Continental promo
|| News > News Feature  ||
< Back Comments (0)Post a Comment Bookmark and Share   
 

Al Sharpton, the Black Church, and gays

An Advocate.com exclusive posted January 27, 2006

The Republican Party “came and invaded the Black Church and tricked people into supporting Bush,” the Reverend Al Sharpton told a National Black Justice Coalition summit in Atlanta on January 20. “They couldn’t come to the Black Church and talk about war, health care, education, so they take the cheap way out [by focusing on gay marriage]. We need to be honest about that.”

Sharpton issued challenges to both the GLBT and Black Church communities. “The church should have a front seat in the car leading towards dialogue and tolerance,” Sharpton said in his keynote address.

Meanwhile, “The GLBT community became one-issue oriented. They need to broaden their issues to supporting health care and education. The way you build coalitions is with mutual interests. I think it would be wise and morally sound to share our battles,” Sharpton said in response to a question from a reporter.

More than 100 people attended the conference at the First Iconium Baptist Church, January 20–21. The conference was also attended by numerous media outlets as well as an outreach representative for U.S. representative John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat.

“I came to be informed, to get the flavor of what’s going on,” Akbar Imhotep, who is starting his own church, told me. “We’re very happy. About 100 were here today, and we were expecting 75.”

“But the real work starts Monday,” said Sylvia Rhue, event organizer for the NBJC summit, who added that she had worked on civil rights issues with colleagues of Martin Luther King Jr. for 20 years.

“How dare we oppress people when we ourselves have been oppressed!” the Reverend Loyce Newton-Edwards, associate minister of Prospect Missionary Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, exclaimed in a panel discussion.

“Jesus’ identity has been stolen! They got his credit card; they got his ID number!” said a fellow panel member, the Reverend Ken Samuel, pastor of the Victory for the World Church of Stone Mountain, Ga.

“The Black Church is the oldest growing independent institution in this country,” Sharpton said. “They [Republicans] would love for you to concede that territory [of morality] to them...to the George Bushes and Jerry Falwells.”

“After 2004, the Black churches were sincere [about opposing gay marriage for moral reasons]. But they didn’t realize they were being manipulated by the Republican National Committee and the hierarchy of the Republican Party,” Sharpton said. The RNC stopped being involved in the marriage issue after the election, he added. “It was hard for them to sell morality after Katrina.”

Sharpton said he was inspired to participate in the summit by his memories of working with Bayard Rustin, King’s gay right-hand man, and on behalf of his gay sister. “I had a member of my family who was gay,” he said in his speech. “Black, gay, and female,” he added. “Imagine the social schizophrenia.”

Sharpton told a media conference he and the NBJC were looking at taking the summit to other U.S. cities, citing St. Louis among the possibilities.

Matthew Cardinale is the editor of Atlanta Progressive News. He may be reached at matthew@atlantaprogressivenews.com.

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Be the first to comment on this story.

Back to top

Submit a comment for this story:

*Type your comment here (Required, 1000 characters max. HTML formatting and hyperlinks are NOT permitted.):

*Name (Required): 

*Hometown (Required): 

*E-mail address: (Required, but will not be displayed)

Is this comment for publication? 
Yes   No

Daytime phone number: (Required for print publication only and will not be displayed)

Please enter the words you see in the box, in order and separated by a space. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this service.

  

If you would like to submit a comment for posting, please fill out the form above. 

All comments submitted via this form are subject to posting or publication. (To send a private letter to an Advocate editor or writer, please use the e-mail button at the top of the page, or use snail mail.) If you would like your comment considered for publication in The Advocate magazine, please include your full name, your city of residence, and a phone number where you can be reached during business hours so that we can confirm your identity. Your e-mail address and telephone number are strictly confidential and will not be shared or used for any purpose other than to contact you about your comment.

See the Contact page for sending comments for reasons other than responding to Advocate editorial and news stories.

Please note that comments sent by fax or snail mail are unlikely to be posted, although they will be considered for publication along with all letters received via e-mail or via this Web page. Comments that chiefly concern Advocate.com content will be considered for posting only on the Web site. The Advocate reserves the right to edit submitted comments for grammar, spelling, obscenities, or libel; we will, however, do our best to preserve the original comment's style and intent. Comments considered for publication in The Advocate magazine may also be edited for length.

More Exclusives
  • View From the Hill: The End of DADT?
    Defense Secretary Robert Gates revealed that lawyers are exploring ways to ease enforcement of the military's gay ban, but cautioned that the law doesn't leave much wiggle room. He need look no further than DOD history for a lesson in altering the policy.
  • Hot Sheet: Week of July 5
    When you get back from that big 4th of July barbecue, unwind with Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno and your favorite B-movie-mocking, basic cable robots.
  • Hungry Like the Wolf
    A master of viola, ukulele, piano, and harp, Patrick Wolf is a music prodigy -- one who, the night before this interview, spit on a cop and got himself arrested.
  • Soapside: Advocate's Guide to Daytime
    Forbes March talks about playing gay, Otalia fans outraged, update on One Life to Live’s Patricia Maurceri’s firing over gay plot point, Phillip Chancellor III big reveal, and Erica Kane goes to Africa.
  • The Faces of Federal Prop. 8
    With the federal challenge to Prop. 8 moving full speed ahead, Advocate.com sits down with the two couples named as plaintiffs in the suit.
  • Mommy, the Gays Are Coming
    After a year of advancements and celebration for gay and lesbian Colombians, the community takes to the streets of Bogota for the country's biggest pride ever.
  • The Pride of Antwerp
    Advocate.com hits the gay-friendly streets of Antwerp with openly gay police commissioner Serge Muyters.
  • Excerpt: Mean Little Deaf Queer
    In an excerpt from her humorous and harrowing new memoir, Mean Little Deaf Queer, Terry Galloway recalls her early childhood, describing feelings of ugliness, confusion about gender, and being one of the boys.
  • Top Political Blogs
    From Joe.My.God to The Daily Beast, Advocate.com spotlights a few of the best blogs that cover politics, inside and way outside the Beltway.
  • The Diva of French Television
    A hot young screenwriter who has made gay OK for millions of French viewers, Nicolas Mercier sips champagne, dons a feathered hat, and says he wants to see Colin Farrell and Jude Law go at it.