Are gays and lesbians minorities?

[dsc]

I have been thinking about this lately due to all the Howard Dean won't connect with minorities threads and articles of late. I realize that treatment of one minority isn't always indicative of treatment of all minorities. We all know of racist gays, homophobic African Americans, and other combinations that give one pause. But I have often found that how politicans treat one minority is very indicative of how they treat other minorities. Members of the Black Caucus are very good on gay and lesbian issues. The handful of gay and lesbian lawmakers are quite good on racial issues (even Kolbe).

But if it isn't a mainstream idea on the left that gays and lesbians are indeed minorities then my theory isn't very good. I do realize there are significant advantages that white gays have over blacks. We can pass as straight and thus can be treated like other white people. We grow up in white families and thus have recieved many advantages that others don't. But we also grow up isolated from history and culture. We have literally no where to turn for that since we usually grow up in straight families, live in straight communities, and go to straight schools. We also don't have civil rights laws in a majority of the nation's states with close to 3/4 of its populaiton. I am by no means trying to enter a who has it worse contest. I think blacks do hands down. But I do think we are a minority and thus Dean is appealing to at least one minority big time. I also think how he treats gays, lesbians, (and though not a minority) women, is indicative of how he would treat blacks, hispanics, and other minorities. And we could do a whole hack of a lot worse then that in my opinion.

[Nikia]

1. Yes

I don't think that's what you really wanted to discuss.
In my opinion, civil rights are human rights. I think many people of minority status can better symphathize with people of other minority groups. They likely know what it is like to be discriminated against and feel like outsiders to mainstream establishment culture. For example, many Jews have been involved in the black civil rights movement. I think that some ethnic and religious minorities might be even more prejudice against homosexuality than mainstream America but I think that cultures without that strong predjudice would want to help homosexuals gain equality just as they seek equality for their own group.

[Clete]

2. They are a community that is treated like a minority so

I would say a big yes.

[Cha]

3. Yes, of course, "Gays and Lesbians" are minorities! And they

seem to be the last minority to be getting equal rights.. And I like it that Dean has stood up for this in his State of Vermont.

I don't think Dean will have many problems reaching out to other minorites or Southerners. Just have to wait and see and I can't wait!

[roughsatori]

4. I have some gay friends who could not pass for straight

even if they were walking through a crowd of deaf mutes. :)

[dsc]

6. Denial can be a powerful thing though

after all Jack's mother didn't know he was gay (lol).

[roughsatori]

9. I know one of my best friends is so stereotypically gay

and last night he told me that the guys on Queer Eye were to stereotypical for him. He loves Maria Callas, designs clothing, shaves his legs,has a lisp and describes himself as "straight-acting." I am not kidding. :shrug:

[arwalden]

7. Those Are My Friends Too... Odd We've Never Met.

But maybe we've been to some of the same social gatherings.

-- Allen

[Shadowen]

5. Yes.

I think homosexuals count as a minority.

I also think, for who has it worst off, in Canada (where I live) at least, it's the First Nations (your Native Americans).

[David__77]

8. Not on par with nationality/ethnicity.

Well, I'm gay, and obviously it has an effect on one's life. And I do believe that gay men and lesbians form a sort of unitary group as sexual minorities, but I think that the term "minority" conjures something else to people that is not especially applicable to lesbians and gay men. Ethnic "minorities" have been economically super-exploited, which indeed has been a basis for successive social systems in this country. Only the civil rights reforms have begun to change things. I see anti-homosexuality as closely linked with patriarchy generally--male chauvinism aimed at maintaining male right in the family over wife and children.

[dsc]

10. interesting theory

how do you account for Jews then? I am unsure they meet your theory since they have historically done well economicly (on average of course).

[Nikia]

11. They are different culturally

I don't mean to speak for all Jews (I am not even technically Jewish), but as a people they have a different attitude. As my Jewish grandmother told me "If people give you a hard time or make fun of you, it is because they are jealous of you." I think the general attitude is that although we may be different and people may despise us, it does not mean that we are worse than them and are in fact better and let's show them. Being a chosen people carrys that responsibility. I don't mean to imply that other minorities cannot have that attitude or that Jews are self centered. I have just observed it in them and have seen other minority groups who have not done as well take more of a defeatist attitude.