Gay Rights (and Cruising) on the Super Bowl?

I think that by telling one group that they may not have an appropriate commercial for the super bowl and then helping another group with a controversial commercial just shows how far we haven't come! Gay people need to stand up and demand equal rights today. We also need to start yelling civil rights discrimination at all times we are told we cannot do something. We need to stand up and start saying as an American we have the right to freedom from religion! If these bigots cannot quit discriminating maybe we should just declare Gay as a religion! This way we will become bullet proof! Just something to thank about since you can do anything in the name of religion!

"Trolling" and "pervy". WTF, labels made by younger people to define older people. Just goes to show you how much "acceptance" we DON"T have even towards people in our community. Not ALL older men go beyond boundries without conscent....I have had some good experiences with older men, but I have had some bad ones too. I'm not gonna judge an entire group because of a few bad apples, the good more than outways the bad and we have to accept the fact that with the bad comes the good and good comes the bad. You can't have one without the other and shouldn't discredit a group because of it. We are all in the same hell as everyone else, including straight people and all nationalities. Instead of ganging up on one another and pointing fingers at who hurt who the most...why not, and this is a novel concept, HELP ONE ANOTHER REGARDLESS OF AGE, CREED, ORIGIN...blah blah blah The Preacher has finish

Stonewaller, I couldn't agree with you more, particularly regarding Prop 8 and the blame game that followed. Unfortunately, there seems to be as much hate, or more, in the LGBT community as with our straight peers.

ArtNOLA I am Gay and all I can say is that I hear more LGBT than Straights saying: "that's so Gay." I am also a human rights activist and civil libertarian who does not believe in censorship in general or poltical correctness in particular. Indeed, speech censorship -- whether it be that violative of the Constitution of the United States or or that violative of some people's sense of ideological propriety -- only drives our adversaries underground. While I personally detest epthets and "call" people on them, they are a good indicator of existing classism, racism, sexism, ablism, ageism and homophobia in society. And I much prefer the verbalization of hateful eptihets to the commissison of "hate crimes" of which epithets are at least an advance warning. As the Black poltical activist and comedian Dick Gregory observed: we will know that racism (etc) is dead when one can say "nigger" (substitute kike, mick, wop, polak, spic, chink, cunt, fag) and it doesn't sting anymore.

ANTHONY I participated in rallies, protests & demos after Stonewall which have since come to be known as "3 Days of Rage." It was 100 years after Emancipation before 1st Black appt to Cabinet position; 150 years after Alamo before 1st Latino; 200 years after Gold Rush before 1st Asian; 50 years after suffrage before 1st woman. Only 24 years after Stonewall before 1st LGBT! Black Civil Rights MOW in 1963; Feminist NOW in 1965; Farmworkers union in 1961; Stonewall in 1969. But LGBT movement has not been consistent. 1st Jew appt to S Ct in 1916; 1st Black in 1967; 1st woman in 1981, 1st Latino 2009 & still no Asian. Given Bush appt of "out" LGBT Ambassador & Obama appts of 100's of "out" LGBT to subcabinet postions & several Obama appts of "out" LGBT to federal courts, it will probably not be long before appt of "out" LGBT to S Ct. Please! Stop pretending to cry for LGBT and Argentina, when you are the "sad sack" -- though not alone in that.

ANTHONY As a human rights activist, social scientist and constitutional lawyer, I am not into what I call "comparative oppression" as in what's worse: the Holocaust against the Jews, the enslavement of Blacks, the denial of access to people with physical disabilities, the insitutionalization of people with mental disabilities or the closeting of LGBT. Granted Gays were among all these prejudiced groups, but they were not singled out -- except in some cases during the Holocaust. Which would you prefer? Incineration, enslavement, denial of access, institutionalization or closeting? Jews have been outsiders for 5,000 years, Blacks were enslaved for hundreds of years, women have been abused throughout history, access for people with disabilities began about 50 years ago and mental disability has been described as the next "Great Stigma." Given these choices, I think that most LGBT would opt for closeting.

While I am admittedly a Gay prude and not into PDAs, that is not my objection to the proposed subject commercial. I agree with Frank, John and you that it is not the best representation of Gay people. It reinforces the stereotype that all LGBT care about is sex. Not only is that bad strategy, it's not true. At least I hope it's not true. Given more than 50 years of observing LGBT people, sometimes I wonder.

While I would not want to disagree with your statement that "education is the best way to reduce" discrimination against LGBT, it is by no means a guarantee. For example: studies show that Black antisemitism increases with education! Another example: many educated Gays blamed Blacks and Latinos for the loss in the "Prop 8" campaign. What did that "blame game" by educated Gays accomplish? All that blaming did was further antagonize Straight Blacks and Latinos as well as further alienate LGBT Blacks and Latinos. Meanwhile, many educated Gays also failed to acknowledge Asian support for "Prop 8." What was the result of that? It did not shore up support among Straight Asians while it did further alienate LGBT Asians. Not exactly what this veteran human rights activist would call good strategy. Hopefully, someday LGBT will learn to treat others as they themselves would like to be treated -- not only because its advantageous, but because its right.

I am a veteran not only of the LGBT Rights Movement, but the Black Civil Rights, Feminist, Disability Rights, United Farmworkers and Native American Rights movements. It is true that the Black Civil Rights community opposed feminism; Feminists purged "out" Lesbians and Physical Disability Rights community turned "a deaf ear" towards people with mental disabilities. That being said: I have never found a community more classist, racist, sexist and ablist than the LGBT community. If that were not bad enough, both Gay men & women are biphobic, transgenderphobic and heterophobic. If you don't believe me, just talk to the poverty stricken, the disabled & racial minorities -- both Gay and Straight. Not to mention the mutual dislike -- if not hatred -- that many Gay men and women have for one another. So much for your gross misperception that "our community is very accepting of all people." And one does not have to be a Gay medical student to observe an illness which could be fatal.

I am an older Gay guy. I agree with you that some "older guys get intoxicated" and "take it the wrong way" when coming on to younger guys. Similarly I think that some younger guys get intoxicated and take it the wrong way when coming on to younger guys. The fact that the latter may be closer in age does not change the fact that nobody should be coming on to another who does not welcome the advance. However, I do take umbrage at your description of older Gays as "perverted" and "rude." Given a common view that all Gays are "perverted," I think that this a particularly poor choice of words. Furthermore, I found younger guys to be more rude than older guys when I was young & still find it to be so. Finally, I was at Stonewall and do not appreciate being told by younger guys that I am not welcome in "their" bars, bars which would not exist without police raids -- if at all -- were it not for literally a handful of people like me. Talk about rude. That's more than rude!