And a complete misunderstanding of the English language:

"What I do not understand is that when I hear arguments about why being gay is the new black there are claims that…"

I have never liked or agreed with the "gay is the new black" line of thought. Yes, I see the point they are trying to make. But they are two different movements and the discrimination we face – while it does have some similarities – is quite different. I think from a strategic standpoint, "gay is the new black" appears to others like we are trying to ride on the coat tails of blacks. We need to stand on our own and demand our rights, just like they did, without using a crutch to get it done.

The "gay is the new black" line of thought was initially promoted by a black man – Bayard Rustin, organiser of the '63 Civil Rights March – back in the 1980s.

Why can't she change to white? Michael Jackson did it!

And is she a Christian? Remember, religion IS a choice.

USA is a discrimi-NATION and blacks are not immune to this. She's likely trying to please her pastor and her parents. Weak woman.

I think it is perfectly fine for African American gay people like Bayard Rustin to say "Gay is the new black" if they want to, although most of them don't seem to. I think it's dumb for anyone else to say it. Yes, it's offensive for straight black people to say that gay people should not compare the struggle for equality for sexual minorities to the struggle for equality for racial minorities. There are many similarities, and only a bigot would deny that. But it's offensive for either straight racial minorities or gay caucasians to say that one of our struggles is or is not as extreme as the other. It is my outside observation that most gay black people experience being black as being more of a barrier to full inclusion in American society than being gay is, although I would not surprised to be proved wrong on that.

That’s my Alma Mater for ya’

CMU is not an especially conservative school, but the conservatives that are there are extremely vocal. we even had our own branch of Young Americans For Freedom.

Luckily, we CMU students took our media very seriously (The CM-Life wins shit tons of awards every year) so there will be plenty outrage over this unfortunate article.

Also, CMU’s gay community is very vocal, active and diverse, they will not take this one sitting down.

Additionally, she never had to come out to her parents or co-workers as black..

@Keith Kimmel

Bingo!

Tell our own story, let other make the comparisons.

Of course, I can compare both.

Oh, and people can change their ethnicity and some people are 2 or more ethnicities.

I don't think anyone is really trying to say that they're exactly the same. But that hardly makes ignoring the similarities that do exist a good approach.

Of course gay isn't the new black–during the civil rights movement, black America loved the blacks and the whites hated the blacks. When it comes to queers, we're hated by all Americas, black, white, Christian, Muslim, Atheist, male, female, young and old.

@ CAM

"Additionally, she never had to come out to her parents or co-workers as black.."

Let's not even get into that. That's a subject for a whole different day on a whole different site.

as a mixed person like obama i want to say to this fool lady BITE ME!!!!my black brothers and sisters who say shit like this you guys dont know shit cause u dont go through hate,cause if you did you would see the hate u perpetrate against you gay black bros and sisters is not right ,it was not right to our ancestors and its not right against us gays…we are all humans and to see a human beaten to death cause another human thinks they are superior(cause that what its really about)that cannot fly in a humane society!!!!

i think this is some straight black people being racist..let her get to know the experience of black gays in the caribbean who face discrimination from their black brothers and sisters,do the choose to be gay???bs!!!if its a choice let her put on this shoe for a day and let her tell me if a person would choose this??!!!!dumb arse

she can only think about getting away with this crap with white people cause she cant honestly look me in the face and tell me my experience is not the same as racism!!!hell i get more homophobia than i ever got any racism and majority of the ignorant hate comes from black brothers and sisters!!!!

The CM-Life has always been very friendly to the GLBT community of CMU. I and a number of friends have graced the front page many times during their coverage of Coming Out Week or Pride Week. Their coverage is always positive and supportive. And then when they do publish the views of opposing readers, they usually (at least in the past when I attended CMU) sought a rebuttal from GLBT campus leaders.

So I can only attribute this unfortunate article to two possible reasons: 1) a well meaning editor thought the article was less inflammatory than it is or 2) Ms. Keaton was given a little too much leeway when selecting hot-button issues to write about.

I am so tired of hearing that same lame excuse. If people like her feel the need to write about this issue, I wish they would put some effort into it and come up with something of substance.

What a stupid idiot this girl is. She's a perfect example of what happens when you watch too much BET.

She needs to go back to high school.

The implication is that bisexuality involves choice. No such thing. Bisexuality is just as innate as is exclusive homosexuality or exclusive heterosexuality.

