Atlanta: Gay, Not Progressive (continued)

Another incident that scared the glitter out of the gay community occurred last summer, when a group of three gay college students were subject to constant anti-gay harassment in their East Lake neighborhood:  their cars were vandalized and stolen, they were constantly being called "fags" to their faces, and their door was kicked in.

Even after complaints to the APD and the apartment home security, the young men were confronted by a mob of neighborhood teenagers and some of their parents with baseball bats and dogs in tow.  I am tempted to refer to a group like this as a lynch mob--but people tend to be very sensitive about the use of some phrases.

It breaks my heart to think that in Atlanta--the center of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60's--members of the black community use the tactics once used to oppress and threaten their people to oppress and threaten a minority within their community.  This is a ungodly hypocracy--that which the NAACP isn't doing much to rectify.

I will post more on this subject later, but I should make note that one of main reasons there is such a strained relationship between these two minorities (communities that were holding hands to fight the good fight in the 60's) is religion.  Churches fund the NAACP, as well as fuel the fire for hatred against the gay minority.

I am relieved to understand the method in which the incidents the the three young (black) men in East Lake.  The young men refused to be forced out of their neighborhood, and decided to fight fire with love.  They made an active effort to reach out to the youth in their community--and in some cases, have become friends with this youth.  One of APD's two new GLBT liaison's took the effort to investigate this instance, interviewing the young men and some of the suspected culprits.