What makes the race analogy complicated is that gays, as demographic composites, do indeed “have it better” than blacks—and yet in many ways contemporary homophobia is more virulent than contemporary racism. According to one monitoring group, one in four gay men has been physically assaulted as a result of his perceived sexual orientation; about fifty percent have been threatened with violence. (For lesbians, the incidence is lower but still disturbing.) A moral consensus now exists in this country that discriminating against blacks as teachers, priests, or tenants is simply wrong. (That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.) For much of the country, however, the moral legitimacy of homosexuals, remains very much in question.
ATTRIBUTION:
Henry Louis, Jr. Gates (b. 1950), U.S. author, educator. “Backlash?” New Yorker (May 17, 1993).
