Katrina Seen As Decimating GOP-Black Anti-Gay Coalition

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/09/092605bush.htm

Whatever the reasons, residents of heavily Republican Texas seemed to get better treatment from the government during Hurricane Rita than the mostly black, poor and Democratic victims of Katrina in Louisiana. The issue of race is likely to linger in the aftermath of the two big storms. Government mistakes in the first storm, including failure to provide a means of evacuation for tens of thousands of New Orleans residents stranded in flooding low-lying areas, exposed racial and social fault lines.

These divides may be reinforced, rather than diminished, by the government's far more robust response to Hurricane Rita.

Texas is the president's home state, has a Republican governor and is the home of big oil. New Orleans before Katrina was heavily populated by poor blacks who vote Democratic.

[rkc3]

1. All the Dems have to do now is point some (not all) of the problems

from Katrina - show us how states with Dem governors and Repub governors got different treatment. Explain to us how the Dems would treat everyone equally - regardless of politics or economics.

You could almost keep race out of it and make strides with large chunks of the population.

[sui generis]

2. oh they'll still be anti-gay

I have no doubt of that.

It's just that their republican preachers pushing the gay boogeyman button are going to be hard pressed to defend anything else about republicans now.

[Sandpiper]

3. Bigotry becomes a lot less important when your house is gone

Imagine that.


The recent disasters have become a real learning experience for the affected areas.

When the chips are down, they see that the Republican Party is built on wedge issues, plattitudes, and posturing, and that they have nothing substantial to offer to those in need other than "we'll pray for you."

[sui generis]

4. yeah well also when the chips are down

and the gay community sends hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods and donations and doesn't ask whether you are gay or or gay hating or black or republican it also makes a difference.

You are right though - disruption in people's lives forces them to confront the fact that we are all, in spite of our differences, humans, deserving of human decency.