OPINION: Gay — it's not the new black

Gay activists are upset that voters in ultra-liberal California said no to same-sex marriage Nov. 4, and some are perplexed that 70 percent of black voters favored prohibition of gay marriage. Some gay activists suggest that gay is the new black, now that Americans have chosen a black president.

"We liken some of the experiences that we have had and will have to the civil rights struggle," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights organization. "We also are enormously respectful of the differences."

The differences are so huge that it's hard to imagine why comparisons are made. Gay Americans are legally protected from discrimination in employment. Gay is not a skin color that everyone sees. Gay people were not chained to the holds of ships and brought here as slaves. Gays have not been forced into inferior schools, deprived of the right to vote, or been told officially they're not human. Unlike blacks, gays have had the option of avoiding discrimination by keeping their private lives private.

Blacks voted against gay marriage because they're more socially conservative than whites. Twenty-six percent of blacks attend church more than once a week, compared to 14 percent of whites. Churches typically preach against gay marriage.

It's not easy being gay in the United States. But gays have never faced the tyranny and oppression that has defined much of the black experience in America, Africa, and other parts of the world. If gays want support from blacks, they should drop comparisons to the black civil rights struggle. The gay community faces unfair oppression for sure, but gay is not the new black.