"Civil rights" is not a term to be used lightly. So as we consider our vote on May 8, is it proper to frame Amendment One (the proposed amendment to the state constitution making marriage between one man and one woman the only recognized union in North Carolina) as a civil rights issue?
Drawing that parallel engenders resentment from many who see it as an affront to the struggles of their forebears.
Speaking for a group of African-American clergy at a news conference organized by N.C. House Speaker Pro Tem Dale Folwell, the Rev. Johnny Hunter of Cliffdale Community Church in Fayetteville said, "Blacks know what real discrimination is all about," and of those who equate gay rights to the historic struggle for civil rights, "They're disrespecting ... the foot soldiers of the civil rights movement."
But some very prominent "foot soldiers" are less than offended. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking in opposition to California's Proposition 8, said, "To those that believe in and fought for civil rights, that marched to end discrimination and win equality, you must not become that which you hated. ... Those that support civil and human rights cannot, must not, become perpetrators of discrimination against others based upon race, religion, culture, sexual orientation."
In 2009, Julian Bond wrote, "Black people, of all people, should not oppose equality. And that is what gay marriage represents. ... No people of good will should oppose marriage equality. And they should not think that civil unions are a substitute. At best, civil unions are separate but equal. And we all know separate is never equal."
John Lewis, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Defense of Marriage Act, remarked, "I am very happy to see the Judiciary Committee holding hearings to address the issue of marriage equality. But at the same time, I must admit I find it unbelievable that in the year 2011 there is still a need to hold hearings and debate whether or not a human being should be able to marry the one they love."
Standing at a podium in front of the State Legislative Building for HKonJ last month, the Rev. Dr. William Barber II, North Carolina NAACP chairman, declared, "They're trying to give people, based on their sexuality, a kind of second- or third-class citizenship. We know what that looks like in the NAACP, and we're calling it what it is."
The Rev. Al Sharpton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African President Nelson Mandela, the Rev. Dr. James Lawson, National NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous - a veritable Who's Who of civil rights - all support marriage equality.
There is no record of Martin Luther King Jr. speaking directly to the issue. But his widow, Coretta Scott King, was passionate about gay rights, saying, "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity, and their personhood."
It is also worth noting that two openly gay men, Bayard Rustin, architect of the 1963 March on Washington, and the writer James Baldwin were among Dr. King's most trusted advisers.
It is not for me, a straight white man, to decide for anyone else whether gay rights are civil rights. Rather, I would defer again to Julian Bond, who testified, "When I'm asked if gay rights are civil rights, my answer is always: 'Of course they are.' Civil rights are positive legal prerogatives, the right to equal treatment before the law. ... There's no one in the United States who does not, or should not, share in enjoying these rights."
Marriage is the most private covenant that two adults may enter into. It is inextricably linked to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." As long as the state issues marriage licenses and determines the rights and privileges associated with the institution, it is the quintessential civil right.
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