At the NAACP Centennial Convention in New York Thursday night, President Obama gave a speech addressing, among other issues, discrimination and prejudice facing minority groups, including LGBT.
Excerpt:
"The first thing we need to do is make real the words of your charter and eradicate prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination among citizens of the United States. I understand there may be a temptation among some to think that discrimination is no longer a problem in 2009. And I believe that overall, there probably has never been less discrimination in America than there is today. But make no mistake: the pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African-American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and a different gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to their God. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.
On the 45th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, discrimination must not stand. Not on account of color or gender; how you worship or who you love. Prejudice has no place in the United States of America."
The NAACP's board of directors met while at the convention to discuss their newly formed GLBT Task Force's mission statement, which would include opposing discrimination toward gays and lesbians who want to get married. This would be a major declaration from the civil right's group who up to this point has remained neutral due to the struggle within its membership to come to a consensus.
Just recently, the NAACP's president Benjamin Todd Jealous, spoke to CNN stating that marriage equality is a divisive issue within the organization, which is the reason that so far they have not taken a stand.
However in March, NAACP chairman Julian Bond gave an amazing speech at HRC's Los Angeles Gala Dinner in which he states he gives full support to LGBT equality, including marriage.
The NAACP will give full consideration to its GLBT Task Force mission statement Thursday.
The new president of the NAACP, Benjamin Todd Jealous, spoke with CNN's T.J. Holmes on the organization's struggle to take a stance on marriage equality.
In the interview below, he states they do support many issues concerning LGBT, including hate crimes, but when it comes to marriage, it's a divisive issue within their membership.
Something that struck me rather quickly in this interview was Jealous' incorrect recitation of the chant, "Gay, Straight, Black, White, Marriage Is a Civil Right." He quoted it as, "Gay, Straight, Black, White, Same Struggle, Same Fight."
This may seem like a minor detail, but it's not. Many African Americans I've spoken to or have read object to LGBT rights movement being directly compared to their rights movement. Now, I've been to countless protests, marches and rallies, and I've not once heard the chant that Jealous recited. I'm not accusing him of twisting the language purposefully to support his argument, nor that it's never been chanted, but I'm pointing out how the LGBT rights movement can be perceived and interpreted.
This is a delicate issue. I don't see the LGBT civil rights movement as being the same as the African American civil rights movement. Big differences exist, different effects of different types of discrimination. But in my opinion, it still boils down to the rights granted to us by the government, whether that be the protection of a minority or the benefits afforded to tax paying citizens. Either way you look at it, when the government is involved, it's a civil issue, and when that government discriminates, it's a civil rights issue.
The NAACP is a civil rights organization founded during the African American civil rights movement with that segment of the American population in mind. Yet to be leaders, you sometimes have to make unpopular decisions, even if it will anger those who follow you. In this case, people are looking to the NAACP to make that decision. They need to, soon, no matter what it is.
"Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union. A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing, and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages."
"We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny... I can never be what I ought to be until you are allowed to be what you ought to be," she said, quoting from her husband. "I've always felt that homophobic attitudes and policies were unjust and unworthy of a free society and must be opposed by all Americans who believe in democracy."
"Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Georgia, and St. Augustine, Florida, and many other campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement. Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions."
"We have a lot of work to do in our common struggle against bigotry and discrimination. I say 'common struggle,' because I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry & discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right-thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination."
Chicago Sun Times, April 1, 1998, p.18. "She said the civil rights movement 'thrives on unity and inclusion, not division and exclusion.' Her husband's struggle parallels that of the gay rights movement, she said."
Here is a quote from the Rev. Eric Lee, President of the Los Angeles chapter of MLK's Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who faces being fired because he took a stand for marriage equality.
"Any time one group of people are denied the same rights as other people, it is unequivocally a denial of civil rights."
National NAACP Chairman Julian Bond gave a powerful speech in support of LGBT rights at HRC’s Los Angeles Gala Dinner on Saturday, March 14.
From his speech: "When someone asks me, “are gay rights civil rights?” my answer is always, “Of course, they are.” Civil rights are positive legal prerogatives: the right to equal treatment before the law. These are the rights shared by everyone. There is no one in the United States who does not, or should not, enjoy or share in enjoying these rights. Gay and lesbian rights are not special rights in any way. It isn’t “special” to be free from discrimination. It is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship. "
"People of color ought to be flattered that our movement has provided so much inspiration for others. That, it has been, that our movement has been so widely imitated. That our tactics, our methods, our heroes, our heroines, and even our songs, have been appropriated or served as models for others."
"Now, no parallel between movements is exact. African-Americans are the only Americans who were enslaved for more than two centuries and people of color carried the badge of who we are on our faces. But we are far from the only people suffering discrimination; sadly, so do many others. And those others deserve the law’s protection and civil rights too…"
"Like race, our sexuality isn’t a preference. It is immutable; it is unchangeable. And the constitution protects us against prejudices and discrimination based on immutable differences."
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