Chamblee54

Two of the bloggers that PG follows…Andrew Sullivan and Jasmine Cannick…were recently on NPR. The theme of the discussion was  the role gay marriage should play in the overall gay (civil) rights movement. Joining them was a writer, Michael Sean Winters, and the head of The National Black Justice coalition, Andrew Robinson. The moderator/referee was Michel Martin.
The audio of the conversation is available  at Ms. Cannick’s blog. It is an autoplay, so you don’t have to click on the play triangle. Also, PG has a disclaimer. There will be quotes in the text below which might not be totally verbatim. The essence of the message will be there, but the word for word transcription may be a bit off. The audio is available for anyone with any doubts.
The introductions and formalities took up the first two minutes of the 21:48 audio. The first panelist to speak is Mr. Winters. He said that the fight for gay marriage would make the fight for other forms of equality more difficult.
Ms. Cannick was the next to speak. She said “I don’t have a problem with people wanting to move forward on the issue of gay marriage, I think its about balance”.
Mr. Sullivan replied that the number one goal of the HRC has been hate crimes legislation. The moderator said that the head of the HRC, Joe Solomanese, declined an invitation to appear on the panel.
Mr. Robinson said that it was not an either or thing, that hate crimes and hiv could be worked on at the same time at marriage. He also said that the focus on marriage comes less from the organizational leadership, than it does from the grass roots individuals.
There was a break, and another round of introductions. The second part of the discussion was much less polite. At 12:27, Jasmine Cannick raises her voice. She says that it may things may be equal “for people like Andrew” , but that it would not be equal for her. She screams about “driving while black” and “last hired first fired”. The issues of race and class are introduced to the discussion.
At 13:13, Andrew Sullivan says “so its about race”. Ms. Cannick continues to rant.
At 13:50, the hostess said it would be appropriate to let Mr. Sullivan respond. Or, as Ms. Cannick might say, STFU.
Mr. Robinson and Mr. Sullivan make comments. Then, Mr. Sullivan says that the struggle for Gay Marriage was going to be a long and tough one. He mentioned the hundred years between the end of slavery, and the end of anti misegenation laws. Ms. Cannick says something, but is hushed.
At 18:47, Jasmine Cannick starts screaming. She talks about the people who comment on the Black Civil Rights movement without an adequate understanding of this movement. She bemoans that “we have these issues of race and these issues of class in the lgbt community”. The irony is, in this particular discussion, Jasmine Cannick is the one who raised these issues.
And so it goes. It was 22 minutes of entertaining programming for NPR fans. Andrew Robinson made some very good points. And Jasmine Cannick…bless her heart
Spell check suggestions for this feature:
Solomanese- Romanesque, solemnness, womanliness, manganese, saleswoman