Where I stand

Herman Hesse once said " People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest." This unfortunately is true. No matter how hard your try to stick to your morals and core foundations, Someone will find a way to make you out to be the villian. I know . Been there , done that .Case in point, the disgusting drag performer Shirley Q Liquor. Here is a white gay man doing blackface. You know the Al Jolsen bit, " mammy " . But this is worse . He compares African American people to Veneral Diseases. Chuck Knipp’s Shirley Q. Liquor character is portrayed as an alcoholic African-American ‘welfare mother with 19 chirren’ named after discount stores and venereal diseases. Knipp also does the character in blackface. Since 2002 it has been shut down in numerous locales across the country after protests from African-American and allied groups.This show is considered offensive by African-Americans because of the demeaning racist stereotypes Knipp perpetuates with this character show and the use of negative minstrel show images. The show has been vociferously condemned by gay groups such as GLAAD and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in addition to The Fairness Campaign..But there are some who feel silencing this behavior is stiffling free speech... Horse hockey! ( as Sheman Potter would say ) This is offensive to me on all levels and I have not only the courage to say so but the means to fight it at it's core !I am a proud person of color who did what was necessary to graduated fromTransylvania University (where Jefferson Davis graduated) with a B.A.in political science, and later graduated (as a woman) from theUniversity of Kentucky with M.B.A. in business and informationsystems. I also have served as a chief legislative aide for Sen.Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and earned a Senatorial citation for work with the Federal penal system, agriculture, and Social Security.I'm sorry but I am not a joke or a veneral disease.Prejudice still exists, both against people of color and against GLBT people, and education is our best chance to break the cycle of bigotry. Chuck Snipp needs that education, So do many in the GLBT community who constantly clamor for respect and rights but turn a blind eye to there own dark quarters. Last year, at TDOR, I spoke of having the courage to stand up. I stand by those words. This year, I was taking action, helping young people obtain the education they need to make a difference to our world, and in their own lives. Education gives us the ability to listen to almost anything without losing our temper, our self respect, or our self-confidence, and causes us to question the preconceived notions of the past and develop new ideas for the future. I was educating parents not only about my school, but by my sheer presence and example, as an African American graduate of a insitution of higher education, about tolerance and respect - and, at the same time,earning the respect of many movers and shakers in the business, medical, legal, and political communities and breaking some of their misconceptions about us.I am sorry that the white gay male population who support the humor of SQL feels that being African American is a joke. It is people like you who will continue to cost the GLBT community due to your negativity and prejudice of others. Due to that negativity the GLBT community will never reach the point of respect and power it could possibly have. It is the responsibility of all of us to learn to mix with and do business with, the entrenched power brokers of society, on their own turf. We cannot afford to miss a chance to be a positive example to others. Each of us should make an effort to not just be activists within our own community, but to become visible and productive in society in general. That will break the cycle of bigotry fed by misconceptions, that we all face. Hopefully those who support the bigotry of SQL will come to realize that before it is too late .