This post is courtesy of Lex Maxwell, Member at Large of Seattle Atheists. The views expressed in guest posts do not necessarily represent the views of Tacoma Atheists or Seattle Atheists, or their members.
The golden rule (“do unto others as you would have them do unto you”) actually doesn’t address this issue or many others, because there is no hatred like self-hatred. Many of the people who are against gay marriage would ostracize themselves if they were to discover they were gay. They would do unto themselves as they are currently doing to others.
The analogy to racism is also not a clear argument. Not as an argument directed at people who are racist as many white evangelicals are and especially not as an argument directed at black evangelicals who, along with latinos, are the group that can most easily be pointed at to blame for the passage of Prop. 8 (black Californians are estimated to have supported Prop. 8 at a rate of 69%, and latinos at a rate of 52%). Racism is not the same thing as sexism. To a heterosexual white male, like Olbermann, who has never really experienced either they probably do seem very similar and at a fundamental ideological level they are but as they manifest themselves in reality they are very different.
Gay people don’t walk around with pink stars on their foreheads. They don’t have to tell people that they are gay. Consequently they don’t experience the same kind of discrimination that racial minorities face. Also, they don’t face the aftereffects of historic racism dragging down their entire community. The gay community is opt-in, opt-out. You can be gay without being flamingly out-of-the-closet and you don’t need to be part of the “gay scene” to be gay either. Being born into a racial disadvantage is a life sentence of extra hardship that must be overcome in order to succeed. Sloppily trying to conflate these two things will likely offend racial minorities which is quite understandable.*
His appeal to religion and conscience was very touching, and really addresses the root of the issue. Homophobia is almost entirely a product of religion and absenteeism of conscience supported only by historical heterosexual domination of cultural institutions. There is no hard evidence and there are no logical arguments to support homophobia, and the common manifestations of homophobia, such as constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage, are nothing but pointless cruelty.
Churches were, and still are, very powerful cultural institutions in black american and latino culture. I think it is very important for an Atheist activist to approach this reality with extreme caution and determination not only to heal wounds of secularism vs. religion but also to help heal wounds of racism in all areas of our society.
*Note here that you can replace “gay” with “atheist” and the entire argument is still true as it could relate to a number of issues of importance to atheists.
on Nov 11th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
I agree that there are “invisible” minorities. They often choose to stay invisible to avoid discrimination. Discrimination based on gender and race are unavoidable, because of the obviousness of the “otherness” of being black, brown, yellow, or female.
Conversely, it is completely possible to hide as a gay person in a straight families and communities, and it’s possible to hide as an Atheist in religious families and communities. Many, many people do it. I think that’s one of the reasons we don’t see many Atheists come out publicly. It’s simply safer, when you are faced with the possibility of being ostracized, disowned, shunned, fired, or assaulted. I know many many people who have confessed to me to being Atheists, but asked that I not reveal it. That speaks volumes.
With people like Elizabeth Dole and Ann Coulter, can you really blame us?