Call for Gay Reparations Nothing New

Omar G. Encarnación, professor of political studies at Bard College, jumped an entire school of sharks when he tried to make “The Case for Gay Reparation” as an atonement for past treatment of gays and lesbians.

He argued that “gay reparation can serve to familiarize and sensitize the public about the injustices of the past.”

Encarnación even brought President Donald Trump into the argument, citing, among other “slights,” his administration’s refusal “to fly the rainbow flag, a symbol of gay pride, at American embassies” although permitted in the past by the Obama administration.

However, he ignores the Trump administration’s efforts where they count. The president has been attempting to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide, working with Richard Grenell, his U.S. ambassador to Germany who’s openly gay.

Saudi Arabia announced in late April that it beheaded five men after they had confessed to being gay. Torture was reportedly used to secure the confessions. But yeah, “the Trump administration has ... displayed a keen hostility toward the gay community,” according to Encarnación, because it wouldn’t allow rainbow flags to be flown at the American embassies.

The left’s promotion of victimhood may have been a case of life imitating art, given that victimhood was the subject of a joke on TV.

A couple years back “South Park,” an adult animated comedy series, aired a spoof TV commercial for a DNA testing company it called DNA And Me. It specialized in informing customers that they also are victims.

“It turns out I’m not totally white,” a woman says in the ad. “I’m also part northern Asian and even some Kurdish. I’m a victim of oppression!”

“People made fun of me for being French,” another satisfied customer says. “DNA And Me showed I was eight percent Navajo. No one’s making fun of me now — or my people, who are victims!”

After a few more testimonials from newly-discovered victims, the announcer says, “Order now and find out if your friends should be more sympathetic towards you! DNA And Me. Are you in?”

Although it was intended as humor, Democrats showed they were in. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., took the ball and ran with it. Her test revealed that she could be 1/1024th (0.097 percent) victim.

And as victims, each group lays claim to special rights apart from and superior to those of the rest. There are black rights, gay rights, transgender rights, Native American rights, Muslim rights, and women’s rights to name a few.

To be clear, there’s only one set of rights that was recognized by the founders and set forth in the U.S. Constitution: human rights. And those rights apply equally to everyone regardless of race, sex, national origin, or any other criteria.

Nevertheless, some classes have been granted special status through hate crime laws — statutes that enhance the punishment of a violent crime committed against the members of particular classes of people.

Such laws fly in the face of logic. All violent crimes are essentially hate crimes. You don’t beat your neighbor to a pulp out of friendship and respect. You don’t shoot your spouse out of love and devotion.

And Encarnación’s call for reparations is nothing new — only the identity of the victim has changed.

Many of the 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls have expressed support for reparations to African Americans as a payment for slavery. They include Sens. Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California, Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, and former San Antonio mayor and housing secretary Julian Castro.

Dr. Ada M. Fisher, M.D., the first black woman from North Carolina to serve as a committeewoman on the Republican National Committee, can trace slavery in her own family directly to her grandfather. But she sees reparations as little more than a gimmick that will get the Democratic Party nowhere.

“The Democratic Party has always been wacky as far as I’m concerned,” Fisher tells Newsmax, adding that, “as long as they come up with ideas that are so far afield of” the mainstream, “we have a chance to win elections.”

And reparations for gays elevates Democrats' wackiness to a whole new level.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He’s also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. To read more of his reports - Click Here.