Hello,

I feel like I’ve had this conversation before, but I need to bring it back up:

Today while canvassing (my new job with HRC), I can across someone who blow my mind with her opposition. They said they couldn’t support gay rights because they don’t believe that the “laws of the land should change because one person wants them to.” Also, that it goes against everything they believes in. Now, this would have just been any old opposition and I would have gotten over it, but now. This was said by an African American Female. 

Some people might not agree that the Gay Rights Movement and Civil Rights Movement have any relations, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. So, as always, I’m not going to tell you what to think, I’m going to give you my opinion. You can take from it what you please, but don’t try to force your opposing argument on me. I don’t think African American women should be opposed to gay rights, and this is why.

Women have been oppressed since the beginning of time. Men always ruled, and it was because women were seen as inferior and weak. Even in the B.C. era, women had no rights. Women were treated as slaves, housewives, and sex objects. Having the right to vote on ANYTHING was the last thing on their mind. Getting married? I don’t think so. A females parents would sell her to any man for land and money. But now, women have more rights than a lot of people. Laws were changed to ensure this and selling a woman would cause anger in any community. So why can’t the LGBTQIA community have the right of marriage and acceptance like they do?

For so long, African Americans were in the same boat. Being oppressed by people who were different from them, and they did everything to get people to understand that there was nothing wrong with them. The LGBTQIA community is doing the same thing. These “laws of the land” that this lady was talking about have been changed for African Americans at a point in time as well. The Constitution wasn’t written to include African Americans, and then it was changed. Why? Because it wasn’t and still isn’t right to exclude a group of people because they are different. The “laws of the land” were changed many time to include African Americans. After slavery, so they can vote, and then gave them rights. SO why can’t the gay community have the law changed as well?

But honestly, how much of the law do you think the LGBTQIA community wants to change? Not a lot. The laws that we are trying to repeal have been set in place by straight bigots of every race to try to keep gays oppressed. So the laws we want to change aren’t the “laws of the land” because they were recently put in place. You, the opposing party, have already changed the “laws of the land.” We, only want to fix that.

Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transgernder, Queer/Questioning, Intersex and Allies have the right to acceptance and that’s mostly what we want. Both women and African Americans have been in the shoes of the LGBTQIA community. We don’t want to go against other people who have been oppressed because we know how it feels. One would think that others wouldn’t want to oppress us for the same reason, but I guess bigotry runs deeper than the history of hatred in this country. 

Thanks,

MJN

For years now, many have not believed in what humanity was capable of: love. People in America have no clue just how much they can achieve if they just learn to let people in with full acceptance. A distinct example of this is Marriage Equality. Jennifer Roback Morse is one of those people who do not know how much further the United Staes could go if everyone had equal rights. She wrote in her editorial, “8 Is Not Hate: The Meaning of a Proposition” that by not giving people rights, it is not being hateful towards the gay and lesbian community (83). America is supposed to be a place of equal opportunity and freedom, so why does Ms. Morse continue to push people back into the darkness that is unequally? Why does she use the idea of “family” against people who want nothing more than to have one? I do not agree with her obviously bias opinion in her article, and I do not think America is going to become any better if she continues to write the things she does. Ms. Morse uses “8 Is Not Hate: The Meaning of a Proposition” to convince the nation that, “8” is fair but in reality, it is one of the most hateful things being done to American culture.

In the article, Jennifer Roback Morse continues to blame the gay and lesbian community for anything and everything bad that has effected families. She does not seem to believe that marriage for the gay and lesbian community will help anyone as much as it has appeared to hurt. I do not agree with Ms. Morse because there is no documentation of the gay and lesbian community doing anything to deliberately hurt other people, especially straight people. It is the straight community who have put the idea of segregation into the minds of Americans. The heterosexual, and not everlasting, marriage has defined America, and because of this, anyone who does not fit the hetero-normative criteria, has to be an outcast. “I view marriage as a gender-based institution that attaches mothers and fathers to each other and to their children.” (Morse 82) But what about the straight family that does not have children, why are they accepted? Why is society against gays and lesbians raising families but fine with the straight marriage that does not want kids? Ms. Morse, and along with the majority of supporters for Proposition 8, believe that it is homosexuals that are corrupting the minds of innocent children, and that is why they do not deserve rights. “We have trouble believing that the well-being of gays and lesbians really depends on children reading King & King in kindergarden.” (Morse 83) Well, Ms. Morse it does. Because the longer typical American families wait to teach their children equality, the likelier it is that they will not understand it, and when this happens, a bully is created, thus putting the “well-being of gays and lesbians” in jeopardy. 

