Some black pastors don't stand with President Obama on same-sex marriage

NOM's plan to cultivate a "wedge" between minority communities was revealed earlier this week when the Human Rights Campaign circulated a previously confidential document after a federal judge in Maine ordered it to be unsealed. The December 2009 internal NOM document states, "We aim to find, equip, energize and connect African-American spokespeople for marriage; to develop a media campaign around their objections to marriage as a civil right."

In a written statement released Wednesday, NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said, "This memo only reveals the limits of a cynical agenda. The truth is that no group, no matter how well-funded, can drive an artificial wedge between our communities. People of color understand what it is like to be the target of discrimination. No public relations strategy will make us forget that.”

The National Black Justice Coalition also denounced NOM on Wednesday. The non-profit's Executive Director and CEO Sharon Letteman-Hicks said in a written statement, "These documents expose NOM for what it really is—a hate group determined to use African American faith leaders as pawns to push their damaging agenda and as mouthpieces to amplify that hatred. With these memos made public, the black faith community must refuse to be exploited and refuse to deny their fellow brothers and sisters equal protections under the law." http://www.gay.net/news/2012/03/29/black-civi...

"Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians. The evidence shows conclusively that Proposition 8 enacts, without reason, a private moral view that same-sex couples are inferior to opposite-sex couples. Laws of the kind now before us raise the inevitable inference that the disadvantage imposed is born of animosity toward the class of persons affected. Because Proposition 8 disadvantages gays and lesbians without any rational justification, Proposition 8 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." p. 135 Perry v. https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/f...

Coretta Scott King:
"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice... 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 brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."

"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."3
"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 to launch a campaign against homophobia in the black community."

"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."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking in opposition to California's Proposition 8, said, "To those that believe in and fought for civil rights, that marched to end discrimination and win equality, you must not become that which you hated.... Those that support civil and human rights cannot, must not, become perpetrators of discrimination against others based upon race, religion, culture, sexual orientation."

In 2009, Julian Bond wrote, "Black people, of all people, should not oppose equality. And that is what gay marriage represents.... No people of good will should oppose marriage equality. And they should not think that civil unions are a substitute. At best, civil unions are separate but equal. And we all know separate is never equal."

John Lewis, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Defense of Marriage Act, remarked, "I am very happy to see the Judiciary Committee holding hearings to address the issue of marriage equality. But at the same time, I must admit I find it unbelievable that in the year 2011 there is still a need to hold hearings and debate whether or not a human being should be able to marry the one they love."

Standing at a podium in front of the State Legislative Building for HKonJ last month, the Rev. Dr. William Barber II, North Carolina NAACP chairman, declared, "They're trying to give people, based on their sexuality, a kind of second- or third-class citizenship. We know what that looks like in the NAACP, and we're calling it what it is."

The Rev. Al Sharpton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African President Nelson Mandela, the Rev. Dr. James Lawson, National NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous - a veritable Who's Who of civil rights - all support marriage equality.

Julian Bond, who testified, "When I'm asked if gay rights are civil rights, my answer is always:'Of course they are.' Civil rights are positive legal prerogatives, the right to equal treatment before the law.... There's no one in the United States who does not, or should not, share in enjoying these rights."

http://www.thepilot.com/news/2012/mar/18/yes-...

Hmmm, all of the quotes, thoughts, weigh ins and NO ONE addressed the fact that the pastors took this position uh....BECAUSE THE BIBLE SPEAKS OUT AGAINST THE ACT of homosexuality. You see, I know people who are pro SS marriage and hear pastors spaek against it, HATE to hear the bible brought into the equation. Why, because there really is no argument except uh, "I don't believe in the bible". Uh, BUT THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT. As much as I love MLK, he is not Jesus. He did not set up the uh..UNIVERSE as we know it. So pastors are CORRECT, I STAND WITH THEM (AS THEY STAND FOR THE BIBLE) AND MORE POWER TO THEM.

LEW777 wrote:

Hmmm, all of the quotes, thoughts, weigh ins and NO ONE addressed the fact that the pastors took this position uh....BECAUSE THE BIBLE SPEAKS OUT AGAINST THE ACT of homosexuality. You see, I know people who are pro SS marriage and hear pastors spaek against it, HATE to hear the bible brought into the equation. Why, because there really is no argument except uh, "I don't believe in the bible". Uh, BUT THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT. As much as I love MLK, he is not Jesus. He did not set up the uh..UNIVERSE as we know it. So pastors are CORRECT, I STAND WITH THEM (AS THEY STAND FOR THE BIBLE) AND MORE POWER TO THEM.

"What the Bible forbids is acts of lust, rape, idolatry, violation of religious purity obligations, or pederasty, but no condemnation of homosexuality in relationships of mutual respect and love." James B. Nelson, Professor of Christian Ethics, United Theological Seminary.

Many scholars agree the few bible verses used to justify harming gay people have been mistranslated and misinterpreted to support anti-gay prejudice.

"God is not a Homophobe: An unbiased look at Homosexuality in the Bible" by Philo Thelos
"Several books already exist attempting to demonstrate that the Christian Bible does not, in fact, condemn consenting-adult homosexuality. But God is Not a Homophobe has a unique perspective in that the author has a lifetime of experience in pastoring hard-core fundamentalist churches. His former bitter opposition to all forms of homosexuality has given way to a rational, unbiased acceptance that the Bible says hardly anything about homosexuality, and what it does say cannot honestly be used to condemn consenting same-sex unions."

"The New Testament and Homosexuality" Robin Scroggs, Prof of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary is a serious theologian and is favorable reviewed by many theologians. He is a happily married heterosexual with no personal bias. He includes cites from Boswell and expands further especially on pederasty and concludes there is nothing biblically wrong with homosexuality.

"What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality" by Daniel Helminiask, PH.D., was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1967 and is incardinated in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. From 1981-1985 was Assoc Prof for Systematic Theology at Oblate School of Theology and earlier completed his Ph.D. in systematic theology at Boston College and Andover Newton Theological School. He concludes the Bible says absolutely nothing about homosexuality being sinful when you examine the actual Hebrew/Greek texts."


Baptist Rev Dr. William R. Stayton, Divinity degree from Andover Newtown Theological School and on faculty of LaSalle University's Grad program in Religious studies:- "There is nothing in the Bible regarding homosexual orientation. In fact, the Bible does not concern itself with sexual orientation. It does speak against gang rape, male prostitution for religious purposes, and pederasty. I lead bible study programs on this subject and am convinced that the Bible does not address the issue of a person's sexual orientation."

"Is The Homosexual My Neighbor?" by Latha Dawson Scanzoni This is the revised edition of the classic book that calls for Christians to reexamine their beliefs and attitudes toward homosexuals. The authors look at homosexuality from biblical, scientific and psychological perspectives. An excellent resource."