Rights Movements Not Comparable

I have again become perplexed trying to figure out how Lorraine Hutchins or anyone with any knowledge of the civil rights movement can compare it to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-gender or any other movements for equality. I consider myself very open minded and have no qualms whatsoever about any kinds of "alternative lifestyles." As far as I'm concerned, in today's society everything is alternative and nothing is really out of the norm. There are still very big differences between these movements.

Although I can't fully understand what it is like to be oppressed because of my lifestyle beliefs, I can understand what it is like to be discrimated against for being Black. I am very proud of both my African and American heritage. It hurts me to think of all the people who died and what they went through to give me the opportunities that I sometimes take for granted now. The "civil rights movement" should be referred to as the human rights movement, because it was about people being treated as human. Being able to work, vote, walk the streets safely, own homes--in effect, it was about being able to live. After hundreds of years of slavery and oppression it was a struggle to survive not to fit in. None of this had to do with lifestyle, just life. If you were to step into an elevator with a gay woman and a Black woman, only one of these difference would be easily apparent.

I don't doubt that gays, lesbian, bisexuals and trans-genders have been discrimated against, but not to the same extent. They were not forced here against their will, sold, traded, and renamed like pets. I am aware that the community that has access to this letter is not large, but maybe my venting the frustration over this "frequent comparison" that Hutchins noted will enlighten somebody. Lisa A. Gladden