It is said that one of last frontiers of civil rights is the liberation of the gay community and marriage equality. I find so many similarities between the struggle of the black community and that of the gay community. Of course there are also notable differences but the struggle seems remarkably similar. One example would be our own President. How long ago was it illegal in so many states for his parents to have gotten married? It was actually a crime for a black man and a white woman to get married. In similar fashion it was religion and notably narrow readings of scripture and misinterpretations of scripture that were used to bolster the policy of segregation and laws that marginalized and codified the denigration and separation of God's children.
As I listened and thought on all that Martin Luther King Junior said and did, I know I am looking at a modern Saint. Perhaps he still would not muster enough 'votes' to pass the gauntlet of the Roman system but a holy and blessed man he was and he should be remembered and honored as such.
A notable example of his inclusiveness was the leadership and fellowship with Bayard Rustin. Bayard Rustin was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, pacifism and non-violence and gay rights. Dr. King was way ahead of his time, perhaps even our time but certainly not ahead of God's time. God's love and inclusiveness is all embracing and timeless. Dr. King heard God's voice of freedom, inclusiveness, righteousness and love in his heart and carried the torch for all of us, not just blacks or whites but gays and straights, for everyone who has been marginalized and socially stigmatized.
On "MLK day" we had an opportunity to recall a fight for freedom and a calling to continue that fight today in marriage equality, gay rights, trans rights and freedom from oppression for all peoples.
I picked this quote of Dr, Martin Luther King Junior because it so typifies the enemy of God's inclusive love. Read it over again. See the hand of the far right wingnuts and misguided religious zealots who use the Bible as a weapon to bash people in their misquotations and cherry picked passages. We must be ever vigilant to fight as Christian soldiers of love with all the principles Dr. King stood for.
No comments:
Post a Comment