Stonewall

Gays Are the New Niggers: 40 years after the Stonewall riots, what Bayard Rustin means for American democracy

Those who declare “Gay is the New Black” want to link the gay rights movement to the civil rights movement. Yet the slogan is full of internal contradictions and historical incongruities. Comparing the experiences of black folks and gay folks in the U.S. has outraged intellectuals, religious leaders, and politicians inside the black community.

It has outraged, for instance, Rev. Irene Monroe. She identifies three cardinal sins of whiteness plaguing the gay-marriage movement: