Still Just A Dream
by Doreen Brandt 365Gay.com from the Web, January 17,
2005
Washington -- Gay African Americans will honor the memory of the country's most notable civil rights leader at events across the country today as the nation observes Martin Luther King Day, but for many Americans King's Dream remains elusive.
Of particular concern is the opposition by many black leaders to same-sex marriage.
Last November, as Republicans energized the right by using gay marriage as an issue the black community was drawn into the battle.
Leaders who had lined up behind King a generation ago to push for civil rights denounced gays using King's memory to push for same-sex marriage.
African American voters helped pass constitutional amendments in southern states to ban gay marriage.
In speeches last year in Boston Jesse King said he supported equal protection for gay couples, but told students at two universities not confuse gay rights with civil rights.
Bernice King, one of King's daughters, lit a torch during an Atlanta rally in December to denounce same-sex marriage.
Her participation in the rally illustrated the deep divisions both within the black community and the King family over same-sex marriage.
Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, has said on a number of occasions that her husband would have supported gay marriage.
"A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing, and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages," she said during a speech last March at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
A study, released last October, shows that Gay African American families are doubly targeted for discrimination.
The survey showed that, among other things, gay and lesbian African American couples have lower median incomes than either white same-sex couples or black married opposite-sex couples.
In August, 2003, during a memorial to mark the 40th anniversary of King's historic March on Washington LGBT leaders were, for the first time, invited to speak.
"The hard won progress the nation has achieved in the 40 years since Dr. King's historic speech is in mortal danger.
That progress is being undermined everyday as our civil rights are being eroded and our gains in racial, social and economic justice are being dismantled," said Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, who had been invited to speak at the rally on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
The organizer of the 1963 march was one of King's closest advisers, Bayard Rustin, an openly gay man.
In a statement issued to mark this year's Martin Luther King day, Foreman praised King's sense of inclusion.
"King -- greatly assisted by our own Bayard Rustin -- bent the arc of history toward racial and economic justice.
Since the deaths of these prophetic figures, those who walked beside them have continued their vision, and included justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans in their work.
We hold up with gratitude the members of Dr. King's family and those who fought beside Dr. King while he was alive."
For Evan Wolfson, the executive director of the Freedom to Marry Coalition, today is part of a continuum on the road to full equality for gays.
"I take a tremendous amount of inspiration from Dr. King," Wolfson said. "King himself was a very strong advocate for equality, not just for African Americans but all people."
For Foreman, today is an opportunity for gays to commit themselves" to Dr. King's work of ending racial and economic injustice."
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