Martin Luther King's family split on gay marriage

[msgadget]

Interesting and probably what it's like in most families, black and white. Please note the size of the church marching...I don't know, something about these mega churches...that's a lot of influence.

Youngest child supports ban; wife opposes it

ATLANTA -- Martin Luther King Jr.'s youngest child lit a torch at her father's tomb last month to kick off a march advocating a ban on gay marriage, creating a strong image linking the slain civil rights icon to today's heated social debate.

But just nine months earlier, King's widow defended the rights of gays and lesbians in a speech at a New Jersey college.

King never publicly spoke on gay rights while leading the charge toward racial equality in the 1950s and '60s, but the clash over gay marriage has prompted people close to his legacy to pick sides and interpret how they believe King would stand on the issue if he were alive.

Coretta Scott King has often invoked her late husband's teachings while advocating tolerance of and equality for homosexuals. Most recently, she denounced the proposed national constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in a speech at New Jersey's Richard Stockton College.

...

Martin Luther King III, an organizer of the 40th anniversary commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington, joined his mother in inviting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups to participate. But although he opposes discrimination against gays, he has stopped short of supporting same-sex marriage, saying, "I think we need to find a way to honor partnerships, but I don't think that marriage needs to be redefined."

The Kings' youngest child, Bernice King, helped lead thousands of people in an Atlanta march last month that had an anti-gay agenda.

The march, organized by Bishop Eddie Long and his 25,000-member New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, also advocated issues such as education reform and affordable health care, but its listed first goal was an amendment to "fully protect marriage between one man and one woman."

...

Beyond King's family, many who marched alongside him during the equality movement for blacks have drawn on his message of inclusion.

"Martin Luther King was one of most tolerant and understanding and generous persons I've ever known, and I'd never heard him make a judgmental statement about anyone's sexuality except his own," said former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young, who was a top aide to King.

King wouldn't have stood for discrimination of any kind, said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with King. "I don't recall any experience that would put Dr. King in the category of excluding people," he said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/208154_martin17.html

[jmm]

1. MLKIII and Bernice were 11 and 5 when their father died

yet they know better than their mother their father's views on homosexuality?

[msgadget]

2. Each church should decide who they will or won't marry.

If same sex marriage goes against his or her religious beliefs a pastor should not be legally forced to act against his or her principles. I believe this strongly, even when I don't agree with what's being preached from the pulpit. No amendments or ballot initiatives are required to release them from having to do so, however.

I'd really like for some moderates to join in this discussion because it's key for liberals and conservatives to meet somewhere in the middle on important issues.

I've been married forever and no one else's relationship has ever threatened mine or my family so I truly don't get the 'threat' part at all. And, since I never speculate about what people do in their bedrooms, the composition of a couple in love doesn't bother me one tiny bit. However, a lot of black people are taking this seriously because they're hearing about it in church, a place we go to for wise, biblical council. People are not lining up to question the church, not even when you paint the political landscape for them.

Poverty, jobs, money for education, drugs and gang violence are priorities Black America should be marching about and I'm very disappointed Ms King chose gay marriage instead. My personal opinion is no minority should go out of his or her way looking for another minority to deny rights to.

Edit: I need to learn to proofread :)

[jmm]

3. Instead?

She's not a one trick pony. There are plenty of other issues Coretta Scott King advocates on behalf of too. I agree with everything else you wrote except for the idea she chose gay marriage instead of poverty, jobs, money for education, drugs and gang violence.

[msgadget]

4. If I short-changed Bernice King,

I apologize.

[msgadget]

5. New Trump Card

>The helpful nudge over the top that the black evangelicals gave Bush in Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin has not been lost on Bush’s political architect Karl Rove. He has publicly declared that he will pour even more resources and attention into revving up black evangelicals in the 2006 and 2008 congressional and presidential elections. Rove has flatly said that Bush will try to pay off one of his debts to evangelicals by pushing the languishing federal gay-marriage ban. Family groups say they’ll dump gay-marriage ban initiatives on ballots in as many states as they can.

Republicans will inflame black’s anti-gay bias in states such as Michigan, where blacks, who make up a significant percent of voters, backed a gay marriage ban in big numbers. Even if passage of the federal marriage ban ultimately falls flat on its face should it get out of Congress to the states, the fight over it can still turn the 2006 mid-term and 2008 presidential elections into a noisy and distracting referendum on the family. That will give Republican strategists another chance to pose as God’s defenders of the family and shove even more black evangelicals into the Republican vote column.

Meanwhile, Bush officials will continue to ladle out millions through their faith-based programs to a handpicked core of top black church leaders. They’ve already announced a series of conferences that will be held in various cities starting in February to show black church leaders and community groups how to grab more of the faith initiative money. That will be more than enough to assure the active allegiance—or at minimum, the silence—of some black church leaders on those Bush domestic policies that wreak havoc on poor black communities.<

http://www.berkeleydaily.org/text/article.cfm?issue=01-28-05&storyID=20616

[Swamp Rat]

6. Good for you Rev. Lowery! n/t

[RFKHumphreyObama]

7. My admiration for Coretta Scott King increases by the day

What a truly wonderful, enlightened, visionary lady she is. We need more like her

[SemiCharmedQuark]

8. Yes we do, especially speaking out.