This week, the Laney College Gay-Straight Alliance and the Associated Students of Laney College (ASLC) kick off Queerfest IV.
Considering all the controversy in California surrounding Proposition 8, the state ballot proposition passed by voters November 4, 2008 that changed the state constitution to state marriage was only between "a man and a woman" and eliminated the right of same sex couples to marry-we thought it was time for The Black Hour to weigh in. Somewhat.
In the aftermath of Proposition 8 passing, there was backlash against members of the Black community--especially LGBT members. CNN exit polls that showed that African Americans overwhelmingly supported the amendment, were found to be exaggerated.
Opposed to taking a position on this case--as the California Supreme Court should be doing so this month--we decided to honor one of our overlooked ancestors who worked tirelessly for our freedom; Baynard Rustin.
"To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true.”
"A master strategist and tireless activist," according to Rustin.org, "Bayard Rustin is best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest nonviolent protests ever held in the United States. He brought Gandhi’s protest techniques to the American civil rights movement, and helped mold Martin Luther King, Jr. into an international symbol of peace and nonviolence.
"Despite these achievements, Rustin was silenced, threatened, arrested, beaten, imprisoned and fired from important leadership positions, largely because he was an openly gay man in a fiercely homophobic era," according to the website for his life story Brother Outside: The Life of Baynard Rustin.
Rustin argued in his book, 'Strategies for Freedom', that for a movement to have a permanent and transforming imprint, it should have a legislative goal attached which will transcend the whims of the emotions of the moment. Describing a different struggle that America faced with the advancement of civil rights, he wrote that:"Moral fervor can't maintain your movement, nor can the act of participation itself. There must be a genuine commitment to the advancement of the people. To have such a commitment is also to have a militant sense of responsibility, a recognition that actions have consequences which have a very real effect on the individual lives of those one seeks to advance."
"Twenty-five, thirty years ago, the barometer of human rights in the United States were black people. That is no longer true. The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, or lesbian."
"Far too many movements lack both a (legislative) perspective and a sense of responsibility, and they fail because of it," Ruskin wrote.
Source: Bigtree's Journal
Later in his life, he became an advocate for gay rights. He was probably the first person to suggest that "gay is the new Black" in terms of human rights. In 1987, he said:
"Twenty-five, thirty years ago, the barometer of human rights in the United States were black people. That is no longer true. The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, or lesbian."
Learn more about Baynard Rustin on wikipedia.
Did you vote for or against Proposition 8? Why?
