OPINION & EDITORIAL
Civil rights extend beyond whims of misguided majority
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Also by Sundeep Malladi:
- Civil rights extend beyond whims of misguided majority (April 11, 2007)
- UW must invest in partner benefits (April 10, 2007)
- Diversity blunders torment UW, Fox (February 13, 2007)
Related Stories:
- UW must invest in partner benefits (April 10, 2007)
- Students must take lead on benefits (April 17, 2007)
- Significant benefits (April 12, 2007)
- Pony up, partner (November 30, 2006)
- Ban passes, disappointingly (November 9, 2006)
by Sundeep Malladi
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
This is the second of a three-part series promoting domestic partnership benefits for the state of Wisconsin.
Tackling the question of domestic partnership benefits is far more challenging when speaking of it in terms of "morality" or "values." It is these words that, in recent years, have created rifts among several strata of the American mindset, namely the arbitrary groups we've denoted as "conservative" and "liberal." It's not necessarily a bad thing; it just means we're poised for change.
However, in our pursuit to find the correct path through what is often a catastrophic miasma of political talking points and unreasoned arguments, we have a tendency to only look at the future, and rarely do we take a warranted look at the past. The civil rights movement isn't over yet, and domestic partnership benefits are one part of that progression.
On May 18, 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate was equal. For 58 years we legally agreed racial segregation was, in fact, a fair practice. We honored that decision by closing many of our schools and their better resources to minorities. We closed many, many doors.
Plessy v. Ferguson and the American acceptance of it after 1896 was an action so perilously immoral its effects are still felt today. You need look no farther than Milwaukee to see how segregation can affect the boundaries between race and wealth.
In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education overturned the Plessy decision when a group of NAACP lawyers and civil rights activists helped pave the long road up to the high court through repeated attacks on the principles which had originally helped establish the Plessy doctrine.
Segregation was anything but "equal," and repeated cases over the decade prior to the Brown decision were challenged at all levels by the NAACP. They made advancements when possible; they weathered one treacherous storm after another, knowing that there was a bigger one around the corner. And eventually, we all hope, that storm will close.
As the next battle in a continued civil rights engagement, domestic partnership benefits are one part of a larger progression. We stand at a crossroads, one in which we have the opportunity to do what is right and to honor human fairness.
Gay and lesbian couples deserve equal rights. To pass homosexuality off as what some have labeled a mental illness and others as sin is to totally neglect almost the entirety of human existence. Since our origin, homosexuals have been our artists, our teachers, our brothers, sisters and parents. They've been sitting next to you on the bus. They've been Wisconsin taxpayers. They have been the vice president's daughter. They've been the force behind great works in our world, as well as some of our greatest failures. They have been members and witnesses to our collective human existence. And as equal sharing parts, they deserve equal rights.
Still, the task of encouraging Wisconsin residents to pressure legislators for the provision of domestic partnership benefits is a bit daunting. After all, 59 percent of the state of Wisconsin made it crystal clear they favored a civil union ban last November. There's little definitive proof suggesting the same majority would turn their heads on the issue of domestic partnership benefits. Understand this fact, absorb its merit, and then pay it no heed.
Doing the right thing has rarely meant doing the popular thing. If history hasn't been an indicator of that, then experience will certainly tell any wise Wisconsinite the correct route usually means forging a new course altogether.
The state of Wisconsin fought for civil rights in the past, through visionaries like Milwaukee's James Groppi and Lloyd Barbee, through the students of UW-Madison and even through the pages of this very paper. Wisconsin, I assure you, is the better for it.
Sundeep Malladi (smalladi@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in political science and history.
Anonymous (April 11, 2007 @ 8:04am):
This war by the Religious Right on what it deems 'the moral ill' of homosexuality stinks of yet another need for a civil rights movement. First women, then nonwhites, then non-heterosexuals. Who's next? Atheists such as myself (a study by Minnesota has said they're the most mistrusted minority in America)? Most people are always going to find somebody to put their prejudice on.
Anonymous (April 11, 2007 @ 10:08am):
Sundeep, it's not that we don't support equal rights for gays, we just don't trust them, just like we don't trust other minorities. You give them too many rights and they try to take over. I don't know if you were here in Madison back in the 90's but blacks were harassing every white person on the street they could get their hands on. Lesbians were always trying to pick a fight with straight men and they wouldn't keep their sticky little fingers off the straight girls. Illegal aliens were moving in, getting jobs when they were not even supposed to be in the country, gangs were all over the place.
Too bad if this pisses you off, kid, but you will never attain full equality in this country. You don't deserve it. Call us racist, sexist, homophobic, hell call us collect if you want! You've been calling us all those bad names whether we were doing anything or not. So what the hell. Learn a little something about tolerance yourself before bitching about how bad you got it. How would you treat us if you were the ones running the show? Probably not very equally, right?
Anonymous (April 11, 2007 @ 10:41am):
10:08am
you must have a sad and lonely life. for that, i am sorry.
Anonymous (April 11, 2007 @ 10:56am):
"10:08am
you must have a sad and lonely life. for that, i am sorry."
Oh, all of a sudden we're all loners because we won't put up with YOUR intolerant crap!
Anonymous (April 11, 2007 @ 11:23am):
Since when is marriage, or job benefits a right? If it is a benefit, then it cannot be a right. Until you know what a right is, I think it would be wise not to write about them. In case you didn't know this, but not one of the things you mentioned in your piece is considered a right.
Comparing the lack of benefits to the civil rights struggles endured by non-whites is absolutely wrong! Isn't interesting, though (I am glad you brought this up), segregation cannot result in equality, but when those that segregated in the past try to end it, those who were segregated want to put themselves into groups again (thus segregate).
Anonymous (April 11, 2007 @ 11:55am):
Is 10:08am supposed to be parody without the punchline or something? Seriously, nobody can be that stupid. What's the gag?
Anonymous (April 12, 2007 @ 12:20am):
To 10:08 -- You don't trust gays because you think they are going to take over? Just because we equal rights does not mean that we want to take over by any means. I'd love to see how you would react if you found out the guy or girl treating you in the ER when you are severely injured is gay. Would you refuse treatment from someone that helps thousands of people regardless of who they are?
It still baffles me how people can be so ridiculed and silenced over something they have no control over. And before you go and say people can choose to be gay...read some more. Psychologists have recently released studies showing that homosexuality is programed and environment has nothing to do it with. Hope you have a nice, intolerant, life :)
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