Does anyone else find it insulting and inappropriate to compare the Homosexual rights issue with the African American struggle in this country?

As an upper middle class, white male it would be ridiculous for me to compare my life to a black man living in 1960's Alabama. I am very well aware of the advantages my birth has given me. I have never been fire hosed, attacked by police dogs, or needed the National Guard to protect me while I walked to school. I have never been called a racial slur, I have always had the right to vote, and I did not need a constitutional amendment to make me a "whole" citizen. I never had to sit in the back of the bus, use separate restrooms, or been told to only use the back door. I don't know any LGBT who has been lynched.

As a gay man there are over twenty states in America where it is perfectly legal to deny me employment or housing because of my sexual orientation. If I marry in one the few states that will allow me to do so, I am still denied the 1,138 rights and privileges provided by the Federal government to married couples. ( Social Security survivor benefits, 176 tax provisions for married couples, head of house hold status, and family medical leave, to name a few) I have been called gay slurs many times. Many people feel perfectly justified in stating I molest children, spread disease, abuse drugs, am immoral and un-natural. (The Coalition of African American Pastors has added I am" in violation of social norms and are aberrant." so list gets bigger.) There are many places in this country where I risk being beaten up, or worse, if someone thinks I am gay. i personally know two people who were "gay bashed" and both ended up in the hospital as a result. We have all heard or read about people being killed simply because they were homosexual though no lynching was not involved.

Having said all that, I would still not compare my experiences to that of an African American during the sixties. I actually consider myself to be quite lucky. In the thirty years I have lived openly as a gay man I have seen more acceptance and a bigger change in attitudes towards LGBT than I ever thought I would and that's a good thing. The rest will come.

As for The Coalition of African American Pastors, they have the right to their opinion. I suppose one could argue there are degrees of inequality and differences in how some people are discriminated against. One could also argue that using a Biblical argument against homosexuals is exactly what many people did in support of slavery which is more than a little hypocritical. Whatever...

Personally I agree with Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond, Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandella, Reverend Dr. James Lawton, Coretta Scott King, and NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous who have all said the right to marriage for same sex couples is a civil right which they support.