Reply #39: GLBT community is in a more precarious place. [View All]

For one, the African Americans didnt have the majority of Christian denominations arrayed against them, the way they are against us, to one degree or another.

For another, back when the Civil Rights legislation was passed, there was a coalition of Republicans and Democrats behind it, plus the legislation was pushed as sort of a legislative "monument" to honor the recently assasinated JFK.

And for another, there was alot of Federal support, to the point of using the military or national gaurd, to enforce desegregation decisions.

And for yet another, the main battles where in parts of the South where the African American community had signifigant minority or even in some cases majority populations, where large mass boycotts (like the Montg. Bus Boycott) could be organized to put economic pressure to desegregate.

Very different context.

The GLBT community does not have the same level of legal, institutional, and national political backing, nor leadership like MLK. Harvey Milk could have been one, I think, but hes long gone.