Honoring Bayard Rustin

[DonViejo]

This year, HRC is spotlighting the voices of African-American LGBT leaders and allies as part of HRC’s Black History Month blog series. This post comes from Michael Long, editor of "I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life in Letters.”

Bayard Rustin, the brilliant organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, lived openly as a gay man. He became active in the gay and lesbian rights movement when his companion, Walter Naegle, nudged him to do so in the 1980s.

Rustin, born in 1912, characterized the fight for gay rights as the new frontier in the civil rights movement, and in 1985 he lobbied New York City politicians, including Mayor Edward Koch, to pass a gay rights bill without restrictive amendments. Here’s a part of his powerful testimony before a City Council committee:

“I have been arrested 24 times in the struggle for civil and human rights…On the basis of such experiences, I categorically can state and history reveals that when laws are amended to provide ‘legal loopholes’ that deny equal protection for any group of citizens, an immediate threat is created for everyone, including those who may think they are forever immune to the consequences of such discrimination. History demonstrates that no group is ultimately safe from prejudice, bigotry, and harassment so long as any group is subject to special negative treatment. The only final security for all is to provide now equal protection for every group under the law.”

He was a key strategist who greatly influenced Martin Luther King Jr., but is often left out of civil right history.

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http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/honoring-bayard-rustin?utm_content=buffer7b5ce&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=hrcsocialteam

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Again, more reads are needed!

smh

This is an amazing individual whom many aren't even aware.