Charlize Theron Likens Gay Marriage Ban to Apartheid

[FreeState]

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid78913.asp

Charlize Likens Gay Marriage Ban to Apartheid
By Julie Bolcer

Actress Charlize Theron compared laws against same-sex marriage in the United States to the apartheid laws that scarred her homeland of South Africa, according to Starpulse.com.

“I don't want to be part of an elitist sexual preference,” Theron said. "It bothers me; maybe it's because I come from a country where I lived under apartheid, but this is a form of apartheid and I don't want to be a part of that.”

The Oscar-winning star of Monster vowed that she would not marry her longtime boyfriend Stuart Townsend until the laws in her adopted country change.

South Africa legalized same-sex marriage in 2006.

Theron also described the laws prohibiting same-sex marriage as “so caveman” and said that her right to get married “is a piece of me that I wish I could give to somebody who it would mean so much to.”


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I've always loved her:)

[closeupready]

1. She is right.

and being from South Africa originally, she should know.

[romantico]

2. Beautiful on the inside and out

One damn fine human being. Nuff said!

[closeupready]

3. she is very much that.

But since I'm gay, you take her and I'll take Townsend. :D :rofl:



seriously, though, they make a beautiful couple

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3796473600/nm0870204

[tbyg52]

14. Amen. nt

[RufusTFirefly]

4. I didn't realize she and Townsend were a couple

Guess I read all the wrong magazines.

That said, I gained new respect for her when she appeared in Battle in Seattle, which was directed by Townsend.

[romantico]

6. I'm bi SO I'll take them both

The fantasies I have of them are, well you get the idea. A damn fine sexy couple!

[closeupready]

10. He just has the sexiest, smokiest eyes.

And I love his quiet, raspy voice, too.

[dsc]

13. can you imagine how good looking their kids would be?

Damn such total hotness.

[Duncan Grant]

5. You can't compare gay civil equality to apartheid.

C'mon, some of you know that was your first reaction. Maybe you should talk to your therapist about empathy or your connection to humanity?

[closeupready]

11. Wat???

You can do whatever you want. Since I daresay she is more intimately familiar with apartheid than anyone in the GLBT forum here (I'm not aware we have any South Africans in the forum), if she says she feels they are similar forms of social discrimination, I think she knows of whenceforth she speaks.

[Duncan Grant]

15. The "You can't compare LGBT rights to (fill in the blank)" argument has been getting some traction.

I'm trying to mock the idea that the use of contrast and comparison is illegitimate when it comes to LGBT civil equality. Some here would have one believe it's offensive to compare LGBT civil equality to the civil rights movement (or apartheid, etc.). I believe such comparisons are a necessary and important way to contextualize human rights, common ground and unity.

Others strongly disagree.

[closeupready]

16. Oooooh. I'm sorry, I misunderstood.

I get you. :rofl: Cheers.

[Lint Head]

7. Sooooooo beautiful in body and mind.

[Hepburn]

8. What a great statement....

...she has it exactly right: Love is love and if someone wishes to make a commitment to another? Who the hell should stand in the way of the kind of love where you give a part of yourself to another.

:loveya:

[RetiredTrotskyite]

9. Gorgeous...

and a great human being--an irresistable combination. You GO Charlize!

And you know, she is right. Anything but marriage equality IS a form of apartheid. I mean, supposedly "separate but euqal" was struck down over a half-century ago. It wasn't right for African-Americans and it isn't right for us.

[dsc]

12. I think what she is doing is great

but he deserves a ton of credit as well. After all he is giving up his ability to marry as well and for a cause he may not be as committed to.

[NorthernSpy]

17. Charlize Theron lived under Apartheid?

Must have been tough: growing up in Soweto, knowing that she was essentially locked out of her own country for the material benefit and comfort of others.


Get real. Charlize Theron lived "under Apartheid" in the same sense that Scarlett O'Hara lived "under slavery".

[Duncan Grant]

18. Are you complaining about Charlize Theron, gay marriage, or both?

I wouldn't want to put words in your mouth that aren't true.

[Maven]

21. You'd have trouble fitting any more in there.

:eyes:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

26. ..

:rofl: :thumbsup:

[dsc]

19. actually if she opposed Apartheid while living under that regime

she was facing at least as much potential trouble as a Soweto resident if it was anything like the American South. There is a reason people were called n lovers by racists and it wasn't because they were loved and respected by racists.

[Maven]

22. Shoo.

Pest.

[Vanje]

24. Do'nt you have better things to do?

Isnt your time spent at GLBT interfering your selfless efforts fighting for pirates rights?

[NorthernSpy]

31. Snipe away, but you know I'm right about this.

:shrug:

[Prophet 451]

20. I think that's going a little far

I'm going to try phrasing this carefully because I agree with the general principle of what she's saying and agree very strongly that same-sex marriage should be legal. However, I think comparing the lack of legal recognition for same-sex couples (which is disgusting, don't misunderstand me on that one) to the organised, government-sponsored opression (and often murder) of the vast majority of a population (which is a whole other level of disgusting). Black people in SA didn't just lack civil rights, they lacked any real protection of law, were kept in a state of abject poverty for the most part (often deliberately) and had absolutely no recourse when they were subject to abuse (which was often).

So, I appreciate what she's trying to say but I think that was probably a poor choice of words.

[Chovexani]

23. I don't know if I would use the term apartheid

Since, AFAIK that exclusively refers to a situation where the minority group is keeping the majority group oppressed.

I appreciate her sentiment, and yes, it is really dumb that in 2009 people still can't have rights because mouthbreathing bigots never graduated from kindergarten and the "eww cooties" mentality.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

25. my sentiments. i wouldnt call in apartheid either. though in reference to my own culture

i would call this sexual orientation casteism. in that you are born into a caste and are either honored or reviled because of it.

by this i mean homophobia not gay marriage particularly

[Chovexani]

28. That's an interesting parallel

It makes a lot of sense, from the little I know about the caste situation.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

30. i think when people compare these thigns, they are comparing principals, not exact details

clearly homosexuality isnt passed father to son, mother to daughter, so isnt perpetuated the EXACT same way but the principal is similar. that one sexual orientation is inherently better and more deserving than the other.

[FreeState]

27. I see where your coming from and agree mostly

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid

Apartheid—meaning separateness in Afrikaans (which is cognate to the English apart and -hood)—was a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994.

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At its base definition I see a parallel but in its enforcement there is no question they have only a little common (as far as I know gays and lesbians in the US have never been necklased for example). I have two neighbors that are from South Africa (both white women - one a very butch lesbian) that have stories I can not even wrap my head around.

I dont think Theron was intending to say they are the exact same thing though - no matter she means well I hope!:)

[Chovexani]

29. There is a really good doc that I saw on Logo a while back

Something like "Coming Out in the Developing World" that talked about LGBT people's struggles in places like South Africa, the Middle East, etc. It was really interesting (and heartbreaking) to see the kinds of problems LGBT people face in places outside of the US and Europe.