Bayard Rustin was Dr. Martin Luther King’s No. 2, but a civil rights activist in his own right. From the football field to the 1963 march on Washington, Rustin’s efforts for building bridges — between whites and blacks, gays and straights — makes him a true hero. Said Rustin: “There are very few liberal Christians today who would dare say anything other than blacks are our brothers and they should be treated so, but they will make all kinds of hideous distinctions when it comes to our gay brothers. … That is what makes the homosexual central to the whole political apparatus as to how far we can go in human rights.” [Outsports via Rod]
Jon B
I’m glad you posted about Bayard Rustin. He needs more prominent airtime in our fight. He was central to the Civil Rights movement, and his name and story will probably do more for us in African American communities than any other. We could definitely use an Oscar winning movie about his participation in the Civil Rights movement. He was MLK’s right hand man.
sal
amen!!!what else needs to be said??
Chitown Kev
@Jon B:
maybe, maybe not.
Quite frankly, the same forces that threatened to out Rustin during the civil rights movement (conservative black preachers) are still there and far more influential now than they were MLK.
Geoff
I know LOGO get’s dumped on alot, but they have a great biography of Bayard Rustin online and you can watch it for free. It’s an amazing piece of history.
Chitown Kev
on #3 that”under MLK”
getreal
This is great to read. I think it is so important for the straight black community to get involved with the gay rights movement the way white americans and specifically jewish americans were so instrumental in helping black americans attain theirs. I have been going and speaking at black churchs and it is surprising how many people are quietly pulling for gays and lesbians to attain equality. I have spoken to people and let them know quietly pulling isn’t enough we need you pounding the pavement. I spoke to a woman who told me she saw on Fox news that “the gays” hate blacks so she was too intimidated to show up at a rally (this was a straight elderly christian woman) but she wanted to help because she marched in the civil rights movement. I think remembering men like Bayard Rustin make this movement more relatable for black americans. So it is so important. Please no mean racist replies it does not improve anything for anyone.
BobP
A woman I work with was doing her teen agers homework for him (at work) and she had a book about BR on her desk. I checked the index, and guess what- nothing about him being gay. Not a word.
bb
Rustin has always been a huge hero of mine, and I’m glad to see that his profile is surviving and even rising.
WillBFair
Hollywood needs to get off their lazy butts. I know that sounds greedy after Penn just won best actor. But after all we’ve done for that town, with all the contributions we’ve made to society, and so many of our stories needing to be told, someone should take a meeting with Brian Singer.
Eminent Victorian
It would be nice to see someone like Spike Lee make a film about this man so neglected by history.
Chitown Kev
@getreal:
Getreal, no racist remarks here, although I am one GBM who is an extreme Cynic about the church.
That woman you talked to does get because she was in the civil rights movement. Those that came of age after the civil rights movement (~30-45 years of age) really don’t get it becaus ethey didn’t go through the civil rights movement.
I have floted the Rustin balloon to others and it’s dead in the water. You won’t get any racist remarks on this late.
thread because nearly every gay man (black or white) knows and has lived enough of Rustin’s experience to relate.
Part of the problem is the black church itself is more conservative than it was even 20 years ago for a host of reasons that I won’t go into here. Also, the curious thing I have noted, especially with the NAACP coming into play with Prop 8 is that the old class warfare among black communities is breaking out.
I say this, because if we (and I mean all gays) are truly sincere, then these are facts that we need to know. “The black community” is extremely multifaceted.
Chitown Kev
Second paragraph above should read:
“I have floted the Rustin balloon to others and it’s dead in the water. You won’t get any racist remarks thread because nearly every gay man (black or white) knows and has lived enough of Rustin’s experience to relate. “
GranDiva
@BobP:
Not surprising. Rustin has been minimized in the same way as Alvin Ailey has been sanitized.
I remember having to write a nasty letter to Star Parker when she wrote a hateful piece about how much she resented gays “co-opting” the civil rights struggle, reminding her that Rustin existed as much as MLK ever had. It’s amazing how much of our history even we African-Americans have forgotten or conveniently overlooked.
GranDiva
@WillBFair:
I’m sure Brian Singer thinks he has better things to do with his time.
@Eminent Victorian:
So not happening. Get On The Bus aside, Spike Lee is still distinctly uncomfortable with gay themes.
Chitown Kev
@GranDiva:
Or even the sexuality of many of writers of the Harlem Renaissance (a movement the great W.E.B. Dubois called “degenerate”).
ceazer
I am buffled every time we use black history as a driving force for gay marriage, We want black support. Quit comparing gay marriage to SLAVERY. They find it extremely offensive.How about just using real gay sufferings to fight the battle.
Chitown Kev
@ceazer:
Black history does NOT equate only to slavery.
Be selective about the black history that you use, that’s all. Interracial marriage is fair game. Workplace and employment discrimination is fair game. For the most part, public accomadations is fair game. Hell, we were in concentration camps. Burned at the stake. There are PLENTY of parallels. It’s all in the nuance.
Chitown Kev
One example ceazer.
I sooooooooo hate it uninformed black people who whine,”Where were the gays when we were marching for our civil rights?”
Answer: Uh, those sodomy laws that were only recently overturned, honey Out gay persons would have been arrested on the spot. Gay rights groups of that period were under enough FBI surveillance as it was (for being gay and for being suspected Communists). The Mattachine Society considered the idea of marching for black civil rights. They could not (wisely, IMO) take that chance.
