Racial Discrimination Within the Gay Community Essay

My society is the most diverse of all. I am speaking of the sprightly community. Our community consists of hoi polloi from any race, every religion, every gender, and every frugal sector. We claim to be all- comprehensive, embracing everyone despite our differences and retain our diversity with pride very openly. The push through of joyous civil rights came to discipline caution on June 27, 1969. On that evening, police raided a small light bar in New Yorks Greenwich Village cal direct The Stonewall Inn, which sparked trinity days of rioting.The event is considered the single most important event that led to the modern movement for gay civil rights. The gay communitys perseverance has led to gay pride celebrations being held across the country. San Francisco is the considered the rocker of pride celebrations, as a gay-in was held on June 27, 1970, to commemorate the one family anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Current pride celebrations often include themes such as i nclusion and diversity, demonstrating the gay communitys beliefs that everyone should be enured equally, regardless of any differences.However, as Buchanan (2005) stated, We claim to be the most maligned assort in society, but when it comes to diversity, some say that gays can give as good as we get (Gays at receiving end of bias claim). The issue of racial discrimination in the gay community came to light when the San Francisco merciful Rights Commission (HRC) issued their report on April 26, 2005 after an investigation of alleged discrimination at a commonplace bar in the Castro. The investigation was initiated by a stem of citizens that claim the bar, SFBadlands, was practicing discriminatory acts in employment and patronage.I frequent the bar in question regularly and am in person acquainted with an African American who works there as a bartender. The group making the accusations, And Castro For All, alleged in a letter displace to the HRC June 22, 2004, that the owner of the bar implemented policies to discourage African Americans and women from patronizing the bar. The group also alleged that the bar owner practiced discriminatory hiring practices. come in of the forty-five employees of the bar at the time, only seven were heap of annotate and none were women.The group quest the HRC investigate the bar owner and his contrast practices to determine if there were any civil rights violations. The group also requested the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to revoke the owners pot liquor license. Further allegations against the bar and its owner included unwarranted remotion of African-American and opposite minority patrons from the bar, inferior service to minority customers and self-control of entry of minority customers due to dress while white patrons svelte similarly were admitted.The commission found the bar and its owner discriminated against African-American blood line applicants and customers, however there was insu fficient evidence to conclude any other wrongdoing. During the ongoing investigation, And Castro For All staged remonstrations in front of the bar that caught media attention and sparked national conversation regarding the persistence of racism in the gay community (VanDeCarr, 2005). During these protests, the bar was busy as usual. The demonstrations, one of which was held during the Castro Street Fair, a popular street fair held every October, did little to diminish patrons to enter the bar.As I stood in line that day waiting to enter the bar, audition to the chant Think before you drink there was not often for me to think close. I had talked to the African-American bartender that I know about the allegations, and he responded that the allegations were false. The protests and demonstrations by And Castro For All confine been compared to the civil rights and womens movements of the 1960s and 1970s. The fight for gay marriage ceremony has also been compared to the civil rights movement. These comparisons have people of mask raising an eyebrow, and have bred hostility where it should have sown solidarity.In milliampere shortly after gay marriage was legalized, Governor matt Romney told city clerks they could enact a 1913 law forbidding out-of-state couples from marrying if their home states would not recognize the marriage. The law was written with the intention of barring interracial marriages. The Massachusetts Supreme Court made another equation when gay marriage was legalized. They referenced the historic cases that legalized interracial marriages to the case that led to the legalization of gay marriage by citing the difference as a single indication skin color in the interracial cases, sexual orientation now.This dominion of gay = black has upset some Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people of color says Hernandez (2005 Gaily ever after 11). During the 1990s when the gay movement went mainstream, LGBT people of all colors claim it b ecame a mouthpiece for wealthy gay men. The reason the comparison of gay marriage to the civil rights movement has raised(a) indignation say some LGBT people of color is because it does not musical score for the racial and economic privileges white gays have. In not being suitable to marry, some say this is the first time that white gays are skin perceptiveness the effects of discrimination.Further accusations of racial discrimination in San Franciscos Castro regularize disrupted a meeting of the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro (MUMC) on run into 3, 2005. The subject of racial discrimination came to a head when the President of MUMC was incriminate of paying obligatory attention to the growing concerns of racism in the Castro. ashen males own most businesses in the Castro, a fact that many do not realize. In attendance at the meeting were about 25 members, five of which were either non-white or female.Thanks to a neighborhood economic development program organized by th e LGBT Center of San Francisco, a yoga studio byment opened in October of 2004, which is the first black-owned business in the area in a few years. So, what does the future of the Castro look like? According to Bevin Duffy, an openly gay man on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is hopeful. Speaking after a mediation agreement was signed between the owner of SF Badlands and the group An Castro For All, Duffy is quoted This has been a painful process but it has created a great deal of cognizance of the distance we need to go to be a truly inclusive community.I hope for all of us it is an opportunity to improve now and to move forward, with each of us individually committed to be open, welcoming and accepting to people in our community who may be different. (Bajko, 2006, p. 2). Not everyone shares Mr. Duffys optimism. Gomez (2006) states Thirty years from now maybe uncommon will have evolved from a fashion statementand retained its archetype connotations progressive, indepen dent, empathetic, activist. Colored queers will still be making the noise of protestMaybe by then well believe were stronger together than apart (Race the growing chasm, 10).I think Gomez is wrong, at least when it comes to my neighborhood. I have hope for my neighborhood. The Castro has long been seen as gay mecca to LGBT people the world over, and hopefully the racial scar isnt too deep. At least the actions of a few people have paved the way to change. Until we can solution the inequalities in our own backyard, will we then be able to master equality with our straight allies, such as equal marriage rights. formerly we draw the kind of people we say we are, then we can become a racially diverse role model for the world.