Should Black people care about marriage equality?

Writer, activist and friend of BYP.com, Maya Rupert has written a fascinating article for the Huffington Post on this very controversial topic.

We implore you to check it out.

Rupert is the Federal Policy Director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. In a recent article entitled “Is Marriage Equality for White People,” Rupert condemns the increasingly popular position that marriage equality for LGBT people is a “white issue.”

She writes,

“This narrative is untrue, and it is time we stop acting like marriage equality is only for white people. In fact, the fight for marriage equality is very much a fight about racial justice. Opponents of marriage equality are waging a culture war and, while the LGBT community may be the stated target, families of color are and will continue to be the collateral damage.”

Do you agree?

Rupert points to a proposed constitutional amendment in North Carolina, stripping “nontraditional families” (including unmarried Black couples) of legal rights and protections, as a prime example of areas of overlap between the interests of the Black and LGBT communities.

Crucially, Rupert makes the point that the LGBT community needs to do a better job of connecting with communities of color regarding an issue like marriage equality. Maya explains,

“For example, there are efforts to repeal and revise the Fourteenth Amendment based on a racist and xenophobic narrative that attacks the legitimacy of immigrant families, a cynical and concerted effort to limit reproductive freedom for women of color by insinuating that, by advocating for choice, they are being complicit in their own racial genocide, and policies underlying welfare reform and social benefits that are based upon the assumption of an inherently unstable black family.

We must talk about marriage equality in terms that acknowledge a broader fight for family recognition and strengthen the natural alliance between communities of color and the LGBT community.”

Some very interesting points, indeed.

Check out Maya Rupert’s “Is Marriage Equality for White People?” at HuffingtonPost.com.

And tell us what you think; should the issue of marriage equality be a priority to the Black community? Is it a white issue? Do you think the LGBT community has a messaging problem when it comes to communities of color?

Sound off below!