Gay Civil Rights Movement Must Emulate Black Civil Rights Movement
Bayard Rustin was the chief influence behind the legendary minister's efforts to seek civil rights for Black men and women through non-violent means.
Rustin has street cred because, among other things, he served over two months on a chain gang in North Carolina for violating Jim Crow laws, back in the 40s folks.
Then, Bayard went to India to study non-violent revolution with disciples of Mahatma Gandhi which had a huge influence on Martin Luther King.
I understand gay people's frustration with those who voted for and supported Proposition 8. I voted no and I'm pissed. But the gay rights movement will not win friends and influence people by hating on those whom it's politically correct to hate on - basically white conservative Protestant Christians (and please remember folks that I, Jeremiah Wrignt and Barack Obama belong to a LIBERAL Protestant Christian denomination, the United Church of Christ which has more street cred on gay rights than any other church in the world so this doesn't affect me).
The gay rights movement MUST tell the stories of their families and their lives to the world, just like King did. A movement of love and understanding will win the day as opposed to one of hate and recrimination.
I am pretty sure Bayard would agree.
NAACP Chairman and longtime civil rights leader Julian Bond talks about gay rights and Bayard Rustin's contribution to the cause.
Labels: bayard rustin, civil rights, Dr. Martin Luther King, Gay Marriage, gay rights, mahatma gandhi
Posted by Michael Higby @ 11/11/2008 10:35:00 PM
4 Comments:
A year before his death in 1987, Rustin said: "The barometer of where one is on human rights questions is no longer the black community, it's the gay community. Because it is the community which is most easily mistreated."
That quote should be everywhere.
Great post MS!
Another 'straight against H8', here.
I'm not pissed, MS, I'm absolutely horrified! Given the history of the last half-century, when anyone, especially African Americans, votes for a measure that clearly promulgates Separate But Equal, something is very, very wrong.
My first impulse is to get the hell out of a place that passes 1950s-style hate legislation. I'm still fighting that battle.
I thought we lived in modern times. If I wanted to live in the 1950s, I'd move to the deep South.
Elton John FOR Prop 8 (AGAINST Gay Marriage) http://www.hollyscoop.com/elton-john/elton-john-is-for-prop-8_18406.aspx
While I appreciate this article, it conveniently ignores that fact that people like Rustin were (and still are) a MINORITY of a minority. If the African-American population at large won't listen to reason when it's coming from one of their own, then we've already lost them.
SMS
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