Controversial gay, Catholic, Chicano writer Richard Rodriguez got smart with the Prop 8 commentary in a Salon interview this week.

He
made the point that the controversy over the comparison between black
civil rights and gay civil rights is pointless, because the comparison
isn't apt. Gay civil rights are better compared with feminism.

Monotheistic religions feel threatened by the rise of feminism and
the insistence, in many communities, that women take a bigger role in
the church.

... In such a world, we need to
identify the relationship between feminism and homosexuality. These
movements began, in some sense, to achieve visibility alongside one
another. I know a lot of black churches take offense when gay activists
say that the gay movement is somehow analogous to the black civil
rights movement. And while there is some relationship between the
persecution of gays and the anti-miscegenation laws in the United
States, I think the true analogy is to the women's movement. What we
represent as gays in America is an alternative to the traditional
male-structured society.

... But the real challenge to the family right now is male irresponsibility
and misbehavior toward women. If the Hispanic Catholic and evangelical
churches really wanted to protect the family, they should address the
issue of wife beating in Hispanic families and the misbehaviors of the
father against the mother. But no, they go after gay marriage. It
doesn't take any brilliance to notice that this is hypocrisy of such
magnitude that you blame the gay couple living next door for the fact
that you've just beaten your wife.

He
also points out that homophobia in the Chicano community is a complex
thing. There's public condemnation of it, but also private acceptance,
especially by women. He's not letting them off the hook however.

Rodriguez
has always been controversial because he says the things that no one on
either side of a question wants to hear. He's very smart, but sometimes
he gets it wrong.

What do you think about what he says in this interview? Right? Wrong? Kinda sorta? In what way? Let us know below in comments.