NAACP Calls for Overturning of Prop. 8

If only, black people could see outside their little racist box and realize...WOW...my vote is OPPRESSING people JUST LIKE PEOPLE HAVE OPPRESSED ME. But no, the oppressed wanna put down people that aren't "the norm". Education has gotten us nowhere. People of Color - REALIZE - YOUR RIGHTS CAN BE VOTED ON & NEGOTIATED. DON'T HATE, FUCKERS. EVOLVE.

Justin, all of what you say is true yet still...the rights of a minority were overturned by a majority with the passing of Proposition 8. Period. It's a serious issue for all minorities (Prop 209, anyone?) Your point abt. LGBT organizations, as it pertains to California and organizations at the national level, I would agree with you wholeheartedly. Look at the movement for marriage equality on the East Coast.

Kevin, I beg to differ. Racism is still a big problem now as it ever been. Want proof? Predatory lending, racial profiling, police criminality, segragated neighborhoods and schools etc. And the work place is worst. Don't fool yourself. Race and class are intermingled. Always have been and will be. And I also didn't hear much critcism about the LGBT organizations that are predominately run by white male spokespeople who assume to represent the so called "diversed" community.

Rich, Yes they did at the state/regional level but not at the national level. Read this link. Their opposition to prop 8 was controversial. The difference now may be Julian Bond taking ownership at the national level. jennifer-roback-morse.blogspot.com/2008/10/is-naacp-oppostion-to-prop-8-fraudulent.html

Did the NAACP oppose Prop 8 before the election?? Have been looking high and low for a press release, but with no success.

Justin The overturning of Proposition 8 is a major issue. A larger percentage of black and Latino same-sex families have children than their white counterparts. Same-sex families of all colors stand to benefit from overturning Proposition 8. And do you really want the idea that the will of a majority can overturn the rights of a minority to stand? Remember, blacks are only 6.3% of the population of California. The laws that prohibit such discrimination are already on the books and the NAACP and their regional chapters is still the go-to organization for those cases. The problems of "black communities" have also changed. The issues now are moreso issues of class rather than race. I will agree that the NAACP has not changed to meet different times and different challenges in this respect. As far as HIV is concerned though, if black communities can take the church out of that entire conversation, I think an enormous amount of progress would be made.

To all those who say I don't my history about civil rights let me clear myself. I know full well about Bayard Rustin, James Baldwin, Audre Loudre etc. And I know about Stonewall and the blacks and latinos who took part in it. I 'm just saying that the NAACP has lost focus and it's way. Why concern itself with a single issue like marriage when people of color espeacially blacks are still catching hell after all these years regardless of gender and sexual orientation. They have been losing membership for years. Like I said before I'm all for gay rights, But it seems that the mainstream LGBT groups who we all knows is run by white male elites are too concern with either marriage or DADT. What about Hiv/AIDS, discrimination,(work, housing etc) poverty, healthcare homeless, etc. Don't they count? So spare me the lecture on Civil rights. I'm black and Bisexual.

Greg You know what, I'm black and I don't mind that at all. Personally, I think Stonewall DOES need to be taught as a part of black history. And I can't remember where I read this but the Mattachine Society (I think) strongly considered joining the black civil rights movement. The problem was all of those sodomy laws on the books at the time. They would have been subject to arrest. And that's on top of the police harassment and survelliance of the gay groups that existed at that time. And, yes, the homophobia of some within the civil rights movement would have played a part in that (Adam Clayton Powell). My suspicion is that a lot of white people that participated in the civil rights movement were gay and lesbian. We need to get documentation and history of this, and there is already quite a bit. You had Eleanor Roosevelt heavily lobbying FDR in behalf of black civil rights leaders, for example.

More history: Rustin: "I did not 'come out of the closet' voluntarily -- circumstances forced me out. While I have no problem with being publicly identifed as a homosexual, it would be dishonest of me to present myself as one who was in the forefront of the struggle for gay rights. . . While I suppport full equality, under law, for homosexuals, I fundamentally consider sexual orientation to be a private matter. As such, it has not been a factor which has greatly influence my role as an activist."

Have participated in every major & most minor human rights struggles of the past 50 years. This includes Black Civil Rights Movement b4 March on Washington and Gay Rights Movement before Stonewall Rebellion where I participated in the "Three Days of Rage." Some history: Bayard Rustin was Gay Black Quaker and mentor to Martin Luther King. King was a crusading Christian civil rights activist prior to meeting Rustin who introduced MLK to Gandhian pacificism. Rustin conceived of the 1963 March for Peace, Jobs & Freedom (more than Black Rts). Upon surfacing of Rustin prior arrest for incident w/young man in public restroom other civil rights leaders demanded remioval of Rustin as March cooordinator. Though Rustin never denied being Gay, it is incorrect to say that he was "out."