NOM BLOG

Bishop Harry Jackson: Black Bigotry? Or Hijacking Terms

 

Bishop Harry R. Jackson in The Blaze:

The largest roadblock to the nationwide redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples is the group of people perhaps least ashamed to voice their convictions in the matter: black Christians. In a pathetic effort to eradicate this roadblock, lesbian, gay, transgendered and bisexual (LGBT) activists have accused traditional marriage advocates of “creating” a division between minority Christian leaders and the homosexual community. If we are to believe same-sex marriage advocates, racial and ethnic minorities are naturally sympathetic to the LGBT cause. But anyone who has spoken to blacks who lived through the Civil Rights movement without going in the LGBT payroll knows nothing could be further from the truth.

The truth is, few issues in American history have brought together more people from vastly different political and racial backgrounds than the fight to preserve traditional marriage. African-Americans have joined with people of all races and creeds to resist the radical effort of activists to redefine marriage and family. As a result new heroes are emerging with the courage of the Freedom Riders of the 1960s.

Just look at New York, where Democratic Sen. Rev. Ruben Diaz bravely spoke out in opposition to gay marriage. In my own state of Maryland, black churches are helping lead the fight to put the marriage issue on the ballot, while in D.C. Civil Rights legend Walter Fauntroy endorsed a federal marriage amendment. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, voters will decide the fate of the Marriage Amendment on May 8. All across the country, minority Americans are emerging as leaders in a fight which is bringing together Orthodox Christians, Orthodox Jews, blacks, whites, Hispanics and Asians, Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

In the midst of this fight, LGBT activists have created a mythology to try to explain the fierce minority opposition to their agenda. Primary among these myths is the idea that the National Organization for Marriage, with whom I and many African Americans have been proud to stand, is responsible for dividing racial minorities against the gay community. Nothing could be further from the truth. NOM has instead provided a national platform for racial minorities to voice their heartfelt outrage at an agenda that is trying to hijack the moral authority of the Civil Rights struggle.

The overwhelming majority of African-Americans, like the majority of Americans generally, do not believe same-sex marriage is a civil right, or that sexual behavior is akin to race.

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