idioms - What does "sit in the back of the bus" mean?


What does "sit in the back of the bus" in the following sentence mean? It has been taken from Harvey Milk's "The Hope Speech."



The first gay people we elect must be strong. They must not be content to sit in the back of the bus. They must not be content to accept pablum.




Answer



The expression "sit in the back of the bus" was used here to indicate unfair treatment. In this case, unfair treatment against gay people. It probably became famous due to the Montogomery bus incident happened in 1955 where Rosa Parks, an African-American civil rights activist, was arrested for sitting in the front of the bus and not moving to the back.


A similar incident occurred couple of weeks ago where a gay couple was forced to move to the back of a bus by the driver because they were holding hands. You can read about this article here.


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