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Blacks Divided Over Use of Civil Rights Imagery to Describe Gay Marriage Push
AP TBO breaking ^ | March 6, 2004 | Allen G. Breed

Posted on 03/06/2004 11:19:47 AM PST by Kaslin

When small-town Mayor Jason West started presiding over gay weddings, he saw it as nothing short of "the flowering of the largest civil rights movement the country's had in a generation."

"The people who would forbid gays from marrying in this country are those who would have made Rosa Parks sit in the back of the bus," said the Green Party mayor of New Paltz, N.Y.

West's words have a strong resonance for gays and lesbians who feel their rights are being denied, but for blacks who worked to end racial discrimination in the 1950s and '60s, the reaction is decidedly mixed. Some civil rights leaders find the comparison apt, but other blacks call it downright disgraceful.

"The gay community is pimping the civil rights movement and the history," said the Rev. Gene Rivers, a black Boston minister and president of the National Ten-Point Leadership Foundation. "In the view of many, it's racist at worst, cynical at best."

With gay marriage emerging as the nation's hot-button social issue, American blacks find themselves being courted as a special ally by both camps. Many are conflicted over attempts to equate the civil disobedience of homosexual unions with still-vivid memories of voting-rights protesters mauled by snarling police dogs and knocked down by firehoses.

Some conservative groups are appealing directly to black congregations to block attempts to co-opt the language of the civil rights movement.

"We oppose attempts to equate homosexuality with civil rights or compare it to benign characteristics such as skin color or place of origin," says a Web site from the conservative Family Research Council.

Meanwhile, civil rights luminaries such as NAACP board chairman Julian Bond and Rep. John Lewis, one of the organizers of the 1963 march on Washington, have spoken on the side of gay marriage. Bond said he supports "gay civil or religious marriage."

"Discrimination is discrimination - no matter who the victim is, and it is always wrong," he told The Associated Press. "There are no 'special rights' in America, despite the attempts by many to divide blacks and the gay community with the argument that the latter are seeking some imaginary 'special rights' at the expense of blacks."

Lewis filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Massachusetts case that led to the first unequivocal state ruling recognizing same-sex marriage.

In its November decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court cited the landmark school desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education. The first licenses are scheduled to be issued there May 17 - the 50th anniversary of Brown.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery agrees that American blacks should clearly sympathize with the gay community's fight for rights.

But Lowery, who founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr., said the sheer weight of U.S. history precludes too close a comparison.

"Homosexuals as people have never been enslaved because of their sexual orientation," he argued. "They may have been scorned; they may have been discriminated against. But they've never been enslaved and declared less than human."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, while supporting "equal protection under the law" for gays, agreed that comparisons to the struggles of the civil rights movement are "a stretch."

"Gays were never called three-fifths human in the Constitution," he said during a recent appearance at Harvard Law School.

Another issue is that of choice, said D'Army Bailey, a marcher with the armed Deacons for Defense and Justice and a founder of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.

"I don't have a choice to be black and, therefore, had to be faced with the human rights battle from birth," said Bailey, a judge in Memphis.

Keith Boykin, a gay, black man, scoffs at the notion that sexual orientation is a choice. But even if it were true, he said, that's not the point.

"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter which group is most oppressed or whether they are identically oppressed," said Boykin, president of the New York-based National Black Justice Coalition. "What matters is that no group be oppressed."

Among the state legislatures taking action on the gay marriage issue was the Mississippi House, which passed a resolution Monday that called for a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

All 17 of those voting against the measure were black, but the remaining 19 black House members either voted for the resolution or didn't vote at all.

State Rep. David Myers, a Democrat, remembers having to go to the back door of restaurants with his grandfather to be served. But he voted for the resolution, and says people who would compare that experience with gays not being able to wed are "way off base."

"There's no one blocking the courthouse saying you can't go vote," he said. "That's what civil rights was about."

