KEITH BOYKIN COMMENTARY -- Whose Dream: Why Black Churches Oppose Gay Marriage

Commentary (The Village Voice)

The head of the National Black Justice Coalition, a group working to build black support of gay marriage, takes black ministers to task for their vocal opposition. As we've stated before, Booker Rising bucks the trend of 64% of blacks who oppose gay marriage. We say consenting adults, ain't the state's affair. However, this article's implication that black ministers are stooges for white conservatives - as opposed to free-thinking folks, rooted in their faith - troubles us. Rev. Gomes attributes black social conservatism to racial assimilation. Oh puhleeze! Most black folks were socially conservative way before integration.

Mr. Boykins is correct that what especially offends most black folks is the comparison between the gay-marriage struggle and the civil rights movement: "While black gays and lesbians have been sidelined, the white gay community has been caught off guard. As conservatives wisely used black ministers to speak against same-sex marriage, the gay community put out images of white couples and put white spokespeople forward, thereby creating the perception that this is an issue for white folks trying to cash in on the black struggle." Mr. Boykin won't like this article, where several hundred black Christians in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area protested against gay marriages and the comparisons made to the civil rights movement. Rallies in other places have been done for similar reasons.

The comparison reeks of arrogance and trivialization. Trying to guilt trip black folks - and trampling over our history to do it - ain't gonna win over hearts. Mr. Boykin should tell his peers to quit running offensive TV ads comparing the issue to Jim Crow. He takes Rev. Jesse Jackson to task, but Rev is correct that gays were never called 3/5 human in the Constitution or denied voting rights. Let's not even get into slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, lynchings, or the 4 of 27 Amendments that are there due to our history. Very little that happens to gays ain't happened to black folks, but the reverse sho' ain't true. That fact that folks can civilly discuss gay marriage but not race shows the difference. Being black is genetic, while being gay is at least partly rooted in choice. To compare the two is outrageous. Argue the issue on its own, and quit hijacking black history.