The Lie of Ethnic Homophobia

by Rory Bowman
Opponents of civil rights for minority religions or same-sex partners like to portray people of color as their natural allies. Since many black people go to church, they argue, and they themselves go to church, then surely black people will agree with them on "culture war" issues such as domestic partnerships. Attorney Steve O’Ban uses this technique when mentioning how he "represented 35 African-American ministers" on a recent video, failing to note that he recruited most of those ministers. Such "dog whistle" language is common, as when an anti-71 pamphlet quotes Jesse Jackson, failing to note that he supports domestic partnerships. That they spell his name incorrectly (to create the impression he is a she, one of the most insulting things they can imagine) is too clever by half. People of color are neither ignorant nor inherently intolerant.

As someone who taught US history to a classroom of fifth-graders at McDonogh #19 in New Orleans' lower ninth ward, I have always taken exception to characterizations of ethnic communities and "people of color" as inherently more homophobic than other groups. Although certainly the "religious right" likes to play up that image, I met more than one "strong-minded women" and dedicated choir directors in my time, and saw the love and acceptance those people had in their families and communities for who they were. Opponents of referendum 71 like to portray the past as an Ozzie and Harriet utopia (ignoring the fact that both Nelson sons went on to their own divorces), but communities of color are diverse, and not necessarily homophobes. I suppose there is something about having had your own culture and family models vilified as abnormal that makes one more likely to resepect the families of others.

Just in the past week I can name various ways that people of color have stood up for civil rights on behalf of all people, including support for seniors and same-sex couples as embodied in Washington's referendum 71.

This past weekend's Washington Post had an excellent article by a straight black baptist preacher and a gay Unitarian, in observance of the recent "march for equality" in that city. In it they explode two clear myths of "God vs gays" as "black vs white." As leaders of a coalition of more than 200 ministers united in support of all people, similar to our own local "welcoming congregations."

This came on the same day as a press release noting that almost three dozen different "ethnic" organizations had stood up to support approval of Referendum 71. Made up of groups from the Japanese American Citizens League to the Northwest Indian Bar Association, Urban League and Seattle-King County NAACP, these groups understand that Referendum 71 protects a diverse number of families including, significantly, senior citizens.

Often seniors who are widowed or divorced will suffer serious economic hardship if they remarry. Under Social Security, there is a “marriage penalty” which puts seniors’ benefits in peril if they remarry. The domestic partnership law allows unmarried senior couples to have the legal protections they need to take care of each other, to be able to provide insurance or take family or medical leave if a partner is gravely ill, and to make critical decisions for one another in times of crisis – without losing benefits that for many may be their only source of income. They should not have to live in poverty in order to be together with the person they love.

Although divisive political actors may seek to portray modern civil rights issues as "blacks versus gays" or "God versus the secularists," it is clear that most Washingtonians of all colors support civil rights for all people, regardless of age, race, religion or sexual orientation. Two pastors showed this clearly, just this past week, speaking on behalf of a hundred as many other clergy and who knows how many thousand parishioners. Dozens of other organizations did the same in support of Referendum 71 and Washington state's existing domestic partnership law.

Love is bigger than short-sighted hate, as hope is greater than fear. The voters of Washington stand poised to prove that, by approving Referendum 71 this coming week.