I suspect that many whites who marched for black civil rights were gay and lesbian, Coretta Scott King has said as much. I think she knew what she was talking about.
Chitown Kev
Forgive my punctuation. It must be late.
I sooooooooo hate it when uninformed black people whine,”Where were the gays when we were marching for our civil rights?”
ceazer
@chitown. Like I said, lets quit comparing our struggles to theirs if we want an ounce of their support.If we dont want their support then lets have a party and name it SLAVERY!.You know the way we do not like being compared to pedophiles, incest, bestiality ets, it really makes us angry…., Now thats just the same way they feel everytime a gay argument comes up and there we go throwing around black history to justify our cause. Really, don’t we have our own struggles to talk about. I don’t hear latinos using black history to argue their immigration rights.I dont even here women who are oppressed asking for the black pie.
ceazer
Ah……….. sorry but I’m italian. I just hate it when we cling on to someone elses history to explain ours. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with ethnicity. and you can be soooooooooooooooooooo angry all you want, majority of America still believe we are sinners going to hell. BTW keep calling them uninformed. I truly hope the courts reverse prop 8 because if this thing is on the ballot again, we’ll loose again.
Chitown Kev
@ceazer:
ceazer, I am black and I have read black history from a gay point of view and gay history from a black point of view, so I know the relevant points at which the histories are intertwined well. They are not seperate struggles for me. Embodied in Bayard Rustin are both histories. That’s YOUR history,too.
And, no, my comment was about uninformed straight black people, not Italians…talk about going through stereotypes, though…but I that explains to me why you are coming from the ethnic pride angle…the Italians I know have a lot of ethnic pride
Chitown Kev
Uh, and many Dominicans, Hatians, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Brazilians are welcome to use black history. Just as Sicilians can claim to be Italian as well. Though I don’t think they like that too much.lol
ceazer
@Chitown Kev: I can understand where you are coming from, and understand that you may understand this issue better being a member of both communities, but I am also around black people alot and my partner of 7 years is black and even he is rubbed the wrong way when we entrench our self as gay people in the AA struggles which are still very much alive.We need the support of other ethnic minorities, but I do not want to guilt them out of it, I want to form coalitions with them. I know one day there will be equality for all.
Chitown Kev
@ceazer:
Of course, they are different struggles. I could name many of the reasons.
I am sure your partner will also tell you that different black people have different struggles (and some don’t struggle much at all). Understanding those differences (especially as it relates to class) will be critical if you are seeking to build coalitions.
getreal
As far as I’m concerned the struggles of LGBT people is not much different than the struggles of blacks during the civil rights movement. A group of tax paying american citizen being denied their basic civil rights. It’s not a contest of who has suffered more. We marched for our rights in the 60’s people helped us because they knew it was wrong now it is time to help people who are in a similar position. It is the right thing to do PERIOD
Chitown Kev
@getreal:
Yep.
Chitown Kev
@getreal:
And, let’s face it, most of the battles of the black civil rights movement were won in the courts and in legislatures. We are picking up steam in those branches of state government and that is eventually where ther will be decided.
Part of the frustration on our side is that this stuff keeps getting put up to a popular vote and it loses everytime. But…all in due time…and with some old people dying.
.
Chitown Kev
“eventually where this will be decided.”
Kurt
I had the honor of working with Bayard Rustin late in his life. He was an amazing person. Without disagreeing with much of what has been said above, there is another issue that should be added to the mix.
I always thought that during his life, Rustin was underappreciated and underutilized by the gay political leadership. In many ways, I found he was given the cold shoulder by our movement’s leaders.
Bayard was uncompromising in his devotion to human freedom, speaking out against totalitarian regimes abroad, be they of the Right or the Left, and standing up for justice at home, be it civil or economic.
At the time, our movement was less developed and broad as it was today. Too many gays and lesbians (I’m going to call this the NGLTF tendency) sneered at Rustin’s strong anti-Communism, themselves often coming out of the “New Left”. Another element of the time (I’m going to call it the HRCF tendency), mostly comfortable, white collar types, didn’t get Rustin’s commitment to economic justice and the labor movement. They viewed him as a stooge for the AFL-CIO (an organization they had little regard for).
Our movement has matured and developed and today’s leadership seems to have an appreciation our forbearers did not.
RichardR
@getreal: Getreal, I think you are wonderful. I always appreciate your comments and value your presence in the queerty community. Thank you for talking to people at churches. Other posters have correctly noted that civil rights advances are in the courts; but we need to change hearts and minds, and connections such as you describe are how that happens.
Rustin’s is a complex story of a complicated man, but he is a true hero, both for “our” movement and for “their” movement. At rallies back in the 80’s we used to chant, “Gay, straight, black white; same struggle, same fight.” I understand that many African-Americans resent our connecting the gay rights movement to the civil rights battles King and Rustin fought. But indeed they are the “same struggle, same fight” in that the common enemy is ignorance and the common goal is liberty and justice for all. All means all.
getreal
@RichardR: Thanks, it is so refreshing to read such positivity. I couldn’t agree more “same struggle”. I agree with you hearts and minds will need to be changed to get to national equality not just court decisions. I think the black community and even the religious communities are a largely untapped resources for support. Both of these communities in their own way have a certain obligation in aiding the gay community in the fight for equality. Just my opinion.
getreal
@RichardR: Wow just reread your post. WOW
Charles J. Mueller
“The barometer of where one is on human rights questions is no longer the black community, it’s the gay community. Because it is the community which is most easily mistreated.” – Bayard Rustin – 1986