Three Black Ministers Association Unite Against Homosexual-Civil-Rights
Marriage is not a civil right, and the struggle of gay and lesbian people cannot be compared to the struggle of blacks. That 150 years of struggle was a unique event in history
BOSTON, Ma. -- Last week, the three largest associations of black ministers in the Boston area united, holding news conferences and issuing statements to denounce homosexual marriage, tearing down the main argument presented by pro-gay activists that compares the civil rights movement to the gay rights movement.
The civil rights argument has propelled the homosexual movement in the past months. The Massachusetts high courts decision to legalize same-sex marriage was based on the Supreme Courts 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, which ended racial segregation in America. At California, the nuisance Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco cited equal rights as the reason to issue gay marriage licenses illegally.
That same argument has been heard from every pro-gay activist who sprawled and rallied at the steps of the city halls in New York and Oregon, and from Mayor Jason West of New Paltz, N.Y. who was charged on 19 criminal counts for performing and handing out marriage licenses. Even several prominent black legislatures compared the blacks long struggle to gain civil rights to the pro-gay ruckus. They stood alongside gay-activists at the Massachusetts constitutional convention in February and in March, using the same argument and same tactics to gain support for legalized homosexuality in the state.
However the unity of the three associations of black ministers invalidated those arguments in one blow.
"I'm offended that they're comparing this to civil rights," said Rev. Jeffrey Brown, a Baptist minister. "Marriage is not a civil right, and the struggle of gay and lesbian people cannot be compared to the struggle of blacks. That 150 years of struggle was a unique event in history."
Rev. Jesse Jackson, while at Harvard University for a recent event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the school board decision, called the comparison of the two movements "a stretch" because "gays were never called three-fifths human in the Constitution."
Rev. Eugene Rivers of the Boston Ten-Point Coalition, a group of clergy and lay leaders, black politicians who supported that argument were "kowtowing to white liberals."
"The black community needs to draw a line in the sand and defend our history and our struggle from being exploited by those who would use it now for ideological convenience," Rivers said.