Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In recent years, gay rights activists have been vocal in comparing their struggles to those of black Americans during the 1960’s civil rights movement. This analogy has provoked differing responses from civil rights era African American leaders and activists. A number of civil rights movement figures have actively aligned with the gay rights movement while others have asserted that gay rights activists are misappropriating civil rights struggles for their own purposes. However, little attention has been paid to the response of young African Americans to this issue or to gay rights more generally. In spite of widespread assertions of homophobia in the black community, new research shows increased diversity in the politics, attitudes, and identities of younger blacks. This paper shows that college-aged African Americans are likely to have more positive attitudes to gay politics. These positive feelings and greater temporal distance from the civil rights movement makes this generation more likely to support analogies between gay rights and civil rights. Nonetheless, this generation continues to work within a “linked-fate” political framework and thus does not support broader political ties between blacks and gays.