Special rights? - updated

I had a visit from the blogger at Holy Hell (The News That Frustrates And, Or Scares The Batcrap Out Of Me) who responded to the sidebar item above with comments about Prop 8 and the subsequent protests that include the following:

You, the homosexual, are not any less restricted in marriage than I, the heterosexual am.

You have the same rights in marriage as I do, no more, no less.

You ARE demanding special rights.

I believe this is a major case of missing the point. Those who desire the legal status of marriage are not asking for fewer restrictions in marriage than straights. They are asking for exactly the same rights, no more, no less. BUT THEY DO NOT HAVE THEM. Which is why it is about equal rights and not special rights.

How can one conclude that gays have the same rights in marriage as others when they cannot marry? The middle sentence above flies in the face of the current situation, except in those very few states that allow same-sex couples to marry. In the vast majority of the United States it simply is not true.

Very few (percentage wise) homosexuals have been denied employment, housing or health care because they are homosexual.

Since the passage of proposition 8 church services have been interrupted invaded by condom throwing, cursing, spitting homosexuals.

White powder has been sent to a Mormon church and a Book of Mormon burnt on the stoop of another Mormon church.

Businesses and individuals have been targeted and harassed for their support in terms of monies for prop 8.

When black Americans were fighting for their Civil Rights it was because they actually were being denied rights afforded to every American.

You, the homosexual are not.

I don't know about percentages but I know that I was once denied housing (in West Hollywood, no less) in a "family" apartment building. I do not condone interrupting worship services and I'd like to know how many instances of this have occurred. This sort of thing quickly becomes the matter of urban legend and multiplies. I vehemently disapprove of white powder being sent in the mail, which is a crime.

There is a garbled distinction made between the struggle of African-Americans for civil rights and the LGBT struggle for civil rights. I don't believe in homogenizing oppression and playing the "who suffered the most" game because that sets us all against each other. Dr King said that no one is free until all are free and I am willing to go with that. He has been one of my heroes since I was in high school.

Intriguingly, the writer quotes Malcolm X ("by any means necessary") as a parallel to alleged (and some real) actions by gay protesters and then continues as though Malcolm X in his fiercest period (not to mention the Black Panthers) was not part of it:

You’ll kindly look back into our still fairly recent history and take notice as to how black Americans fought for their Civil Rights in comparison to how the homosexual movement demands their perceived Civil Rights by way of threats and intimidation.

The homosexual movement has conducted itself in a way far more similar to the Klu Klux Klan than to the black American who sought Civil Liberties.

My straight friend, the LGBT movement has not been lynching or shooting, so you might want to back off that analogy. One burning Book of Mormon is not quite a spate of cross burnings on lawns throughout many communities.

And I proudly boycott. I rather remember that being part of the civil rights struggle, the fight on behalf of migrant workers, and attempts to dismantle apartheid. Just saying.

Thanks for stopping by. I just think your understanding both of what has been and what is might be skewed.

Update:

There are some great comments by Rabbi Denise L. Eger at Susan Russell's blog.

--the BB