NEWSBYBENJAMIN FRACTENBERG

Guest blogger Benjamin Fractenberg takes a look at the historic U.S. Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, and addresses how opposition to interracial marriage fifty years ago mirrors opposition to same-gender marriage today.  Does the Loving v. Virginia case, which struck down race-based legal restrictions on marriage, have major implications for the struggle for marriage equality today?  In other words, if it was found unconstitutional to ban marriage on the basis of race, is it also unconstitutional to ban marriage on the basis of sexual orientation?

While spending six months on a kibbutz in Israel, my cousin took a trip with a friend to the Egyptian Sinai. They found a quiet resort right on the Mediterranean and spent a few blissful days eating olives and laying on the beach. During their stay they got to know the owner, who was a friendly guy is his 30s. The man became enamored of my cousin, whose light skin, blue eyes, and brown hair must have seemed particularly exotic to him. Upon their leaving he informed her he was prepared to offer our family 100 camels in exchange for her hand in marriage. Apparently, as my cousin later informed me, 100 camels is a very generous offer.

This proposition seems very offensive to those of us in modern-day America – as well it should. The idea of woman being sold off in order to enhance a family’s wealth is something we think of as atavistic and oppressive. But this, in the grand scheme of human history, is a rather recent occurrence. It is only, really, in the last couple hundred years that we started to view marriage as a union entered into voluntarily by equal parties as a means of consecrating their love for one another.

There are those among us who argue that marriage is the bedrock of human civilization and that its definition has not changed for thousands of years. As evidenced above, this view is completely divorced from reality – no pun intended. Marriage, like our own democracy, has continually evolved. For example, in 1940 interracial marriage was illegal in 31 out of 48 states. In 1958 a white man, Richard Perry Loving, and black woman, Mildred Jeter, were married in the District of Columbia. When they returned to their home in Virginia they were promptly charged with violating the state’s ban on marriage between a white and non-white person. They plead guilty and were sentenced to one year in prison. The ruling judge, Leon Bazile, use of religion to justify his decision should strike us as more than just a little bit ironic:

Political battles over LGBT rights have demonstrated that straight allies are crucial for helping ensure equal rights. Whether it's marriage equality in California, adoption rights in Arkansas, or hate crimes protection on the federal level, straight allies have been a central constituency of the LGBT rights movement.

Today's guest blogger, Ben Fractenberg, offers up a recap of his experience as a straight ally working in the office of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Ben, a contributing bloggers at Huffington Post and the New York City News Service, poses a terrific question: Who, if anyone, is speaking to a primarily straight audience about the LGBT movement? And how can straight people be better moved to act on behalf of LGBT rights?

In 2006 I began working for a media organization and struggled with how to come out to my co-workers. I knew many of my new colleagues might not be used to working alongside someone with my orientation. How exactly would I let them know I was straight? When I started working with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), I knew I was in the sexual minority. I wanted to let my colleagues know where I was on the good ol’ Kinsey scale without seeming self-conscious about it.

For the first time in my life, I became aware of the pronouns I was using to describe the people I dated. A typical morning water cooler conversation would go something like this:

Co-worker: So, what did you do last night?

Me: I went to the movies.

Co-worker: Was it a date?

Me: Yes, with, um, someone I’ve been seeing for a couple months.

Finally, a colleague just asked me directly if I was straight. I told him yes and was surprised to find out that most everyone already knew -- thanks, MySpace. My fellow employees were really curious as to why I’d want to work for a movement that did not benefit me directly. Honestly, I wasn’t fully prepared to answer the question, because I had never thought of it that way. I had always looked at my different political work as part of a larger progressive movement advocating full equality for all people, whether in terms of race, class, gender or sexual orientation.