Brian Brown on MLK: His 'most important civil right' was right to vote on Bayard Rustin's love life

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03/20/2012

by Jeremy Hooper

Holy crapballs! It seems that the late, great Martin Luther King, Jr., came back to mortal Earth today in Iowa! And we all missed it!

Naturally, when determining how and where to make the miraculous return that would best signify his legacy, MLK chose the body of a man whose career is quite literally dedicated to denying rights/benefits to a minority group, with the transference happening as this same professional discriminator led a rally designed to cruelly strip this same minority of these same rights/benefits:

Referring to Senate Democrats’ refusal to advance the amendment and clear the way for a statewide vote, National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown invoked Martin Luther King, Jr., to suggest that it was the opponents of same-sex marriage whose civil rights were threatened.

“We hear that this is about civil rights, and that those of us who oppose the redefinition of marriage are somehow bigots,” Brown said. “And yet, what Dr. Martin Luther King called the most important civil right – the right to vote – these very same folks are trying to deprive us of this right.”
Iowa Family Leader leads lobbying effort in support of same-sex marriage ban [Des Moines Register]
(via AKSARBENT)

Right, Brian: Because if there's anything MLK loved, it was for people who currently enjoy a certain, court-tested right to live in fear that a majority population might be able to come in and, because of nothing more than their own personal whims, swoop in and strip it away. That's actually on his tombstone, right?

**REMINDER: Because this site believes in the sanctity of marriage, I'm going to keep pulling my insight into Dr. King's heart from the person with whom the slain civil rights leader shared a life, heart, and marital bed:

CORETTA QUOTES
"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King, Jr., said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere' ... I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."
-March 31, 1998

“Like Martin, I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others", she would tell black civil rights leaders angered by gays and lesbians comparing their struggle to their own. She would quote her husband and say, “I have worked too long and hard against segregated public accommodations to end up segregating my moral concern. Justice is indivisible."
-June 23, 1994

"Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union. A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages."
March 24, 2004

"We have a lot more work to do in our common struggle against bigotry and discrimination. I say "common struggle" because I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right-thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination."
November 9, 2000

"We have to launch a campaign against homophobia in the black community."
June 8, 2001

"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 personhood. This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group."
April 1, 1998