2008 Woodie Awards
Making connections: Desegregation and gay marriage
Issue date: 2/18/05 Section: Forum
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Maybe it's because this is black history month. Maybe it's because I reported on Alma Adams' speech for MLK Day.
Regardless, I wondered, "What could I have done to fight segregation in the '60s?"
Sounds nice; white guy wishing he could go back and change things. But I slowly realized my fallacy.
It would be nice to change the past, but what am I doing to change our problems right now?
Racism is still a problem, but today this country faces a social and political decision as imperative as racial segregation in the '60s. We stand on the minefield of gay rights.
"For the good of families, children and society, I support a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage," said President Bush in his State of the Union address on Feb. 2. This amendment would define marriage as between a man and a woman.
By now, 45 years later, it's relatively accepted that racial desegregation was the right thing to do.
However, many people believe that gays do not deserve equal rights. On the 2004 presidential ballot, voters agreed to define marriage as exclusively heterosexual in all 11 states that proposed it, including my home state of Georgia at 76 percent.
By paralleling what we have deemed right in our past, racial desegregation, with what our culture is battling over right now, sexual segregation, perhaps I can change a few of those minds.
"Are our views motivated by personal resentments, prejudices, and grudges, or by open-mindedness towards promoting human rights and value?" This was written in The Guilfordian on Oct. 12, 1961.
The writer was posing questions for a panel discussion on desegregation, but we can easily apply it to our current situation. What are our motivations for denying gays the right to marry?
"The union of a man and a woman is the most enduring human institution," Bush said on Feb. 24, 2004.
I know of another human institution that extends beyond the historical record: slavery.
Regardless, I wondered, "What could I have done to fight segregation in the '60s?"
Sounds nice; white guy wishing he could go back and change things. But I slowly realized my fallacy.
It would be nice to change the past, but what am I doing to change our problems right now?
Racism is still a problem, but today this country faces a social and political decision as imperative as racial segregation in the '60s. We stand on the minefield of gay rights.
"For the good of families, children and society, I support a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage," said President Bush in his State of the Union address on Feb. 2. This amendment would define marriage as between a man and a woman.
By now, 45 years later, it's relatively accepted that racial desegregation was the right thing to do.
However, many people believe that gays do not deserve equal rights. On the 2004 presidential ballot, voters agreed to define marriage as exclusively heterosexual in all 11 states that proposed it, including my home state of Georgia at 76 percent.
By paralleling what we have deemed right in our past, racial desegregation, with what our culture is battling over right now, sexual segregation, perhaps I can change a few of those minds.
"Are our views motivated by personal resentments, prejudices, and grudges, or by open-mindedness towards promoting human rights and value?" This was written in The Guilfordian on Oct. 12, 1961.
The writer was posing questions for a panel discussion on desegregation, but we can easily apply it to our current situation. What are our motivations for denying gays the right to marry?
"The union of a man and a woman is the most enduring human institution," Bush said on Feb. 24, 2004.
I know of another human institution that extends beyond the historical record: slavery.
