POC Media Program Note: This column offers a compelling perspective as to why African Americans should support the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community's fight for equal rights. The columnist provides a poignant and historical look at what one gay man in particular did to champion Black civil rights during Jim Crow. It is an insightful piece that helps educate readers on the importance of fighting for equal rights for all - no matter your race, religion or sexual orientation.

Blacks should join the fight for gay rights

January 15, 2004
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/des15_20040115.htm

By Desiree Cooper
Free Press Columnist

In 2003, the Episcopal Church ordained its first openly gay bishop, Vermont legalized gay civil unions, and the Massachusetts high court paved the way for gay marriage.

It's hard to listen to the arguments against gay rights without remembering the public outcry against black civil rights. "I'm not prejudiced, but I wouldn't want my daughter to marry one." "Why don't they know their place and stop making trouble?"

Which is why I marvel that more blacks aren't supportive of gay rights. Perhaps they don't realize how much their civil rights were won on the backs of the gay community -- or at least on the back of one gay man, Bayard Rustin.

A force of peaceful resistance

Born in 1912 and raised as a Pennsylvania Quaker, Rustin joined the Communist Party as a young man. Later, he became a socialist, joining A. Phillip Randolph, the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, to help blacks enter the trade unions.

In 1942, he helped form the Congress of Racial Equality, a pacifist organization ascribing to the writings of Thoreau and Gandhi. When Rustin refused to serve in World War II, he spent two years in prison where he protested the segregated dining facilities.

Twenty years before the Freedom Rides -- where activists challenged segregated public transportation in the South -- Rustin organized the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation. Using Gandhian tactics, he protested Jim Crow laws, was arrested and spent 22 days on a black chain gang in North Carolina.

In 1953, Rustin was arrested in California on a morals charge for his homosexual behavior, making him a pariah in the civil rights community. But he resurfaced in 1956, advising Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the art of nonviolent protest during the Montgomery bus boycott. Rustin became King's top strategist, organizing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and masterminding the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Rights still worth fighting for

Despite his value to the movement, some black civil rights leaders rejected Rustin because of his sexuality. The issue came to a head when South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, in an effort to quash the March on Washington, called Rustin a "Communist, draft dodger, and homosexual." Thurmond produced an FBI photo of Rustin talking to King while King was bathing and accused them of a homosexual affair. King defended Rustin, but he was forced to remain behind the scenes.

Rustin, a gay man who championed civil rights for others, died in 1987 still unable to exercise the simplest of freedoms, such as expressing love through marriage. As we approach Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we should remember the man who gave the movement its inclusive, nonviolent, moral imperative.

Perhaps it's time for us to return the favor.

POC Media Program Note: This article delves into religion and the African American community, and how it factors into some members of the community opposing gay marriage. The article notes, however, that the Black church isn't so clear-cut about its opposition to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. It includes two Black leaders' stance on gay rights to prove this point. The article also does a good job of picking apart a pastor and veteran civil rights activist's argument that gay marriage would weaken "the traditional function of marriage."

The Washington Post

Black Churches and Gay Marriage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A10006-2003Nov24?language=printer

By Jabari Asim
Monday, November 24, 2003; 10:44 AM

I'm always leery of black public officials who claim to speak for the more than 36 million other black people living in these United States. So quite naturally I was suspicious when Triette Reeves volunteered to express "our" opinion of legally sanctioned gay marriages.

Reeves, a Democratic member of the Michigan House of Representatives and a minister at the Mount Zion Church of God in Detroit, is a lead sponsor of a proposed state amendment that would define marriage as the exclusive province of heterosexuals. Last month she told a reporter for Newhouse News Service, "From the African-American perspective, which is the only perspective I can give, our focus is, 'God said it, we believe it, and we should promote it.' I know that sounds elementary but it's really that simple."

Reeves' comments left me with two questions: Where were you when God "said" this to you? What do you mean "we"?

But another question may be the most important: Is it really that simple? If pollsters can be believed, the answer is yes. A survey conducted last July by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 64 percent of black respondents opposed gay marriage. A Pew Research Center poll released last week shows that opposition has grown since July among Democratic-leaning voters, including blacks. Like Triette Reeves, many blacks who have spoken out against gay marriage often cite religious beliefs as their motivation.

The central role of religion in the lives of most black Americans explains why so many of their leaders arise from historically black churches. But it sheds little light on the philosophical divisions emerging among some of its foremost spokesmen. Walter Fauntroy, a pastor and veteran civil rights activist whom I often admire, opposes gay marriage. Al Sharpton, a pastor and veteran civil rights activist whom I often do not admire, supports gay marriage. I find him quite sensible too when he posits the issue as a matter of privacy and individual rights. He told NBC's Tim Russert, "Whatever the lifestyle, people should have the right to choose their own life."

Fauntroy, meanwhile, suggests that gay matrimony would harm the black community by weakening the traditional function of marriage. "I'm unalterably opposed to anything that redefines marriage as anything other than an institution for two purposes, the socialization of children and the perpetuation of the species," he said. Fauntroy has yet to explain how gay couples who raise children fail to properly socialize them. In addition, it's hard to look at the census data, which show a gradual but steady increase in the number of black families headed by married couples -- plus, alas, the horrific number of black children born out of wedlock -- without concluding that the species is perpetuating itself just fine.

The contrasting viewpoints of these prominent ministers suggest that the approach of black churches to sexual issues is less easily characterized than one might think. Keith Boykin, a black gay author who writes quite eloquently about such topics, touched on this conundrum when he described the black church as "the most homophobic and most homo-tolerant institution in the black community."

Donna Payne laughed when I read Boykin's comment to her. An African-American lesbian, she is a senior constituent organizer for Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group. "The church loves us," she quipped. "They just think that we're going to hell."

Through her job, which involves outreach to black churches, Payne has come to believe that blacks will gradually become less resistant to gay marriage. "Members of the African-American community will begin to educate themselves and talk about it amongst family and eventually be OK with it," she said. "That seems to be the path that they're taking in talking about sexual orientation." As evidence she points to events such as the national black religious summit on sexuality held annually in the nation's capital, and joint gospel concerts featuring choirs from both gay-friendly churches and mainstream African-American congregations.

K. Godfrey Easter, an Atlanta-based gay activist and author of "Love Lifted Me: In Spite of the Church," is less sanguine. He contends that gays' recent legal victories will have little effect on black pastors who continue to condemn homosexuality. "African America still resides in Jurassic Park when it comes to fundamental issues of its same-gender-attracted community," whose members, he told me, are "written off as social and spiritual misfits." Until attitudes change, he said, "discussing the legalization of gay/lesbian marriage is like putting the cart before the horse."