Comments on: Withers: Washington, D.C. is more than Marion Barry

By: Victor

Victor — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:02:48 +0000

Thank you so much for pointing this out. I honestly praise Councilwoman Alexander above all the people who have grown up with gay friends and gay family members, and who have a stake in this. It’s easy to embrace a truth that has been staring you in the face your entire life. The truly courageous people are the ones who are able to accept a truth that is still at odds with who they were molded into in their younger years. Being able to embrace the fact that not all of America is like her, and maybe people have the right to live differently and equally is what will push our rights forward. THIS should be what we are talking about, not Marion waste my time Barry.

By: James Withers

James Withers — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:33:08 +0000

Robert,

“NOBODY made race the ONLY memo in the Prop 8 debacle.”

Really?! No one?! We disagree on that topic.

Sincerely,

James

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:42:23 +0000

James, you’re being disengenuous. NOBODY made race the ONLY memo in the Prop 8 debacle. I criticized blacks who voted for Prop 8 almost as much as I criticized Mormons (who I see as the main culprits, and to which my family belongs) and Catholics, who are behind nearly every movement toward free agency of any kind.

We applaud anyone of any color who votes for equality for us, and we will criticize anyone of any color or creed who vote against fairness.

It’s as simple as that. Always was.

And I have a question. I’m sure marriages can be performed in DC. It’s nice they voted to recognize marriages performed in other jurisdictions where marriage for gay people is legal. But why don’t they legalize the actual perfomance of marriages for gay people in DC?

I think it’s great they did this, but why not actual marriage rights in DC????

By: Richard in Atlanta

Richard in Atlanta — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:56:52 +0000

D.C. and Californai are a country apart. Maybe you can make assumptions about similarites and maybe you can’t. My recollection is that polling data in California showed blacks as a demographic heavily supporting Prop 8. This statistic doesn’t mean all blacks are anti-gay. It just means that GENERALLY SPEAKNG, a group that we expected to be on the side of equality isn’t – at least not in California. So we have hearts and minds that we must change.

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:53:38 +0000

Barry’s civil war comment was race baiting. I get that he doesn’t speak for all of the black community, and I don’t want his vote to overshadow the morality and support for equality shown by the other council members, black and white.

But the thing is, he DOES represent a significant and vocal part of the black community, rooted in black churches, that are adamantly opposed to any rights for gay people. By invoking race, Barry is setting this up as a battle between the gays and the blacks.

The right wingers would love nothing more than to see our two minority communities duke it out for the crumbs, while they sit back and chuckle. We need to be smarter than that.

Is there a way that equality minded black people can rise up against the religious blacks who want to deny gay rights? If indeed this is not a black thing, we need blacks to say that in very large and visible numbers.

This can’t be about blacks versus gays. It needs to be about fair minded people versus misguided/misinformed church going folks, who need to have their understanding of the Bible expanded a bit. The Bible has been used quite enough to hurt many of us. Let’s stop it.

By: raffesberger

raffesberger — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:23:05 +0000

AMEN!

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:04:37 +0000

Very true. DC has an African-American majority. A gay marriage measure wouldn’t have passed the council by a 12-1 vote without support from many of DC’s black residents.

By: JT62

JT62 — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:50:51 +0000

Thing is, Yvette Alexander came up with what everyone else should have been saying all along: ALL ARE EQUAL UNDER GOD. Not “under law” or “under the government” but “UNDER GOD” everyone is equal. My kudos to Yvette Alexander.

By: montrealbren

montrealbren — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:33:39 +0000

Good commentary. I agree, it’s hard to assess what this “means” about the perception that blacks are hostile to gay legal issues. But I appreciate above all the honesty of Yvette Alexander. And I congratulate her for her ultimate conclusion: all are equal before the law. Her decision is all the more courageous because she apparently doesn’t see this as a… uh… black or white issue, and she admits she doesn’t quite get it. But when push comes to shove, her feelings about equality trump her moral uncertainty about something she doesn’t fully understand. That’s refreshing.