A Response to Lurker Monday...

I posted the thoughts below in response to this blog post.

I have been trying wrap my brain around this for the last week. I want to defend black and Latino people when the media blames them for passing Prop 8 but I also want to scream "How could you? How do you not see this as an issue of human rights that is inextricably bound to your own rights?" But my anger and frustration won't change the homophobia and heterosexism that exists in all communities. So I have to ask, how do we begin the conversations that spark the brain and touch the heart? How do we fight the racism in LGBT communities and homophobia in minority communities? How do we teach our children not to even start drawing those lines of division? I read somewhere that people in the No on 8 campaign were told not to go to polling places in churches and schools. How then does the message get to those places that are so critical in shaping people's minds and hearts? What is the next step to stop this from happening in more states? While I understand that legal measures are needed at this time to protect and grant people the rights that they deserve, I know that real change can only be realized when people's minds and hearts have been touched and changed. I'm taking this as a reminder that there is work to be done and tough conversations to be had around the dinner table, in the office and yes, in the classroom. If I make it to church anytime soon, the conversation will be had there too.

"We live in an age in which silence is not only criminal but suicidal...for if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night."
--James Baldwin

In my book club meeting this weekend, we started talking about how people tend to not see outside of their immediate world. My thoughts jumped to this topic but the conversation changed before I could get my thoughts together. So I'm sharing them here.

So I still can't get my thoughts together enough to write in paragraph form so here are some bullet points.

• It's easy for people to think that everyone thinks like they do unless their beliefs are challenged. It recently just hit me that everyone in my extended circle, probably including some bbgs, does not feel the same way I do about this issue. It's pretty easy to not see the connection between yourself and others.
  
• People need to expand their view beyond the token _______. Have you ever been around when someone says something like "well, you/she/he/they aren't really black/white/gay straight/_______" because they don't fit the box that person has in their mind? I think people need to learn to expand their boxes instead of trying to fit people into them. I wrote that this happens through challenging and conversation, but really how do people come to change their minds about these things? When did /what would it take for you to change your mind about a certain group or type of people?
  
• After commenting at t's spot, I'm wondering should everyday people be allowed to legislate stuff like this? On topics like this, does it really take law to change people's minds and hearts? Think Brown v Board. What would have happened if there was a move to change the Constitution rather than allow school integration? Would November 4, 2008 have been possible if the law didn't legislate civil rights? Would people have eventually decided to do right by black people?
• Should a Constitution ever be used to take away rights from people?
• Did anyone notice that the President-Elect does not support same-sex marriage? (I know it's too soon to start criticizing, so I'll tread lightly.) I watched his speech at the DNC at an ...and marriage for all event. When he mentioned something about all couples being able to see their loved ones in the hospital, the crowd erupted in cheers. I was thinking "did they hear him say he supported same-sex marriage, because I didn't." The VP-Elect explicitly stated in the VP debate that the ticket did not support same-sex marriage. So I'm wondering how they got a pass but the average black and Latino voter was supposed to take a stand for human rights. Reporters were acting suprised that people could vote for Obama and Prop 8. Really?

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on this controversial issue. Until then, let's discuss...