"It's never too early for a faggot joke. Too bad we have a faggot in the front row."
There's something that would stop the person who made this statement - and it was made in a UB classroom this year - from using the word "nigger": the threat of consequence.
Racism is received with zero tolerance, as it should be. When it comes to the open ridicule of homosexuals and women, however, a less clear-cut line divides what is acceptable and what is not.
Instances as severe as the one mentioned above may not be a daily occurrence at UB, but it's certainly common for someone to refer to something that is unsavory as "gay." Even those that sympathize with homosexuals do it. And it's certainly common that a person says a woman's place is in the kitchen. People generally react to these no less deplorable situations with a polite laugh, at most a nasty look or a brief word of scorn.
What would the effect be if one were to say that a black man's place is in the field? It'd be tough to get anybody to laugh off that one. Depending on the company, it might even be tough to escape without a beating.
The difference is likely the result of the passionate feelings people have on the subject of racism, particularly that of anti-black sentiments. The civil rights movement left in its wake a trail of violence, heroes and villains, and a few that fall between. The Black Muslims and the Black Panthers were controversial groups that threatened to take their equality if it was not given to them. They bred the appropriate sense of entitlement to proper treatment that drives people to anger and action in the face of improper treatment today.
They also bred fear on the part of bigots to expose themselves as such. The brazen, anti-black racist is nearly a thing of the past, thanks in large part to the threat of the impassioned, even violent reaction that a racist remark is likely to receive.
The gay rights movement and the feminist movement need groups like these that will not just demand equal treatment, but command it. They need forcefully intelligent leaders that can rally the country around the cause, not just existing advocates. They need the mentality that bigots must be punished.
The obvious problem is that homosexuals and women are not regarded as the most frightening groups in American society, at least not in any physically threatening way. The obvious moniker for any forceful gay rights group would be The Pink Panthers, which would flout any sense of authority.
But one does not need to threaten violence in order to present a threat. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is a political force to be reckoned with and keeps members of the media in line. The group has been in the trenches of the battle against racial insensitivity for almost 100 years.
There is no gay voice, and one is necessary if a stop is to be made against prevalent forms of bigotry. "Faggot" needs to be erased from the public vocabulary the way "nigger" nearly has been.
Likening the civil rights movement to the current movement for equality for homosexuals and women is problematic, since homosexuals and women aren't barred from restaurants or struggling for voting rights. The analogy, however, does apply to social treatment.
A black man or woman couldn't count on the help of white peers in a racist situation a few decades ago, but in most places, probably can today. In New York public schools, even in the backwoods schools like the one from which I graduated, the state of racism in America gets covered. The civil rights movement was history by the time today's college student was entering preschool. It has been legitimized since the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, and its goal of completely equal treatment for minorities is still in the process of being completely met.
The gay rights movement cannot simply come down to gay pride parades, which beg for tolerance rather than embracement, and ivory tower queer and feminist theory, which, though important and useful, flies over the head of the mainstream. Homosexuals and women need to form cohesive, dominating and forceful fronts and win the heart of the collective populace to receive the respect they deserve.