Marriage in America is considered to be a religious institution, which Ms. Morse does not deny in her writing. However, I cannot and will not agree with this, because in America, since the nineteenth century, the law has had separation of church and state. As much as Prop 8 supporters want their argument to be justified, it is not. This law proves that the straight community cannot segregate a group of people out of law because of others religious beliefs. Since the majority of America believes that the bible is the reason that marriage is between man and woman, they are going against the law by making this the only reason gays and lesbians cannot get married. If society understood this, they would have made marriage equality a law a long time ago. “The Courts also changed the jurisprudence of sexual-orientation discrimination cases…this means that in contests between religious liberty and sexual-orientation discrimination, religious liberty would almost always lose.” (Morse 83) But Ms. Morse, this statement is more than acceptable because religious liberty has no place in the court room to begin with. If the country would understand that religion has no place in law in general, then maybe the people would have some kind of equality.

When the California Supreme Court made marriage for gays and lesbians legal, America had a feeding frenzy. They realized that since marriage equality is legal, discrimination is no longer acceptable. America had to change it’s ways, and learning to accept the ways of others was a step that needed to be taken. As Ms. Morse said, “The Court declared that requiring spouses to be of the opposite sex counts as discrimination.”(83), and it is but she, and the rest of the Prop 8 population do not seem to understand that. As the definition of discrimination states, what the law is doing would be the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people. She is afraid that religious groups can eventually be sued for discriminating against a married couple or soon to be married couple, who are both of the same sex. Her fears are right, because it is discrimination and if anyone where to discriminate against another person, even if the law prohibits it, should be sued. Discrimination is serious matter, and no matter who is being discriminated against, people need to realize that everyone is human and given the same rights as those around them.

Discrimination towards gays and lesbians happens everyday, and the law only makes it worse. For Americans to go agains a group of people is not rare, but for them to not realize the extent of their ignorance is unbearable. Writers who have opinions like Ms. Morse’s have tried to convince the population that their ways of thinking are valid when they is not. They have persuaded families to avoid the teaching of homosexuality because they believe it is spreadable, but by doing so have created bullies. These bullies will grow up to be just like their parents and spread the same knowledge down to the next generation. That generation will do the same unlaw acts by keeping gays and lesbians from being equal both in and out of the court room. The cycle of discrimination and hatred does not seem to end. 

Would you like to know why my blog is EqualClassCitizen? Because over the years I’ve realized something very serious about the world I live in, I will never be an equal class citizen. As sad as it sounds, it’s true. No one will ever be in the equal class because the world is too use to trying to be better than everyone else. How can anyone be equal when people around them are constantly trying to be above them. How does the government expect people to be peaceful when they treat other unfairly. How can society require everyone to be treated the same when the image being put out for equality isn’t equal to begin with. I understand this, but for some strange reason, the rest of the world doesn’t.

I don’t mean to be blunt, but it’s true. You are not equal in the eyes of everyone else. Neither am I, and that is why I write. Hopefully one day someone will read this and want to change the world as much as I do. Until then, I just write about being unequal and try to change the world on my own.

The world has put me very low on the food chain. Though I may not be as low as others, in America, I am extremely low. I am a fourth class citizen. How you ask? Let me explain. Does anyone ever qualify as a first class citizen? Sure, until they realize how much society is beating them down. In my eyes, the first class citizens are White America. I do not fit into that category, there for I get pushed down. Now, I have to take it down a step because I am African American. So I have because a second class citizen. It sounds so harsh, and yet we use the term daily. But, I’m not done. I now have to take a step lower, because I am a female. We all know, since the beginning of time, women were not treated equally. As much as we like to believe that has changed, it hasn’t. I am now a third class citizen. Ever heard that phrase before? How many people do you know fit in this step? Now I have to go lower. And to think it couldn’t get any worse for me, I’m gay.

