Since President Obama came out in support of gay marriage last week, there's been speculation that the move could cost him support with his most loyal backers, African-Americans, who, polls suggest, are less keen on same-sex nuptials than whites. But one high-profile African-American Obama fan says he's fully on board with Obama's stance.
In an interview with CNN, Jay-Z pointedly likened anti-gay bias to racism. "What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love," the rapper declared. "[It] is no different than discriminating against blacks. It's discrimination plain and simple."
As Gawker notes, Jay-Z hasn't always been such a model of open-mindedness. His past lyrics include some pretty offensive anti-gay slurs. But hey, if President Obama can evolve, why can't Jay-Z?
The more significant political question is whether this suggests that in the wake of Obama's announcement, African-American support for gay marriage may be on the rise. Some recent polling offers evidence that it may be.
Still, as Jay-Z pointed out, handicapping the politics of Obama's decision misses the point. "I think [announcing support of gay marriage is] the right thing to do, so whether it costs [Obama] votes or not — again, it's not about votes," Jay-Z said. "It's about people. It's the right thing to do as a human being."
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Of course it's no different. Many people blame the religious groups for the lack of progress in the nation with regard to human/equal rights but let's be honest it's the right wing media. Networks like Fox and numerous right wing radio stations and print outlets have continued to push this old world racism/bigotry as well as the current regressive movement in this nation that simply doesn't exist in the real world. I personally have been to all 50 states and more than 50 nations, was raised in L.A. went to college in N.Y., have lived in small towns in TX, LA, and currently live in a small town in N.M and I truly know very few people who are against equal rights for LGBT citizens or any citizens for that matter. The few that I do know are old timers (not meant as an insult I myself am an old timer).
As with everything else the real problem in this nation are the extremists, especially those in the media, and the corporations that seem (and actually are) driving everything when this country was supposed to be driven by its citizens. The politicians and the Judicial Branch are also to blame, especially the right wing side, for allowing their own special interests and greed to take total control of the process. Every other nation in the world has already gone well beyond this issue of rights and we here in the U.S., the original bastion of human rights, now look like moronic idiots being held hostage by religious zealots and uneducated yokels.
Are you suggesting that if you educate a yokel he will accept homosexuality?
But we do indeed behave like moronic idiots. We burn our food as fuel as many in the world starve. I wonder what the future will think of us.