As a minister, Lowery of the SCLC said he is "in the valley of prayer on the issue of gay marriage." But, as a black man who was deeply involved in the struggle for equal rights, he is willing to "err on the side of inclusiveness, and not exclusion."

"I'm going to follow Jesus and say, 'Whosoever will, let them come,'" he said. "And I'm going to extend rights to all of God's children. And if I'm wrong, God will have to judge me."

---

EDITOR'S NOTE: Allen G. Breed is the AP's Southeast regional writer, based in Raleigh. AP writer Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Miss., contributed to this report


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: California; US: New York; US: Oregon
KEYWORDS: blackchurch; civilrights; civilunion; homosexualagenda; marriage; newpaltz; sclc
This
"The gay community is pimping the civil rights movement and the history," said the Rev. Gene Rivers, a black Boston minister and president of the National Ten-Point Leadership Foundation. "In the view of many, it's racist at worst, cynical at best."

Says it all in my opinion

1 posted on 03/06/2004 11:19:47 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
Je$$e and Sharpton should go to the patent office and apply for a "TM" on "Civil Rights."
2 posted on 03/06/2004 11:26:05 AM PST by rickmichaels
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To: Kaslin
"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter which group is most oppressed or whether they are identically oppressed," said Boykin, president of the New York-based National Black Justice Coalition. "What matters is that no group be oppressed."


Really now? What about people who like to have sex with animals? Should we be open and tolerant towards them? They are a minority group and surely they must feel oppressed by the restrictions that society places on them. Boykin, open up you mind and help bring Man-Dog love into the open where it belongs. Boykin for Man-Dog love!!!


3 posted on 03/06/2004 11:31:44 AM PST by Avenger
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To: Kaslin
Notice the headline.

By all rights this headline should read

"Blacks Offended by Gays Use of Civil Rights Language"

and then at the bottom of the story place one sentence that says "Other blacks thought it was OK."

This is what they did with the "Offended" families with the new Bush ads. I know I am preaching to the choir here, I just hope that the great undecided can see through some of this crud.
4 posted on 03/06/2004 11:43:34 AM PST by ChipShot
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To: Kaslin
We must not let the Homosexuals get away with calling this a "civil rights" issue. It is not. It is not a "Human rights" issue either.

Homosexuality is a MORAL issue, just as promiscuity and adultery are.

Religions have the right and responsibility to condemn immorality.

For the government to all of a sudden approve of immoral behavior...to make a MORAL judgment and actually legalize immorality, this act would take way our freedom of Religion. It is the government stepping in where they don't belong.

To legalize homosexual unions, would establish a religious opinion by the government and would PROHIBIT THE FREE EXORCISE of religion...our first guarantee of freedom!

To pass a homosexual marriage law, is tantamount to taking away our freedoms of speech and religion.

It is the national RAPE of our consciences. Homosexuality is being FORCED on a society that does not want it.

5 posted on 03/06/2004 11:45:52 AM PST by tuckrdout (Terri Schindler (Schiavo) deserves to have her wishes honored: Give her a DIVORCE!)
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To: Avenger
My great-grandfather was arrested for polygamy. If the government is now going to change and say that they don't have the right to deny marriage to any group....I say that our family should get some $$$ and an apology from the government!

6 posted on 03/06/2004 11:48:27 AM PST by tuckrdout (Terri Schindler (Schiavo) deserves to have her wishes honored: Give her a DIVORCE!)
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To: Kaslin
(s)"Democrat? I didn't know you were GAY!??"(/s)

say that to a few democrats.
7 posted on 03/06/2004 11:51:24 AM PST by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: tuckrdout
reparations for polygamists?
8 posted on 03/06/2004 11:54:00 AM PST by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: longtermmemmory
Yeah....Don't you think that it would have to happen? It seems like a logical step, if the government is now going to say that it may not say who can or can not get married. The government DID say that my great grandmother was NOT married legally, and put her "husband" in jail. They had 8 children. My grandfather was one of them. This caused all kinds of embarrassment and humiliation to the family for almost 100 years!