I have now entered the fourth class of citizens. I am one of the lowest on Americas food chains. Can you believe it? Better yet, can you live it? I do, everyday. It’s hard, but that is why the world needs to change. I should have to be looked down upon because of this. I shouldn’t be treated unfairly because I down reach the first class. But that is the way the world works. I’m sorry if this is shocking, but I have learned to live with it, and that is a problem. Lets change.

Sincerely, 

MJN

Some people know me personally, others may have only seen my face. But not everyone, not even my own family, knows all of my beliefs. I am not a complicated person. I don’t try to make myself seem that way. I’m open minded and caring. I believe in equality for all, and nothing less. I believe in a world where everyone is treated the same, regardless of race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, religion or otherwise. Though we are all different, we should be treated the same: fairly. Everyone has their own identity, but no matter who you are, you are still human. I’m not going to tell you who I am, this time, I’m going to tell you who I am not.

I am not an American. I do not like to be called that and I do not act as such. I may live in this country, but it is not mine. I do not claim the name the way it has claimed me. I believe that people use the term too loosely, and now everyone thinks they are entitled to the name. But more importantly, everything thinks they know who is not entitled to it.

My ancestors owned this land. They lived here peacefully until the European took everything from them. Native Indians owned this land, and little by little they are getting it back. But why should they have to fight for something that is rightfully ours? Because, they were oppressed. This land was theirs. They were put here by whatever being they believed put them there. They did not fight for it. They did not steal it. They did not buy it. It was theirs. Point blank, period. So therefore, the Europeans were what is now called, an immigrant. The only difference between the terms today: they were once the oppressors, not they are the oppressed. So I am not an American, because this is no longer my land.

My ancestors were taken from their homeland and brought here. Not by choice, but by pure force. Africans never asked to be taken and changed. They were beaten and mistreated. They were tortured and conformed; all before they were even brought over. Things only got worse when they came to this land called America. They were given no rights, and made to be someone else’s property. The American’s property. They were enslaved and stripped of any culture they struggled to hold onto. My ancestors did not come from this country, and the people of this country did not welcome them into their home. They were oppressed by Americans. So I am not an American, because this was never my land.

But why would anyone want to be American? The land was acquired by force and payment. More blood is in this soil than anything else. Today, if someone where to speak like this, it would be called betrayal. If one were to do anything against the United States, it would be unAmerican. Not voting, not fighting in war, not supporting the economy; all things that qualify a person to be unAmerican. If killing, corrupting, and stealing the pride of others makes a person more American, then I do not want to have that title. And I can’t be a trader, because the land was never mine to trade. 

The romance of treason never occurred to us for the brutally simple reason that you can’t betray a country you don’t have.

—James Baldwin, The Price of the Ticket

Sincerely,

MJN

And welcome to my rants. For the longest time, I’ve been writing down what bothers me most about society, but I never did much about it. I always felt as if there were enough people speaking their mind. I did not want to interfere on the progress they were making. In the last couple weeks, I have come to realize that no helpful progress is being made. Yes, people are working hard to speak their minds, but nobody seems to be listening.

I, as a teenage, college student, am appalled by this. There are so many people in this world who need a good talking to. Reporters, spectators, and journalist are doing there best to give the people what they need: the truth. But how many people actually listen to the truth? I have been observing the world for a while, and the truth never seems to make it’s way to the peoples minds. They may see it, hear it, and experience it but they don’t know how to take it in. I now feel the need to join the truth tellers and bring to light the issues that many are facing. Some of the things I write may be bias, but that is only because I have taken in these issues in a more complicated way than most will ever understand. 

I welcome you to challenge me. Question my beliefs, as I like to call it. I’m open to anyones opinion, but keep in mind, I’m also entitled to my own. You might not agree with me, but I am not here to force my opinion on you. Therefore, you shouldn’t feel the need to force yours upon me. I will write about current issues, and past issues that need to be touched upon. I am also open to any suggestions. I want this blog to be a home for my readers, so I hope you enjoy your time here.

Sincerely,

MJN

p.s. This is a hate free place. Everyone is equal in my eyes and should be treated as so.