Another example. In Cleveland, many–possibly the majority–of corner stores, especially on the East Side, are locally known as “the A-rab store.” It happens that these neighborhoods are overwhelmingly black, and that many (very possibly the majority) of the store owners are ethnically Palestinian, but have come to the US from the West Bank, Jordan and Syria. There is barely a word spoken in this city about the innate racism of the term “A-rab store.” From the body of your writings, I don’t expect you to find that appropriate. I’m offended by it. (On the West Side, ownership pattern is largely the same, yet the term for the same business is either “corner store” or “bodega.”) Many blacks in this city resent the fact that it’s not somebody black owning or running those stores. Is that racist? Is there maybe a concern that it’s a form of economic colonialism? I think the question should be asked, and I think the underlying resentment is better explored and questioned, than simply written off as racism and clucked at by the more enlightened set.

Nasty things come out of people when they feel under attack. What is wrong with looking deeper to see why that reaction came out? What is wrong with observing that, in much of Europe, public sympathy would be with the gay couple long before the concern over racism? What is wrong with also observing that the European pro-gay stance would not necessarily apply if a cabbie turfed out a gay couple who were Senegalese, Turkish or Algerian. That would be…different. Different because they are the Other.

I don’t endorse racism. Not because it’s “wrong,” but because it is unjustified and it’s extraordinarily corrosive. The cab driver in question was not from the States, and he felt very free to impose his homophobia in a country generous enough to accept him. If somebody slaps or punches me, I have been attacked. I have every right to respond in kind, but not to escalate and not to continue the fight. Some would say that you don’t respond in kind; sometimes it’s reflexive, whether from surprise or anger, and I’m not prepared to impose a prim, academic rebuke on those here with racist comments. They were wrong, there’s a larger issue, and fixating on the racism here is at the expense of examining the conflict itself.

That will solve it, right?

HA ha…

All kidding aside: to those who started the comment thread with hateful remarks; I can’t say I blame you for being angry. You have a right to be angry. And unfortunately it is natural to point out someones race, religion, whatever makes them different (aren’t we, the gay people, proof of that). What you should think about for the future is how to direct your anger toward something meaningful. I admire your spirit, your passion; just put it to better use in the future. Conger up that passion to write a letter, call your congressman; make a difference.

Oh please!!! No one is saying a gay person has to take the type of crap allegedly dished out by this cab-driver, but if people can’t be critical of the driver minus the phrase “towel-head” they are no better than the homophobes they cry about.

James

In the Netherlands, gays have become more accepted because gays are considered part of Dutch culture. The Dutch aren’t nearly as welcoming to unskilled immigrants from different cultures as they might have been in the 70s. Same is true across Europe. Simply put, who the hell are these people to come from violent and self-destructive Third World countries, then want to bring AND IMPOSE their fourteenth-century homophobia, misogyny and general social incompatibility on a larger and more liberal population? Maybe this sounds like the British National Party, or like David Duke, but understand what may sound very offensive to some people is also a perspective that INCLUDES gays. Of course, a larger perspective also shows that no European country (with the possible exception of the UK) ever seriously considered the prospect that these millions of cultural aliens would actually stay, so no provision was ever really made to incorporate them into the larger culture.

No doubt, it’s racist to call someone a “towelhead.” But with all the native-born wingnuts in the US, why the fuck should any of us American-born gays have to take this shit from somebody not born here? That’s not an unreasonable question, and if you don’t want to explore it ’cause you’re too busy being outraged by racism, then you’ll never be part of the solution ’cause you’re too busy being self-righteous to work to a hard truth.

I suspect that if Prop 8 had gone the other way that many gays wouldn’t be developing racist attitudes; at least they wouldn’t be expressed as stridently.