advertisement
advertisement
|
RHONDA SMITH
Friday, January 14, 2005
AMONG THE MYRIAD celebrations next week in honor of what would have been Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s 76th birthday is a musical concert in Washington,
D.C., organized by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgendered Arts Consortium.
Alvin Mayes, a black gay college professor and member of the Lesbian &
Gay Chorus of Washington, came up with the idea to honor the slain civil rights
leader five years ago. Last year, he said he did so because he saw similarities
between the movement King began leading in Montgomery, Ala., five decades ago
and the more recent public push for gay civil rights.
Despite critics who bristle at comparisons between the two movements, it not
only is our right but our responsibility to point out their similarities.
Individuals opposed to gay equality justify their acceptance of African Americans
and rejection of gay people, in part, by saying blacks do not choose their skin
color but gays choose their sexual orientation. The scientific verdict is still
out on sexual orientation, though there is evidence to support the belief that
being gay (or straight) is an immutable characteristic.
Regardless, gay people are systematically locked out of certain institutions
that are open to everyone else, much like African Americans once were. The most
obvious in this country is the right to legally marry, which remains illegal
everywhere except in Massachusetts.
On the adoption front, the U.S. Supreme Court declined this week to hear a
legal case that challenged Florida’s ban on letting gay people adopt children.
Patricia Logue, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, said in a written statement
that no other state in this country has a law that completely bans lesbians
and gay men from adopting children.
“Florida is letting anti-gay bigotry determine its adoption policies
while thousands of children in the state wait years to be adopted,” she
said.
Gay people also are denied jobs and housing based on their sexual orientation.
And like African Americans and individuals who belong to other racial and ethnic
groups, gay men and lesbians are disproportionately at risk for becoming victims
of hate crimes, based on other people’s prejudices.
IN LIGHT OF all this, it was disappointing to learn that Martin Luther King
Jr.’s youngest daughter recently marched in Atlanta in part against equal
marriage rights for gay couples with members of New Birth Missionary Church
in Lithonia, Ga.
Bernice King is an elder in New Birth, which claims 25,000 members. Atlanta
police estimated that at least 20,000 of the church’s supporters took
part in the march Dec. 11 from her father’s gravesite to Turner Field.
About 50 gay civil rights advocates held a counter protest nearby.
New Birth organizers said they staged the march to urge black churches to speak
out more about issues like reforming the education and health care systems,
creating economic opportunities for communities of color and blocking legal
marriage rights for same-sex couples.
While education, health care and economic matters affecting African Americans
are all worthy causes to focus more time and attention on, why King and Bishop
Eddie Long, the senior pastor of New Birth, as well as other black ministers
nationwide, are choosing to focus on marriage matters is less clear.
Marriage among gay couples is not even one of the top 10 looming issues aggravating
the social ills facing black America, though black religious leaders opposed
to gay civil rights argue that granting equal marriage rights to gay couples
would somehow weaken the family structure.
The looming challenges causing black families the most harm are primarily tied
to poverty, not homosexuality. Instead of marriage matters, marchers could have
better served their cause by developing strategies to counter the influx of
illegal drugs and violence afflicting a disproportionate number of black communities
nationwide, and the disproportionate rate of HIV/AIDS cases facing black men,
women and children.
Beyond this, black religious leaders and their followers must also be challenged
when they argue that their views opposing homosexuality are based on a literal
interpretation of the Bible. Although it is unlikely that their views will change,
a rational discussion with them about our lives could only help, though it will
take time.
NOT ALL AFRICAN American leaders are opposed to gay civil rights.
Thankfully, the slain civil rights leader’s widow, Coretta Scott King,
has been one of our most outspoken allies. Her comments suggest that her husband,
who was born on Jan. 15, 1929, would have been supportive of our struggle.
Other African-American allies, including Rev. Al Sharpton, the former presidential
candidate, and Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.), also have spoken eloquently about
backing gay rights, including marriage equality.
Nevertheless, many black politicians who we should be able to count on as allies
continue to take their cues from Bill Clinton, John Kerry, and other political
liberals who have stopped short of supporting our push for equal marriage rights.
Incoming U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), for example, has said he supports
gay civil rights but not “gay marriage.” At times like this, we
must be comfortable making our case for full equality alone, when necessary.
“Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering
and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals,”
King wrote during the late 1950s in “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery
Story.”
“Without persistent effort, time itself becomes an ally of the insurgent
and primitive forces of irrational emotionalism and social destruction,”
he said. “This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for
vigorous and positive action.”
|