I think money could soothe it all over, though.

And maybe even the government should spend lots more cash, RE-LEGALISING all those polygamous marriages that they tore apart?!

What do you think?
9 posted on 03/06/2004 12:00:34 PM PST by tuckrdout (Terri Schindler (Schiavo) deserves to have her wishes honored: Give her a DIVORCE!)
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To: ChipShot
Listen, affirmative action quotas are right around the corner.

No church or youth group will be able to keep them out, if they are accorded "civil rights" protection for their deviant sexual behavior.

And lets be honest. Fat people have less "rights" than this group...they can not even get health insurance as a single person! They have much higher insurance rates, and have to pay for the extra seat on airplanes....DISCRIMINATION!!!

I want the word "OBESE" added to the civil rights act.
10 posted on 03/06/2004 12:09:31 PM PST by tuckrdout (Terri Schindler (Schiavo) deserves to have her wishes honored: Give her a DIVORCE!)
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To: tuckrdout
If a man divorces his five wives, are they all samesexpolygamy married? Does he get a piece all their 401k's?

Can I bring in as many fiance's as i want?

Imagine if a coyote can bring all his human cargo across as FIANCE's. Border control is SCR*WED.

Right now a homosexual man can be hired for an immigration marriage for 5k. Imagine the price if he could do a volume business!
11 posted on 03/06/2004 12:09:57 PM PST by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: tuckrdout
I want FREEPER added to the civil rights act. I was born wanting to discuss politics on the internet! Jim Robinson is like Rosa parks. We want to be in the front of the internet!!!
12 posted on 03/06/2004 12:11:35 PM PST by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: Avenger
"Really now? What about people who like to have sex with animals? Should we be open and tolerant towards them? They are a minority group and surely they must feel oppressed by the restrictions that society places on them. Boykin, open up you mind and help bring Man-Dog love into the open where it belongs. Boykin for Man-Dog love!!!

You have hit the nail on the head..so to speak...ahem...

How can we give marriage rights to this group of sexual deviants, and not give them to interspecies groups? That would be very intolerant.

Why should homosexuals be the only ones to be "offended" when their deviant sex is put on the same level as another deviant sexual practice.

I make the case that many Americans are very lonely and their only friend, is their Dog. It is so much more than a sexual relationship....it is a true, unconditional love!

Vet care is so expensive, and these, often times our senior-bestialsexual citizens, can not afford health care for their partners! And they are constantly discriminated against getting their lovers on their health insurance. This places them at a clear disadvatage, since the animal partner often can not find employment of their own. This is such an unfair hardship! Why should they be kept from living as other couples do? Why do homosexuals care what they do? What business is it of theirs?

What right do homosexuals have to say that beastialsexual people are "disgusting"...that is such a hate filled, intolerant, insensative thing to say!

Beastialsexual couples should have the same rights as all americans! They should have the right of survivor benefits on the insurance plans....and everything else.

13 posted on 03/06/2004 12:22:15 PM PST by tuckrdout (Terri Schindler (Schiavo) deserves to have her wishes honored: Give her a DIVORCE!)
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To: longtermmemmory
Right. How about if a person decides to marry about 20 people. Now this is a group thing, right? What if one of them dies. Do all the rest get survivor benefits?

Believe me, Polygamy WILL BE legal, if homosexual "marriage" is legal. It would have to be.
14 posted on 03/06/2004 12:28:43 PM PST by tuckrdout (Terri Schindler (Schiavo) deserves to have her wishes honored: Give her a DIVORCE!)
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To: EdReform
ping
15 posted on 03/06/2004 11:30:29 PM PST by I_Love_My_Husband (Borders, Language, Culture, Straights - now more than ever)
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To: Kaslin
it's more like a gay marriage putsch..
16 posted on 03/07/2004 10:10:47 AM PST by sheik yerbouty
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