A qiestion for black people and gay people too?

Question

Or anybody else who feels this applies to them somehow.

As a white, straight person, I don't understand what everyday life is like to be black or gay or any other person who would be considered to be in a minority group so forgive me if I seem a bit impertinent but this is a genuine question and something that confuses me.

It sometimes seems that the way that coloured or gay people act is opposite of the way that they wish to be treated by society. We are supposed to treat them just as we do anybody else (which hopefully I do because I don't see how the colour of someone or who they sleep with is anything to do with me anyway) not making any fuss, either positive or negative, about their colour or their lifestyle choices.

But then there are gay pride marches where gay people shout about their sexuality and want it recognised and there are events like The MOBOs which celebrate black achievement. So aren't they then excluding themselves from an integrated society by doing this?

I hope that makes sense. It's hard when you have limited letters to use.

ABC, 123: I'm aware of that but I wanted to say Aisian and lot of of other minority groups too but letters are limited on here so I had to do the best I could.

2fine4you: I didn't mean that they were exactly the same. But they are two groups in society who face prejudice for just being who they are all day every day so in that way they are both just as relevant to my point.

kili: I'm sorry I'm offending you somehow but isn't asking a question the best way to find out about others? I'm not an uneducated fool either. You seem a bit paranoid - I'm sorry if you are but that's not my fault or anything I've tried to make you feel either.

Answer 1

They're not excluding themselves. They're bringing themselves up.

Blacks and gays are very underrepresented in this country and the only way of fixing this problem is to make organizations and other such things that cater to their specific needs, which are very different from the needs of your average WASP.

In other words, these systems exist so that it might be easier to integrate. I know it's difficult for people to understand, but it's true.

Answer 2

From a gay point of view -

if you look back over gay history you will find that the gay population is repressed over the years, like alot of ethnic groups we have been singled out and treated as a different class of people...for example in school untl very recently it has been illegal for teachers to talk about homosexuality (section 28 is the law) this would mean t hat children growing up and confused about there sexuality would have nowhere to turn...when i was at school i worked out i was gay but had nowhere to go, i lived in a small town with no way to find anyone like me...nowadays gay prdie marches and gay pride festivels bring gay people together t o celebrate the fact that we are not the only person and that we have achieved so much since the gay movement started..in the 60s we could be arrested, in the 70s we could be arrested, in the 80s an epedemic started AIDS, in the 90s accepance began...even though AIDS isnt confined just to the gay population, we are faced with it every day, all of us will know of someone who has lost his or her life because of it...

We celebarate to make changeds for our community - to show that we can lov e and be loved - to show we are normal...and also just to have a big shindig...

thats the basics...could go on for hours but wont bore you...
integration between straight and gay is not always possible...gay marches have an ugly side christian groups stand by the roadside with banners saying god hates fags, nazis stand by the roadside held back by police - groups of kids will stand there and shout abuse...all because you love someone of the same sex...

thats why we celebrate - to show that whatever people throw at us...we will still be here, its not a choice or an action we all have human nature ours is more queerer than others
x

Answer 3

I'm bisexual and have a great great grandma who was French/Moroccan. Think the 'MOBO' things are hilarious, but about the Pride marches - is that not to have the people who live in places where they still are treated like either weirdies (or paedophiles) go to either Manchester or London to be with equal people. Okay, it's starting to get a bit crusty nowadays, but as long as people still thinks gays are 'scum' and 'deserve to die', then why not have the Gay March on in order to have the shy and fearful come out for just one day and feel serene and joyful. Sometimes scratch my head at the MOBO thing, but gay people are helping their brothers and sisters to accept what they are.

Answer 4

The fact is, we haven't integrated all that well. Yes we won the right to share public facilities and institutions but overall in America people still pretty much stick to their own. I know more black people who are willing to really get to know a white person than the other way around. The same with gay and hetorosexuals. There still exists an exclusion of certain people in todays society. But not by the will of the excluded.

