Bayard Rustin and Prop 8

Skeptical Brotha: on the role of African Americans in supporting gay marriage:

As some of you know, one of Skeptical Brotha’s longtime contributors has posted that he succumed to the cacophony of lies, hatred, and fear peddled by the homophobic religious right, and voted to ban same sex marriage in California. In so doing, he defecated on the legacy of many gay and lesbian people who fought for the rights of African Americans and similarly situated people of color for full equality in this country.

Without community organizers like Bayard Rustin, a gay black man who traveled to India to study and bring back the nonviolent tactics of Mahatma Ghandhi, the civil rights movement would have suffered in this country. The remarkable thing about the multi-talented Rustin is that he was always upfront about his sexuality, he didn’t hide who he was from anybody. For a man born nearly one hundred years ago in 1912, that little factoid is a big honkin’ deal. In addition to his civil rights activism and his methodical planning of the 1963 March on Washington, he was also a dedicated labor organizer. You remember the March on Washington, right? I believe Dr. King said somethin’ about a dream–a dream that his only living sibling has said has now been realized with the election of Barack Obama.

The late Mrs. Coretta Scott King was clear in her support for equal rights for all:

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