Do You Ever Feel Like.....

....you've stepped into your own sideways world, a la LOST?

That's what it feels like today, in South Carolina. I mean, it still looks like South Carolina, and smells like South Carolina--my gardenias are blooming--and, lawdy, it still sounds like South Carolina. But it's a different South Carolina.

And I'll tell you why.

Junie White, the mayor of Spartanburg--in the Upstate for those of you without access to maps and such as--has written an editorial for the local paper entitled, "Do we really have civil rights for all in the city of Spartanburg?"

He talks of growing in South Carolina at a different time, in the 40s and 50s, when not everyone was allowed the same rights and privileges as some folks because they weren't white.

"I had white and African-American friends. If I went to the movies with black friends, we would go to the theater together, but when we entered my black friends would have to go to the balcony and I stayed downstairs. We just accepted it. Afterward, if we wanted to have a soda or a snack, we couldn't go to the Blue Bird soda fountain and sit together. So I would go buy the drinks and we would sit outside. I just accepted that this was the way things were, never questioned whether it was right or wrong."

When you grow up and learn that those are the rules, you also learn not to question the rules. That's simply the way it's done. But today Junie White sees that same discrimination happening to the LGBT community, but now he doesn't think he should simply obey the rules. He wants the discrimination to stop; he doesn't want the LGBT community treated like the black people were treated when he was a boy.

Oh, we don't have literal balconies where we have sit while the straight folk get the good seats; and we aren't told we can't sit at the counter just like the heteros. But there are invisible balconies, and invisible signs, that tell us we aren't like everyone else, that we don't have the same privileges, benefits, and protections as everyone else.

And like most people who come to my little blog, as well as any other LGBT blog on the net, Junie White says the "time for just accepting the way things are is over."

He sees the laws that have been entered onto the books decades ago that were designed to protect against racial discrimination, and he's decided it's time to protect those of different sexual orientations.

"No one should be discriminated against for whom they love, for wanting to walk down the street holding hands, or for sharing things a free American should have the right to share."

So, how in the world did Junie White, who grew up in small-town, racist South Carolina, and became mayor of another town, decide it's time to change the way we think, and act, and legislate.

He listened.

He learned.

He listened, in 2008, when NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said, "When I am asked ‘Are gay rights civil rights?' my answer is always, ‘Of course they are.' ‘Civil rights' are positive legal prerogatives — the right to equal treatment before the law. These are rights shared by all — there is no one in the United States who does not — or should not — share in these rights. Gay and lesbian rights are not ‘special rights' in any way. It isn't ‘special' to be free from discrimination — it is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship."

He learned that the King Center in Atlanta has designated homophobia as a form of racism, and heard Coretta Scott King say, "We have a lot more work to do in our common struggle against bigotry and discrimination. I say ‘common struggle' because I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender or ethnic discrimination."

And now, Junie White is ready to do his part.

"All the LGBT folks want to do is have a march, to be recognized in their struggle to have the same rights as all other Americans. As mayor of the city of Spartanburg, I am proud that their organization came forward to ask for the proclamation, because they believe in our city, that Spartanburg is a place where all persons can speak up without fear."

Junie White has given the okay for a Pride parade in Spartanburg; their first ever. And he wants all of Spartanburg to watch and listen and learn, and perhaps, join the march. And they will, Mayor White. All any great march needs is people who share a common belief, whether they are black or white, gay or straight; southerner, northerner, male, female.

All we need is more voices, in odd corners of the world where you'd least expect to hear them, speak up against bigotry and intolerance. It's easier to stand on the sidelines, but it's much more fun, more productive, to join the march.

source