Yes I am black but there is nothing inherent in my blackness for which I should be proud. I am proud of the fact that I come from a family that has worked hard to get financially and socially ahead. I am proud of the work that those before me did to get me the rights I now enjoy. I am proud of our fore fathers both black and white. There is no reason that I should be particularly proud of my blackness in general. It in itself is not a mark of distinction or of achievement. It is just the pigment of my skin. Yes I know that how we of this pigment got here was despicable. That the way my ancestors were treated was in-humane and that to this day people judge me by the color of my skin instead of by the content of my heart or by my mental or physical achievements. But in the end that is their problem and I will call them on it when I am able, will work around it when I can't and will sick the law on them as a last resort. I am black and I am proud, but I am not particularly proud of my skin color. It is just my skin color.
I am gay. I have always been more conscious of this than any other aspect of my life. Yes more than my ethnic heritage, religion, or my nationality. For each of these there has always been people around me who were like me to whom I could turn. Being homosexual as a child is something that you are subtly told is something to be ashamed of or at the very least something for which you should be wary of discussing w/ other people. Homosexuals are one of the few groups left about whom people will make derogatory comments in front of children with out much thought. People are aware that they should not prejudge or discriminate against me because of any of the other aspects of who I am. But because of my gayness I can loose my job at anytime. I can be thrown out of my apartment and can be bared from just about any aspect of American life just because of the gender of the people to which I am romantically attracted . The love and commitment that I feel for another man is totally irrelevant. It can in no way be acknowledged. My life in the United States is as precarious as was the life of a Jew in the early years of Nazi Germany. I do not in any way want to minimize the Holocaust, but my point is the indifference of the general German public and the willingness to prejudge those who are different. In Germany in the late 1930's as in the US today there were those who said that Jews (gays) were inherently bad. That THEY were outside the love of G-d. These people said that they didn't really hate Jews (gays) but that THEY could not be trusted to be full citizens and interact with the good people of Germany (USA). The arguments against Jews and Gays are fairly similar and we of good consciouse must work to insure that all citizens are truly equal under the law. Though we in the United States base our laws on the Judaic-Christian teachings, we must keep in mind that laws relating to personal behavior should be based on the principle of anything that harms another is illegal but anything adults do by choice is between them and their G-d. That any relationship that promotes stability is one that should be recognized and promoted by the government.