The unfinished business of equality

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Rev. Martin Luther King
Letter from Birmingham Jail
April 16, 1963

I've mentioned before that when I was in high school, I had the honor of briefly meeting Coretta Scott King. It's an experience that I will never forget.

Mrs. King, who passed away in 2006, spoke eloquently on more than one occasion on the connection between the fight for equal rights for African-Americans and for gay and lesbian Americans. Her words are truly inspiring.

“I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people.... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' ''

Today we honor the life and legacy of her husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. While it's important to remember what Dr. King and the civil-rights movement accomplished - making this country a more just and fair place - we can't forget the unfinished business of equality.

This year, Martin Luther King Day falls in the midst of a trial in federal court in California challenging Proposition 8 - the voter initiative that banned same-sex marriage.

The legal team is headed by Republican Theodore Olson, former solicitor general under President George W. Bush, and David Bois, a Democratic trial lawyer who was his adversary in Bush v. Gore.

Some people have questioned whether this is the best time to bring such a case forward, potentially to the Supreme Court. But in Newsweek, Olson makes a compelling, sincere and conservative argument in favor of same-sex marriage.

Like Mrs. King, his words are eloquent and worth repeating.

"When we refuse to accord this status to gays and lesbians, we discourage them from forming the same relationships we encourage for others. And we are also telling them, those who love them, and society as a whole that their relationships are less worthy, less legitimate, less permanent, and less valued. We demean their relationships and we demean them as individuals. I cannot imagine how we benefit as a society by doing so."

Olson reinforces an important point: marriage equality is not a liberal issue or a Democratic issue or a blue state issue. Rather, it's an American issue - how we treat our fellow citizens. He writes, "I have no doubt that we are on the right side of this battle, the right side of the law, and the right side of history."

Last year, Martin Luther King Day fell one day before the inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the United States - the first African-American president of the United States. It was a day honestly, I thought would never come.

Maureen Dowd wrote in The New York Times on Sunday, "legalizing gay marriage is like electing a black president. Before you do it, it seems inconceivable. Once it’s done, you can’t remember what all the fuss was about."

We know who was on the right side of history in the civil-rights movement: the people who fought to end segregation, to allow African-Americans to vote, to bring down the ban on interracial marriage.

If he had lived, Dr. King would be 81 years old. No doubt he would still be marching, still be speaking out. And I have no doubt which side he would be on in the struggle for marriage equality: the side of justice for his fellow Americans who happen to be gay or lesbian.

Different stories, common hopes

At the Lincoln Memorial yesterday Barack Obama said that as president, he'll bring with him to the Oval Office the voices of all the Americans he met on the campaign trail: " the voices of men and women who have different stories but hold common hopes."

Last year on Martin Luther King Day I wrote about Straight for Equality. I mentioned the many occasions on which Coretta Scott King spoke forcefully about the connection between the fight for equal rights for African-Americans and for gay and lesbian Americans.

Today, on Martin Luther King Day 2009, the day before the inauguration of the first African-American president of the United States, her words are especially important to recall:

“I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people.... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.”

Different stories, common hopes. Absolutely.

They were not afraid

This is in memory of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman, two Jews and a black man who were murdered in 1964 simply for trying to ensure that all Americans had equal rights and equal protection under the law. I've been thinking about them this week in light of Barack Obama's election to be our next president.



All three showed great courage. Schwerner and Goodman could have enjoyed their comfortable white, Jewish middle class lives, but something compelled them to go to Mississippi. This was a time of legal segregation, when African-Americans in the South could not vote. They knew that until we're all free, no one is free. Somewhere along the line, we forgot about that on Tuesday - in California, Florida, Arkansas and Arizona, were antigay ballot measures were approved. Here's another reminder:

"Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Ga. and St. Augustine, Fla., 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."
Coretta Scott King

Straight for Equality

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Rev. Martin Luther King
Letter from Birmingham Jail
April 16, 1963

I've had a link to Straight for Equality on my blog for a little while now, but I've never written anything about it. So today, Martin Luther King Day, seems like an appropriate time.

Straight for Equality is a national outreach effort sponsored by PFLAG. It's designed to empower "straight" allies for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in three primary areas: home, workplace and community. If you go to the Web site, you'll find a list of things that you can do as an ally. They're as simple - and important - as speaking out when someone makes a bigoted joke or comment.

Too often, it's the bigots, the haters, who make the loudest noise and get the most attention. And the rhetoric can turn especially ugly during the campaign season. But in my opinion, they do not represent who we are as Americans or the values of equality and justice that we hold dear.

A study last year by the Pew Center for People & the Press found that 4 in 10 Americans have close friends or family members who are gay or lesbian. About half of all women, young people, college graduates, political liberals and mainline Protestants say that someone close to them is gay, the survey found. Yet too often, we don't speak up loudly enough for our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers and our family members. Someone has to tell the bigots that they're wrong.

If you're straight, and you wonder why you should care, well, I don't believe that it's solely the obligation of gays and lesbians to fight homophobia any more than it's the sole obligation of Jews to fight anti-Semitism or women to fight sexism or African-Americans and Latinos to fight racism. We all have an obligation to do what's right.

And this is not about your political views or religious beliefs, just as the civil rights movement for African-Americans was not about politics or religion. It's simply about equal rights for all Americans regardless of the sexual orientation they were born with. That includes right to be treated equally in the workplace, the right to live openly and be a full participant in society, the right to be free from fear, the right to marry the person you love.

When I was in high school, I had the honor of briefly meeting Coretta Scott King. It's an experience that I will never forget. Before she passed away, Mrs. King spoke eloquently on the connection between the fight for equal rights for African-Americans and for gays and lesbians. Her words are truly inspiring and worth remembering today.

Here's some of what she had to say:

“I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people.... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.”

"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."

"Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood. This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group."

"Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Ga. and St. Augustine, Fla., 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 more 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 and 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.''

"Like Martin, I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others."

"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."

Putting a link on my blog isn't a very big or courageous act. I know it's not going to change the world. But one thing I've come to realize is that I get visitors from all over the United States, from all over the world. This is just one small way of showing where I stand. And if Martin Luther King Day means anything, it should be a day for rededicating ourselves to the fight for equal rights for all Americans.

It's a day, as Mrs. King wrote, to commemorate "the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service that so radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership.''

Forty-five years ago, Dr. King wrote that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." It's an eloquent statement that still rings true today.