Some folks in South Carolina aren't exactly happy because the Charleston Post and Courier featured three articles on South Carolina's gay community.
I personally enjoyed the articles.
One featured a lesbian couple who went to New York to get married,
Another article featured a gay couple - both Republicans and self-made businessmen and one being a former military man who left the Armed Forces because of his relationship, and
The last article was a very informative Q&A with Christine Johnson, the director of SC Equality.
Naturally all three articles generated a lot of responses, some positive and some negative. The article receiving the most responses was the one featuring the married lesbian couple. Various comments featured Biblical verses, talks of Sodom and Gomorrah, the idea that children will be corrupted, etc.
And of course other comments were very supportive.
The point is, regardless of the comments, the articles and the discussion is needed. I am Southern born and bred and personally I get a little annoyed with the idea that the lgbtq identity encompasses solely the big cities like New York and California. And I also get annoyed with anyone thinking that South Carolina is backwoods.
So spare me the ignorant comments about the South. The lgbtq identity is a multi-national, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural. Our struggle did not begin at Stonewall but way before it. And while many of us have never seen the Castro, that still doesn't mean our contributions to the lgbtq culture should be ignored or seen as second-rate.
No matter where we are - be it the North or South, a small city or a big city - we should all encourage members of our community be open and truthful. That's how we win.
I personally enjoyed the articles.
One featured a lesbian couple who went to New York to get married,
Another article featured a gay couple - both Republicans and self-made businessmen and one being a former military man who left the Armed Forces because of his relationship, and
The last article was a very informative Q&A with Christine Johnson, the director of SC Equality.
Naturally all three articles generated a lot of responses, some positive and some negative. The article receiving the most responses was the one featuring the married lesbian couple. Various comments featured Biblical verses, talks of Sodom and Gomorrah, the idea that children will be corrupted, etc.
And of course other comments were very supportive.
The point is, regardless of the comments, the articles and the discussion is needed. I am Southern born and bred and personally I get a little annoyed with the idea that the lgbtq identity encompasses solely the big cities like New York and California. And I also get annoyed with anyone thinking that South Carolina is backwoods.
So spare me the ignorant comments about the South. The lgbtq identity is a multi-national, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural. Our struggle did not begin at Stonewall but way before it. And while many of us have never seen the Castro, that still doesn't mean our contributions to the lgbtq culture should be ignored or seen as second-rate.
No matter where we are - be it the North or South, a small city or a big city - we should all encourage members of our community be open and truthful. That's how we win.
It was a pretty good article, though I wish the author had made more of a distinction between the *religious* reasoning against gay *civil* equality.
ReplyDeleteI was in Charleston on vacation recently, and was surprised at the lack of a gay community there. One gay bar and one gay club? I assumed Charleston would have the best gay life in the state. Greenville isn't too bad; how is Columbia?
Columbia is pretty cool. I don't go out to clubs or bars but our community is still pretty awesome.
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