Homosexuality became stigmatized in Rome _long_ before the Crusades. Open homosexuality started its decline during the first century CE, and by 342, with the acceptance of Christianity as Rome's official religion, it was outlawed and made punishable by death. The crusades began in 1095, seven hundred and fifty-three years later.

Second, black people didn't relaly have to worry about fighting for our rights until the beginnings of the slave trade in the tenth century. Dealings between Africans and Middle Easterners were far more humane, and we had a good bit of acceptance from many (though admittedly not all) of those peoples.

Third, gay people have been fighting for more than just gay marriage. THat's all you see _now_. There were struggles for homosexuality to be delisted as a mental illness (in 1973), sodomy laws to be stricken down (in 2003), and there's still the issuesof gay peopel not being allowed ot adopt, gay men disallowed fro mgivign blood, sexual orientatio nnot being protected in many states by anti-discriminatory laws.

The similarity is that it's people who have been marginalized by the largley white rotestant American society fighting for rights. like black people. Like Latinos (Spanish should be made an official second language in many areas). Like Jews. Like Asians. Like Muslims. Like WOMEN.

Selective social consciousness is a mess.