Former NAACP Head Makes Marriage Equality Video

A major civil rights leader and former head of the NAACP has joined two other prominent African-Americans in making a video promoting marriage equality.

Julian Bond made the video, released on Nov. 1, in support of parity for gay and lesbian families. A HRC media release from the same day hailed Bond's participation in the new "Americans for Marriage Equality" video series, which is similar to the "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" videos the HRC produced prior to same-sex couples in that state being granted marriage rights. The "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" videos featured a number of celebrities and politicians, and even won support from professional athletes.

The new series of videos emphasizes unity around the idea of equality in a powerful way by featuring prominent African-Americans, an Oct. 31 op-ed piece in the New York Times noted.

"In some perfect world where human nature is less messy and history less fraught, any and all people who had ever suffered discrimination would find common cause, gathering together under one big anti-bigotry banner," wrote Frank Bruni, an openly gay columnist with the newspaper.

"In our world there are divisions and even tensions among minority groups, and the quest to legalize same-sex marriage--now permitted in six states and Washington, D.C.--has met particular resistance from African-Americans," Bruni added.

The columnist noted that there are several reasons for a lack of support for GLBT equality among the African-American community, including a focus on the few select passages in the Bible that seem to condemn homosexuality.

Scholars dispute that the Bible actually condemns homosexuality, noting that proscriptions seemingly against gay sex are actually setting out taboos against sexual activity as part of cultic rituals in the worship of pagan gods.

In any case, theologians note, the Bible condemns heterosexual divorce much more frequently and directly than it does same-sex commitment.

But another reason for anti-gay sentiment among African Americans, Bruni noted, is resentment from some in the black community at what they see as gays "appropriating" the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Some African Americans argue that gays have an easier time because they can simply lie about their core identities, whereas blacks are visibly different from whites--or, as Herman Cain said during one interview in which he insisted that being gay is a "choice," a black person's skin color "doesn't wash off."

Gays do not always respond well to such criticisms, however, noting that their own sexual identities are not only innate and not a matter of choice, but that they cannot--contrary to what some churches claim--simply "choose" to become heterosexual by going through so-called "reparative therapy." Moreover, gays resent the insinuation that they should be content with lying about who they are, to not only family, friends, and employers, but also, in extreme cases, to opposite-sex spouses to whom they are not genuinely attracted.

"The Americans for Marriage Equality ads don't feel disrespectful," Bruni wrote. "They feel very, very smart, the product of a movement becoming ever savvier about precisely whom it needs to persuade and how best to persuade them.

"Booker's ad doesn't mention homosexuality," added the columnist. "He talks about love and liberty."

For gays, that is the crux of the matter. For anti-gay groups, including churches and religiously motivated groups like the National Organization for Marriage, however, the argument boils down to sexual activity. Anti-gay groups argue that the law should not sanction "unnatural" pairings, and certainly not extol them by allowing committed gays and lesbians to marry.

The new HRC ads seek to shift the focus from sex acts to the wider, and more authentic, scope of family life in all its many aspects--life that is virtually identical for gay families and straight families alike.

"Bond has had a distinguished career that includes service as NAACP chairman from 1998 to 2010 and as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives," the HRC's media release noted. "He is a distinguished adjunct professor at American University."

"There are few who have so dramatically changed this country for the better like Dr. Julian Bond," Joe Solmonese, the head of the HRC, said. "We are so grateful this tireless heavyweight of the civil rights movement is advocating on behalf of marriage equality. His voice is sure to spark conversations around the dinner table and in places of work and worship all over this country."

"About 53% of the American public supports marriage for same-sex couples, according to a number of nonpartisan polls, including Gallup, CNN, and Washington Post/ABC News," noted the HRC release. "Support has increased an unprecedented 20 points since 1996, according to the Pew Research Center."

Among African Americans, however, support for family parity for sexual minorities is markedly lower. Bruni noted strong support from black voters for the anti-gay ballot initiative that stripped California's gay and lesbian families of their then-existing marriage rights in 2008. Polls that show strong support for marriage equality from the general population also consistently show significantly less support from the African American community when broken down into distinct demographics.

The HRC hopes to change all that by speaking directly to different segments of American society.

"Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker, one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World, kicked off the series followed by Oscar Winner Mo'Nique," noted the media release of the new "Americans for Marriage Equality": video series.

"Over the coming months, HRC will roll out targeted videos playing off of the Americans brand, including Republicans for Marriage Equality, African-Americans for Marriage Equality, Latinos for Marriage Equality and Elected Officials for Marriage Equality," the release announced.