I think a lot of the confusion and misinformation surrounding bisexuality stems from women who use their supposed bisexuality as a marketing ploy to appeal to men who have fetishes for girl-girl action.

It's this fake female bisexuality which plays into the hands of the misinformed.

Of course she is ignorant, at least she admits her perspective problem.
How ever, her saying that bisexuality being a choice issue is not the same as blackness is a bad analogy because there are definitely black people who are culturally so white and so inbreed that it is definitly a choice. Depending on lifestyle, bisexuality can or doesn't have to be a choice issue.
She's just way over her head conceptiually and whith regards to facts.

I agree with the writer. I am also a straight black women, and all those whom took offense to this letter clearly has their own insecurities to work on.

Why are any of you taking this seriously? It's a college newspaper for christ's sake.

And Lisa, what are you doing here? And why did you find it necessary to use "whom" just now?

Lisa, if you take offense at the responses to the article, apparently you have your "own insecurities to work on."

—I agree with the writer. I am also a straight black women, and all those whom took offense to this letter clearly has their own insecurities to work on.—

DO shut up, dear.

Straight is the New Gay?
Black is Also Gay?
Gay is the New Straight?
Black is Black?
I Want my Baby Back
It's gray, it's gray.
Since she went away,
Ooh-Ooh What can I do?

BTW – Gays are still Second-Class citizens, even if you're Black!

@ 7 Landon Bryce:

"I think it is perfectly fine for African American gay people like Bayard Rustin to say "Gay is the new black" if they want to, although most of them don't seem to. I think it's dumb for anyone else to say it. "

I don't think it's dumb. I think it's the antithesis of dumb. And to say that it's only okay for blacks to make that comparison is an offensive double standard.

I hope gay isn't the new black because black on black violence and murder is staggering in the USA (I don't see how peaceful black people stand it) and incarceration rates are appalling as a result. How about gay is the new asian?

She is a young foolish girl who very likely will look back at this article some years from now and will feel embarrassed that she wrote it.

1) Technically, you can change your race, or at least your racial appearance (which, after all, is what racism is based on). Just as homosexuals can go to ex-gay therapy and come back 2 years later claiming to now be heterosexual, a black individual can just as affordably have his/her skin pigment altered.
2) It is a silly waste of time to get in an all out battle over who is the most discriminated against. We all face oppression and should all support each other in our efforts to overcome it.
3) Where I will concede and agree with Sherri to a point is that when it comes to "passing," it's usually much easier for a gay man to appear straight than a black person to appear white (although, there are some clear exceptions for fair-skinned black people). I wager that if a black friend and I were sitting on a couch watching TV and a stranger walked into the room, they would notice her blackness before they noticed my homosexuality. Since race is more apparent, it may be easier to discriminate against.
4) It would seem that Sherri is arguing from a position that homosexuality is behavioral, that what makes a person homosexual is that they sleep with someone of the same sex (or at least someone who doesn't pass as the "opposite" sex). I certainly could, in some ridiculous scenario where I had to, grin and bear it and have sex with a woman. I could break up with my boyfriend, change my "interested in" on facebook, and stop coming out to people. It would seem that Sherri thinks this would make me heterosexual.
I find this a little absurd. By this logic, anyone who isn't right this instant having sex with someone of the "opposite" sex would not be straight. Virgins wouldn't be heterosexual and momentarily celibate individuals wouldn't be either as they weren't exhibiting heterosexual behavior.
If this is what Sherri means–that homosexuals can go a length of time without having sex–then I agree with her. If not, then…um…what's her point again?

5) So, Sherri, let's look at it this way: both blackness and homosexuality are constructed identities based on things we are born with (dark skin and an attraction to the same sex, respectively). Both refer to groups of people who have faced physical and institutional violence because of their identities and who have created liberal identity politics movements to fight this violence and gain access to basic civil and human rights. Gay can be seen as the "new Black" in so much as "black" became an identity about 1500 years ago while gay became one about 135 years ago and the gay rights movement began after the Black civil rights movement. In this way, it makes a lot of sense to refer to gay as the new black. Perhaps the only thing problematic with this statement is that it applies that black is now some old, outdated black… it implies that blacks have overcome and no longer face daily discrimination and are no longer involved in civil rights politics, which is clearly false.
6) Thank you for standing up for the Blue people. Smurfs deserve rights, too.