rights. Gay and lesbians rights are not "special rights" in any way. It isn't "special" to be free from discrimination -- it is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship. The right not to be discriminated against is a commonplace claim we all expect to enjoy under our laws and our founding document, the Constitution. That many had to struggle to gain these rights makes them precious -- it does not make them special, and it does not reserve them only for me or restrict them from others.
Some who object to gay rights see homosexuality as a choice, but science has demonstrated conclusively that sexual disposition is inherent in some, not an option or alternative they've selected. In that regard, it exactly parallels race -- I was born Black and had no choice. I couldn't and wouldn't change it. Like race, our sexuality isn't a preference -- it is immutable, unchangeable, and the Constitution protects us all against prejudices and discrimination based on immutable differences.
Some who believe in Biblical literalism find sanction for their anti-homosexuality there, but selectively ignore Biblical injunctions to execute people who work on the Sabbath (Exodus 35:2) and to crack down on those who get haircuts (Leviticus 19:27) or who wear clothes with more than one kind of thread (19:19). There's no Biblical mention of lesbianism -- are we to think that male homosexuality is wrong but female homosexuality is not?
EBONY magazine, July, 2004
No comments:
Post a Comment