By all means, gay-rights advocates can continue to compare marriage equality to the system of segregation, and to compare those who support civil unions but not marriage equality to hard-core segregationists. But they shouldn't expect anyone who knows anything about segregation, or anyone with family members who actually remember segregation, to listen to them. In fact, they can expect to alienate them fully. Cloud has said that to overturn Prop 8 activists will need to "reach out" to African-American voters. But I would counsel that comparing the first black president of the United States to a segregationist is not the best way to do that. There have always been people who, in seeking to make their cases against various forms of bigotry, have used the stories of other historically oppressed groups as props and little else. It is one of the most infuriating manifestations of racist paternalism in our political discourse. Gay couples being denied their right to marry doesn't have to be exactly like segregation to be wrong.
Russell had a record of blocking civil rights reforms whenever possible. Obama has supported non-discrimination laws, civil unions, and health care coverage for same sex couples. He scored a 94 on the Human Rights Campaign's legislative scorecard this year. He is not a "good natured" bigot in the form of Russell, whose false genteel exterior belied a career based on outright hatred, he is a political opportunist whose legislative record on gay rights remains encouraging in the face of outrageous cultural and political triangulation.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2008/12/a-useful-dissent/6485/