Think of a school teacher who scolds her students for picking on the class nerd, they may tone it down a bit, but they won't become his friend. They most likely will pick on him even more when the teachers not looking.

Because of this exclusion, we learn to accept ourselves and proclaim our worth, as we can't depend on our "integrated society" to do it for us.

Answer 5

Gays and blacks are only making thigs worse on themselves when they go overboard DEMANDING special rights. They deserve equal rights but not SPECIAL rights, which many of them seem to think are "owed" to them.
Too often minorities use their minority status and how they were treated IN THE PAST to demand special treatment today (reparations, etc.) And out of a misplaced sense of guilt, whites give in to them and try to make up for what happened. Too many whites won't stand up in protest of the unreasonable demands from SOME blacks and gays ... it's not all of them, just a small but verbal and high-profile percentage of the minorities.
Being "gay" or "black" should not be any different than being any other race or sexuality. There are those ignorant people who treat them diferently, but they are in the minority as well.

Answer 6

I see what you are saying. I think minority groups find representation and validation important enough that they will organize specially to achieve it. I think the gay parades, for instance, are like a release valve for many gay people who in everyday life are expected to follow rigid gender roles and be afraid of even holding hands in public. Many just have a strong sense of justice and little patience and think that "shouting" for their rights is just what they have to do. I would have to point out, however, that it is the "loud" ones that get your attention, while I believe most gay people are just trying to live their lives.

Answer 7

I have to agree with Mac Man. Black people struggled to get RIGHTS, not necessarily EQUAL either, but rights just the same. But that never meant that other than blacks excepted black people. Example: The Oscar awards..for the longest didn't even recognize blacks in Hollywood, so blacks started their own thing. Blacks in business for the longest never got recognized, blacks did their own thing, Black people in technology for the longest no black recognition, again blacks did their own thing. The question is, why do so many other people in other ethnic groups get bent out of shape when black people do their own thing? Do you think that when black people sit down to plan a black function that they're going, Hey, fellow blacks, we're doing this to separate ourselves from others because we are better than others? No. They do it because they were more than likely rejected by others from other ethnic groups, and often time from fellow blacks. And it's very funny that throughout history when ever black people come together for a good thing millions of people still get frustrated. Black people do something bad, obviously, people get frustrated
Dayumed if you do and dayumed if you don't. OH, and FYI black people have never been a minority. Black people were taught that they were a minority to keep them from rising up and rebelling. Did you see the movie BugsLife or Antz when the grasshoppers were drinking in that bug bar and the leaders boys were not wanting to go back, and they just wanted to forget about the Antz? But the leader knew that if the grasshoppers let just one ant stand up and rally the others that the grasshoppers would have a very big problem. There is a very big problem in the world and it's called denial. There are still far to many people on earth in denial about facts and then there are those that talk trash, but have never walked in the shoes of the person they're talking about. People need to walk in the other persons shoes before they open their thoughts to the world.
Notice I didn't mention anything about homosexuals because to compare black history and situation to homosexuals is a fu**ing insult.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

Discrimination makes people do strange things.

Some people get so beaten down, berated, and bereft of positive images that they need to rally around others who experience the same thing once in a while. This gives them the courage to get out of bed on all the other mornings.

As overt expressions of bigotry and de facto discrimination recedes, people will have less need for this type of behavior.

Answer 10

It depends where you're coming from. My coloured boyfriend has just read this question, and suggested that you spend some time overseas.Correct me if I am wrong, but I guess you are from England.

PS I think the people who gave me thumbs down maybe misunderstood what I was trying to say, but I agree that the point I made earlier could easily be misconstrued, and appears judgemental which, actually, I am not. England is very multicultural compared to many places, and I am English myself, but have lived abroad for a long time. It is important for people to accept each others differences. What I was trying to say to Sprout is that if (s)he were to travel overseas and become an ethnic minority himself somewhere, (s)he might get a perspective of what it is like to be in a minority group. The only way to truly find out is to experience it for yourself.