Americans New McCarthyism
lifestyle, which has become a
(www.towQhail.com, italics mine).
death
style
in the
107
era
o f AIDS"'"
How could one not “accept” the existence of homosexuality and
homosexuals? They appear in all cultures throughout all recorded human history
and are disproportionately represented among the most celebrated figures in all
societies. How could one not “accept” that homosexuals are American citizens
and, therefore, deserve equal civil rights? As the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in
its 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision striking down sodomy laws used against
consenting adult homosexuals in the privacy of their homes, “moral disapproval
of a group does not justify discrimination.”
“Spreading that lifestyle” was clearly meant to call up the recruiting
molester stereotype in conjunction with the “just a lifestyle” myth. Sowell’s
final statement—“a death style in the era of AIDS”—conjoins previously used
stereotypes and myths with the scare tactic that homosexuality inevitably leads
to HIV infection and the stereotyped myth that all homosexuals are little more
than HIV incubators waiting to strike. All this in an effort to deny two unrelated
adult American citizens who have formed a loving union the civil right to a civil
marriage. It just doesn’t make sense.
If the KKK opposes gay marriage, I would ride with them.
—^African-American Baptist minister Gregory Daniels
Some members of the black clergy have been particularly outspoken in
their opposition to equal civil rights for gay Americans. Building on the myths
and stereotypes already in use, in the spring and summer of 2004 a group of
black clergy joined with the Traditional Values Coalition to propagate a new
one: that gay citizens’ struggle for the civil right to enter into the civil union
called “civil marriage” is not a “civil rights” issue.
This argument was immediately rejected by those most prominent in
the civil rights movement. The Reverend Cecil Williams, longtime leader of
Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, said the Christian Right is mobilizing
conservative black clergy and “attempting to divert attention from the real
issue.. . . They need to open up to other perspectives___I’ve said this [the gay
rights movement] is a part of the civil rights movement. The issue is to bring out
freedom in people’s lives” {San Francisco Chronicle, May 15, 2004). The
widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. agreed. In a speech at
the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in March 2004, Coretta Scott King
affirmed her belief that “gay marriage” is a civil rights issue. She also
acknowledged “Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should
have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil unions. A constitutional
amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay-bashing, and it would
do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages.”
The argument continues to be rejected by civil rights leaders. On April
2, 2005, NAACP chair Julian Bond accepted Virginia’s Equality