Cody
Williams
Black Clergy and Gay Marriage
Black clergy nationwide seem to be tripping over each other getting to
podiums and declaring their support for a constitutional amendment banning
same-sex marriages. Often perceived as the standard bearers of the Civil
Rights movement they chafe at the thought of the gay
struggle for equality and acceptance being compared to the
noble battles fought by blacks, women and other oppressed groups to gain
legal acceptance and equal rights.
One group of black clergy led by Michigan’s senatorial candidate, Rev. Keith Butler, wrote: "…We also find the opposition's attempt to yoke their homosexual agenda to that of the Civil Rights movement extremely disturbing. Homosexuality is not a civil rights issue; it is a lifestyle choice, a decision, that is not natural or normal, and should not be depicted as such to our children. The Civil Rights movement has at its foundation the fight for equality for African-Americans due to our skin color. Being born Black was and is not a choice for us. It is who we are. You can look at the color of our skin and know that we are African-Americans. You cannot look at the skin color of homosexuals and tell what they are doing in their bedrooms…"
I would call this, at best, convoluted logic, but there is no logic in this statement.
Martin Luther King once said injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Civil rights are the protections and privileges of personal liberty given to all citizens by law.
Civil rights laws are not the invention of black clergy, and being honest, few of these newly minted ‘social’ leaders posses the scholarly, spiritual or intellectual acumen to understand and apply constitutional law in ways that enabled those like King and Thurgood Marshall to break the yoke of institutionalized racism in America. Civil Rights standard bearers these folk are not. Today, it seems, homosexuals have taken up that mantle.
Before the rise of the Third Reich, Hitler whipped up German nationalistic fervor by denouncing Jews. He 'rallied his base' by coalescing them around a common hatred, a common enemy. Al Qaeda has been able to sustain a costly terrorist war in the Islamic world by stoking anti-American hatred. As a result we Americans have become afraid to travel and move freely throughout the globe.
Hatred is a strong motivator and has been proven effective in bringing people together to marginalize a common enemy.
Let's not kid ourselves. The proposed constitutional ban against gay marriage is not being touted because people are so concerned about the 'sanctity' of the institution of marriage. If they really cared so much about marriage wouldn't they call for a constitutional ban on divorce? Wouldn't they call for nationwide anti-domestic violence laws? Divorce, by its very nature, is an assault on marriage and the family. Domestic violence is responsible for the premature death and maiming of more marriage partners than most diseases. Marriage is not an attack on marriage. Practices that destroy marriages are.
The move to constitutionally ban gay marriage is nothing more than legislative endorsement of hatred. It is an attack on the one group many American feel it is still okay to hate: Homosexuals.
To be gay in America today is not a lot unlike being a Jew in Nazis Germany, or being black during the time the movie "Birth of A Nation" was released. When you speak out against homosexuals, whether from the pulpit or the campaign stump, you know many people will share your hatred or be too afraid to stand up against you. They fear being labeled gay themselves and/or ostracized. They fear retribution or stigmatization much the way some Germans feared aiding the Jews or some whites feared the Klan.
A friend of mine who is a columnist for the Washington Post disagrees with this assessment. Looking at pop culture and the popularity of shows like "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and "Will and Grace" she sees gays being more widely accepted today and celebrating more freedoms than ever before.
"Amos and Andy" taught blacks that comic relief does not equal social acceptance.
She has not talked to the gay corporate executive who told me recently that he would rather kill himself than have his community discover his true nature. Or the D.C. area newsman who said revealing his sexuality would deal a death knell to his media career. Or the young Philadelphia gay youth who, defending his own life, killed another youth who was a part of a gang that thought it okay to attack gay individuals for sport. I wonder who told them that behavior was acceptable: congress, a member of the clergy, their president, perhaps?
Many of the country's most popular ministers stand in pulpits weekly and condemn homosexuals. They claim to be speaking for God. So did Hitler. So does Al Qaeda. In doing so, they stoke the flames of hatred just as did Hitler, just as Al Qaeda does. In doing so they induce hatred and confusion into the family structure many homosexuals are born into. Gays are not Martians or some other aliens laying siege to planet earth. These are men and women, sons and daughter, cousins and in many cases fathers and mothers -- members too of families.
These ministers’ messages of hate have little to do with the teachings of Christ and more to do with pandering to our innate fears and selfishness. It's far easier to spread hate than it is to spread love. Christ learned that when he was nailed to the cross. It's far easier to propagate fear than it is to teach acceptance.
The ‘religious’ seem to need to hate. They need to see others as being less than them, unworthy, unequal, beneath them. Hating makes us feel better about ourselves. Hating gives us the illusion of contentment. Hating someone else makes us believe, for a while anyway, that we actually are better than they are. Yet, it is through our own fears, misunderstanding and self hatred that we muster the strength to hate groups of other people. Some say we hate in others that we dislike most about ourselves, and instead of turning against ourselves we condemn and attack others who most posses those traits we hate in ourselves. Psychologists call this transference.
When others join us and buy into that same fear and hatred then we are able to justify collective actions against them: a pogrom, a holocaust, slavery, inequality, a constitutional ban denying equal rights, flying jets loaded with fuel into the World Trade Center.
Our Constitution does not need an amendment to ban gay marriage. With its separation of church and state clause, for over two hundred years, it has done an excellent job protecting us from religion inspired hatred and ignorance. Each and every American has an obligation to protect the constitution from the doctrinal tyranny of religious zealots, no matter how earnestly these folks insist God is directing them.
Leave the US Constitution alone. Each and every truly brave American, gay and non-gay, religious and non-religious, should stand up and not be afraid to not hate. Don’t be afraid of being nailed to the cross of your principles by the same type of misguided religious community that crucified Christ.
What many in today's black clergy is showing us is that whites, in the guise of the Klan, Knight Riders and segregationists did not have a lock on bigotry, hatred, ignorance and stupidity.
© www.codywilliams.com 2006
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