…as for my whining… attempting to open peoples eyes to the problems in our own country is hardly a negative thing… acknowledging that you have a problem is the first step to recovering according to our good friends at the AA

“Laughing stock” is regurgitating b.s. Stop whining and live your life whether the US is what you want it to be or not – I don’t think the US will be like other Western utopias any time soon.

As pathetic as the US may be I’m not immigrating to Somalia or Ethiopia anytime soon.

Even in Latin America there are areas where the lighter skinned folks believe the Indigenous Natives are the result of people mating with monkeys. There are countries where race is not as much an issue for me as it is in the States – and that’s refreshing, liberating – but still I choose to stay in the US.

Marriage does not automatically give one US citizenship. It will give you legal residency/green card for 2 years – but you still have to obtain citizenship through the usual applications and channels, although easier of course, unless you fail the background check, etc.

P.S.
Us black folks worked long and hard in America to get “hired left and right at grocery stores and fast food restaurants…”

Also though, there is still an intense undercurrent of racism in certain folks in my town, and I have heard whites say they would rather their son was gay than their daughter date a black guy. I say to myself – may their sons marry black women and their daughters date black lesbians.

The only reason myself (black) and hubby (white) have few social problems is b/c we’re older and have enough green(backs).

Some of these comments assume all gays are white! They are not; they are black, brown, red, white, and all other shades of skin. They are in every culture and every corner of the world. I know, I’ve met them in every industrialized and underdeveloped country in which I’ve traveled. As a white male living in the hood in Philadelphia, I thought I new struggle until I met a gay black lesbian. Gay + Woman + Black… go sit with that in this culture for a day and see how it feels. Most people couldn’t hack it for an hour. In Iran it would be lynching time – literally.

Tyrone Black can hold hands with his girlfriend and kiss her gently on the cheek where ever he please. My partner and I, on the other hand, might be pummeled to death were we to do that outside our own home. Tyrone Black can travel to Africa (one of my FAVORITE places in this world) with his wife without a second glance. They stone gays in many corners of North Africa (in many they are shaman, but that is a whole other scenario). How can things change as long as governments discriminates by making it illegal or by saying union A is marriage but union B is not? As long as governments discriminates between the two, people will not begin to question their own ignorance.

From my perspective, which is not the general gay, white, or American perspective, the world is a hateful place. Yes, there is much love, peace, and acceptance – but there is much more hate, whether overt or covert. And, no culture, no people, no color holds the cornerstone on hate. From my perspective – y’all a bunch of ig’nant haters. It makes me laugh with amazement, I become completely confounded, when people think there is some difference between a union or marriage.

We ,as a single human race, have really not progressed very far. It causes great compassion to well up in me for everyone, for I can not imagine a life with such shackles. I can not imagine a life with such limitations on freedom. It is hard to walk out my front door everyday and look into the eyes of people who have enslaved themselves to small minded perspectives filled with judgment and hatred without crying.

Personally, my partner and I have no desire to participate in a pathetic institution such as government-sanctioned marriage; nonetheless, it would be nice if we could enjoy the same equal rights as all other married couples without drawing up long-winded legal contracts to protect our rights. And, even then, we can not enjoy many economic and legal benefits enjoyed by our arguing and divorcing neighbors. It is all so gloriously ridiculous and miraculously malignant that it captivates me in a state of perpetual wonderment. What an amazingly absurd world. It is like free entertainment. My own personal lowbrow soap opera.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but discrimination is discrimination regardless of color, creed or sexual orientation. If you want to pass a law that specifically bans someone from enjoying a right everyone else gets to participate in, then you’re engaging in discrimination. No amount of waffling is going to change that fact.

As for Ron Paul, he may not have a personal problem with gays, but he tends to side with social conservatives on a wide variety of issues. He certainly hasn’t gone out on a limb to endorse gay rights, and he’s been very vocal about his desire to effectively dismantle government and leave us in the tender care of Big Business (the Libertarians’ beloved “Free Market”).

Ron Paul: ” In Congress, I have authored legislation that seeks to define life as beginning at conception, HR 1094.

I am also the prime sponsor of HR 300, which would negate the effect of Roe v Wade by removing the ability of federal courts to interfere with state legislation to protect life. This is a practical, direct approach to ending federal court tyranny which threatens our constitutional republic and has caused the deaths of 45 million of the unborn.

I have also authored HR 1095, which prevents federal funds to be used for so-called “population control.”

Many talk about being pro-life. I have taken direct action to restore protection for the unborn.”

N.B. NOT Ron Paul, the Libertarian Consevative, who is hell-bent in keeping government out of people’s lives !!
How much support has he been getting from the American Left?
Zilch ! So, DON’T CRY, BABE, when Orwell’s 1984 arrives in America by the year 2014, thirty years belatedly and with a Vengeance….

However, I find it a bit bothersome when sexual orientation “rights” are equated with racism.

White gay men and lesbians, unless obviously flaming or butch, can go about their daily lives without experiencing overt and covert discrimination. Most of white America would sooner see a gay couple move into the neighborhood than a black family. The white saleslady does not follow lesbian Liz around the boutique the way she does Jamicka. The white cop with a shaved head does not pull gay Gary over for driving in the wrong neighborhood at night. If the cash drawer at the deli comes up short $50 bucks, which cashier will the white manager suspect first, Gary Gay or Tyrone Black? etc., etc. And gay Gary White can usually reach for his wallet w/o being shot 40 times.

My experience is that most of black America is not concerned about gay rights, in fact many are quite conservative on the issue – does that make them bigots?