Same-Sex Marriage a Sensitive Issue in the Black Faith Community
Oakland Tribune
By Kamika Dunlap
May 29, 2009

OAKLAND — The state Supreme Court's ruling Tuesday to uphold Proposition 8, a California voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, continues to divide black community leaders and clergy over issues of homosexuality and gay marriage.

After the court's decision ended the legal battle over Prop. 8 in California, supporters celebrated a victory in an effort to preserve the traditional definition of marriage while same-sex marriage advocates vowed to fight for equal rights and protection under the California Constitution.

A statement condemning the ruling was issued by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, calling for equal rights for same sex couples seeking to wed.

"The rights of gay and lesbians to marry is most certainly a civil rights issue of the first order," said Alice Huffman, president of the California National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "By refusing to overturn Proposition 8, the California Supreme Court deferred to a simple majority to eliminate equal protection rights for a disenfranchised minority. This is what the NAACP has fought about for over 100 years."

The NAACP statement seems to run contrary to what many within the black community, and specifically some black ministers, feel about gay marriage. It creates an interesting dynamic between the civil rights organization and a group of spiritual leaders who have supported the association's agenda during its history.

Many Advertisement will recall during Prop. 8 campaigns last year several black ministers around Oakland held rallies to condemn same-sex marriage. In addition, many people in the black faith community voted according to their strong religious tradition and said they do not view marriage as a civil issue.

Analysis of election returns from California counties including Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco showed 58 percent of African-Americans voted in favor of Prop. 8.

There is a deep rift in the black community about comparisons between gays' struggle for marriage equality and the civil rights struggle of African-Americans. The National Black Justice Coalition is one of the groups working to address this issue and recently hosted its fourth annual Black Church Summit at San Francisco's Glide Memorial.

Several members of the city's black clergy, who supported Prop. 8, were contacted for comment but did not return phone calls. One Oakland minister, however, who asked to remain anonymous, said he could understand why his colleagues also did not want to speak on the record. He said he believes they likely did not want to be seen as the face of hatred or railing publicly against the NAACP.

In addition, he said African-American pastors are dealing with many other crisis situations such as crime and violence, home foreclosures and school closures and that addressing rights for same-sex marriage is not their top priority.

According to a study by UCLA's Williams Institute, there are approximately 55,000 lesbian, gay, and bisexual black adults living in California, and the state is home to 7,400 black same-sex couples. The study also shows that in California, nearly 55 percent of black women and 11 percent of black men in same-sex relationships are raising children.

The Rev. Mark Wilson, of Tapestry Ministries in Berkeley, called on faith leaders to "repent" for the teachings in some churches that same-sex relationships and marriages should not be accepted. He joined a group of faith leaders and same-sex married couples who gathered earlier this week at Oakland City Hall in response to the court's decision to uphold Prop. 8.

"I learned at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church down in West Oakland on 12th and Willow streets that the most important principal of my faith was to love my sister and brother and neighbor as I loved my own self," he said, "and this is a message that we've got to turn back to, and repent for some of the teachings that have caused pain and hurt and rejection."

The Rev. Amos Brown, San Francisco chapter president of the NAACP, also supports marriage equality. He was one of the few outspoken African-American ministers urging blacks to vote against Prop 8.

Huffman said the California chapter of the NAACP is probably the only one in the nation to take a position to support same-sex marriage.

"I don't see any reason why we should stop short of full rights," she said. "No one is asking the church to perform gay marriage. We're not trying to move gay people into the church. We just simply want them to use the term marriage and get benefits heterosexuals get."

The estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who wed last year still will be recognized as married.

"Black folks do not have a monopoly on any rights," Huffman said. "One group can't fight for their rights while denying other groups their rights. We have to separate out religious beliefs from our civil liberties."