Marriage equality had just been rejected in Maine, Uganda officials are creating an “anti-homosexuality bill”, and the gay movement  in the United States is in an unhealthy relationship with the Democrats. We need to re-assess our goals as a movement and strategize a new way forward.  This piece first appeared in the University Chronicle.

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This past week has been filled with all kinds of homophobic agendas from political leaders and lay persons alike.

If you are a visibly gay person, homophobia is your daily bread and that is something you just have to navigate. It comes from people you work with, political leaders, the women at Target, even liberals can be homophobic.

There just seems to be no end in sight of this. I can’t even get lunch or dinner in peace without hearing someone blurt out “gannies” or “faggot” making sure that you can hear them.

Oh, and there’s the guy at the bar who causes a scene after he bumps into you and then shouts at the top of his lungs how much he hates faggots.

Heterosexuals, especially men, seem to think it’s their god-given right to make gays feel inferior. I wonder where they could have gotten that idea from. Maybe it is the military ban on gays to serve openly, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, which was signed into law during the “liberal” Clinton Administration.

I suppose it does not help that there’s a federal act, Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, which was also signed into law during the “liberal” Clinton Administration.

Most of the benefits enjoyed by married couples come from Federal Law. In the United States a married couple enjoys about 1,049 benefits, just because of their civil status.

These benefits include insurance, educational stipends, health care, filing joint tax returns and the ability to make life or death decisions in the case of illness.

Another homophobic moment this past week came from Ugandan officials planning on implementing an Anti-homosexuality Bill. The bill will intensify the already existing homophobia by making it lawful to be homophobic.

We are going from the ridiculous to the horrific. Can you imagine what it must feel like to be gay in Uganda? While there is a vast difference between the United States and Uganda, both nations have one thing in common, hatred of the gays.

Uganda blames Europe for homosexuals in Africa and the United States blames ungodliness. Both countries are grounded in Christian values; in fact American priests go on “study abroad” like programs to Uganda. Homophobes have to stick together type of thing.

Maybe they will have a homophobe convention in a couple of years.

The homophobes around us are not shamed. People are actually proud of their behavior.

Marriage equality has been shot down in 31 states around the United States that includes California which was during the 2008 presidential elections and a few days ago in Maine. Why is marriage equality up for debates and up for popular votes?

How can a majority be allowed to vote on the rights of a minority group? An estimated 10% of the population in United States is gay, how fair is it to place marriage equality on a ballot.
We might as well ask for the KKK to vote on the rights of black people, I can see how that could be fair. Better yet, why don’t we ask Christians to vote on the rights of Atheists? Wait, they already do that.

The gay liberation movement is heavily relying on lobbyists, the courts and legislatures to change things for the gay community. Obama and congress are moving at a snail pace and the only thing they are doing is having fancy dinners and congratulating themselves on work not yet done.

Why is the movement all of sudden aligned with a political organization? The gay movement is totally different from what it was in the late 60’s and 70’s.

The movement has softened up as it has been tainted by the liberal party and its “do not cause trouble” philosophies. As a movement we have given up the real fight for our rights to be acceptable to Democrats.

There seems to be a blurring of the line between social movements and political parties.

The gay movement will not reach its goals while flirting with politicians who are already married, have fat checks, and are only interested in re-election when the time comes.

We need to revive our vigorousness as a movement, where we demand our rights by taking it to the streets. The marches after Proposition 8 in California were a great start, and the Equality March in DC was also powerful.

We don’t need to be liked by the people we are protesting against, in case you didn’t notice they already don’t like us; the only thing they like is our monetary contributions to their campaigns. We are not yet Uhuru.

The struggle for gay rights continues.

Here’s the link: http://www.universitychronicle.com/opinions/rights-are-still-a-struggle-1.2059288