# I've had a change of heart: gay civil rights isn't like black civil rights **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 27, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121 "2011-01-27T00:14:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/21 "2011-01-27T04:40:07Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I don’t know what kind of environment these people grew up in, but the sight of men doesn’t turn me gay any more than seeing tall people makes me taller. See, that’s the problem. The sight of men _does_ arouse them, and it scares them shitless. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/22 "2011-01-27T04:43:06Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > Oh, jesus. “Beyond what blacks faced?” > > Before I just freak the fuck out, could you do me a favor and just tell me what that was? > > What did blacks face? Just, like, summarize. Remember “Gayface” and the Flamboyant Troubadours shows of the fifities? Well, it’s the same thing, but for blacks. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/23 "2011-01-27T05:27:31Z")
You know who _really_ has it hard? The Black Gay Midget Albino segment of society. I think he was in that movie _Gummo_. And maybe some German web-sites. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/24 "2011-01-27T05:40:33Z")
> [@FE3O4ENAIL](#): > > I seem to have missed the strange fruit of hundreds of lynched gays, so yes the hatred of gays is much worse than the hatred of black folk. Gay bashing was an activity that was so common and acceptable that at my Catholic HS in the early 80’s students could joke about doing it in front of teachers without any sort of admonition. Why do you think gays stay closeted? Because of the teasing? But I don’t agree 100% with the OP either. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/25 "2011-01-27T05:41:38Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > It’s possible to be privately gay. It’s not possible to be privately black! Yes it is. Not for every black person of coarse. My grandma is full black but most people assume she is white looking at her. She doesn’t try to pass for white but she easily could. I am half black and could live as white. Or italian. Or persian. Or Brazillian…in fact most ignorant people who refuse to believe my being half black are white. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/26 "2011-01-27T05:50:42Z")
What’s the saying – “You’re not going to be arrested with ‘driving while gay’, but your family won’t disown you for being black?” Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/27 "2011-01-27T08:50:00Z")
Civil rights are civil rights and it’s not a contest, so who gives a shit? Both groups have been oppressed throughout history, sometimes for the same reasons. Things have improved a lot, at least in the West, but a lot of people are still morons. Getting bogged down in a comparison of who has it worse serves no purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/28 "2011-01-27T13:27:01Z")
[http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/27/uganda.gay.activist.killed/index.html?eref=mrss\_igoogle\_world](http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/27/uganda.gay.activist.killed/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_world) Sorry, that should have been “Ugandan gay rights activist bludgeoned to death”. To downplay the struggle to be treated like human and gay at the same time is not right either. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/29 "2011-01-27T13:48:21Z")
It bothers me that the OP seems to equate a white man having sex with a black woman as “rape,” back during the slavery days. I’ve no doubt that some white men did rape black women but I also have no doubt that some white to black sexual relations were in no way rape, just as some sexual relations between black men and white women were not rape. In other words, sex between white and black people was not automatically rape and I wish people would stop equating the two. ---
**Author:** ![xoferew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e9a140/32.png) [@xoferew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xoferew)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/30 "2011-01-27T14:01:20Z")
A black woman slave having sex with a white man who has the legal right to beat her severely and sell her children away may not TECHNICALLY be called rape… ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/31 "2011-01-27T14:11:54Z")
> [@j66](#): > > > [@Yogosogoth](#): > > > > You can’t spot gays by looking at them, unlike blacks, which is probably a huge reason why they weren’t rounded up and killed. > > Um, didn’t you study World War II? > Or ever hear of Matthew Shepard? You’re making the OP’s point: gay people aren’t often harassed because they’re not often easily identified. As you’ve noted, when they _are_ identified, or even suspected, they can be persecuted just as horribly as any other outgroup. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/32 "2011-01-27T14:27:39Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > (snip) Years ago the whites didn’t much like the blacks, or other races, but they didn’t pretend they didn’t exist. This complaint by the pitchfork and torch wielding peasant seeks to erase gays from existence completely.(snip) In 1956 the Wilmington StarNews literally stopped the presses in the middle of the night and chiseled a man’s image out of a group of 4 marines in an associated press photo because they had a policy not to publish pictures of black people. [Cite.](http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110101/ARTICLES/101239937) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/33 "2011-01-27T14:34:49Z")
I daresay black people would have been much happier in 1960 if the worst thing that happened to them was people covering their images in supermarkets. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/34 "2011-01-27T14:42:31Z")
> [@Paranoid\_Randroid](#): > > To be perfectly honest, I don’t think a family shield is a bad idea – children could be scarred – not because it depicts a gays in a happy, loving family, but because Elton John _looks fucking creepy_. Has he had a crapload of work done or something? > > \ That was exactly what I thought when I saw it! WTF Sir Elton - your smile is way weird! ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/35 "2011-01-27T14:53:40Z")
> [@otternell](#): > > That was exactly what I thought when I saw it! WTF Sir Elton - your smile is way weird! When I saw that cover I thought to myself “Jesus Christ on a stick!” and it wasn’t because there was another man standing in the picture. Can we NOT make Elton John’s God given right to be on the cover of celebrity magazines the poster child for gay rights? Is that really the pressing issue these days? I’m much more worried that there may be other A-list celebrities who haven’t gotten a cute new baby in designer clothing yet. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/36 "2011-01-27T14:55:49Z")
On issues such as this you really should have a change of mind. It’s much more reliable. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/37 "2011-01-27T15:40:11Z")
I clearly missed the part where gays were bought and sold like animals. The OP does neither gays nor blacks a service by posting such inflammatory rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/38 "2011-01-27T15:41:42Z")
Never attended a gay date auction, I see. The buyers poke the lots with sticks to check their muscle tone. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/39 "2011-01-27T16:00:27Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Remember “Gayface” and the Flamboyant Troubadours shows of the fifities? Well, it’s the same thing, but for blacks. I _knew_ there was a blackface joke in there, somewhere, I was just too lazy to go for it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121/40 "2011-01-27T16:20:20Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > It’s possible to be privately gay. It’s not possible to be privately black! [No?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_%28racial_identity%29) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-had-a-change-of-heart-gay-civil-rights-isnt-like-black-civil-rights/569121.md?page=3)