Rights Still to Be Won
By Julian Bond
(Originally posted in The Washington Post, Friday, October 9, 2009)
The civil rights struggle for legal equality in America today is no less necessary, nor worthy, than a similar struggle fought by blacks several decades ago. Now, as then, Americans are denied rights simply because of who they are. When lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans gather in Washington on Sunday for the National Equality March, they will invoke the unfulfilled promise in our Constitution that they, too, are due equal protection under the law.
I will join them in their march because I believe in their equality and believe in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution that promises to protect it. I will join them because the humanity of all people is diminished when any class of people is denied privileges granted to others. I will join them because I know that when heterosexuals stand up and call for justice alongside their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters, the sooner justice will come.
In the ugly days of racial segregation, we had a dream. In August 1963 we came to Washington and declared that dream to the nation. Among us that day were LGBT Americans such as Bayard Rustin, the chief organizer of the ‘63 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. His homosexuality caused discomfort among some leaders of the day, and they played down his role in the march. But his heroic work has served as a model for civil rights organizers ever since.
We can no longer pretend that civil rights do not include rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. Flimsy justifications for anti-LGBT bias are giving way to evidence that society is strengthened, not weakened, when LGBT people are given equal protection under the law. Where they are free to marry those they love, the sky has not fallen. Where they cannot be denied employment and housing simply because of who they are, the sky has not fallen. Where they serve nobly in the military without the burden of secrecy, the sky has not fallen. Rather, when all people are free to live up to their full potential, all of society benefits. Yet the United States still permits all these forms of discrimination.
And this is why we must march.
My friend Coretta Scott King said in 2000: “Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender or ethnic discrimination.” That is why the NAACP resolved several years ago that “we shall pursue all legal and constitutional means to support non-discriminatory policies and practices against persons based on race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality or cultural background.”
The civil rights movement has achieved tremendous victories in past decades, and so we must again. The bias against LGBT people tolerated in this land, even at the end of the first decade of the new millennium, is ugly. We must create a better future, which will give us a past upon which we can look back and be proud. This weekend, those who believe in the ideals of our Constitution, those who have a dream that we will one day live in a nation where people will be judged not by whom they love but by the content of their character, and those who stand up for their ideals can be proud that they stood up and spoke out for justice.
The writer, a professor of history at the University of Virginia and distinguished professor in residence at American University, is board chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Thank you, brother Bond. Your words give so many of us strength, and hope.
Comment by ew01 — October 14, 2009 @ 9:03 am
Since I can not leave a comment on the Lou Dobbs blog, I will post my comments here and just see if you will post them.
I have found that many black people bring the racism to themselves. They are seeking it out. They in fact, promote it more and make it more of an issue than white people. And it’s not just regular black people but also famous black people. Listen to comedians like Chris Rock and D.L. Hughley. His show simply failed because every single show had something to do with how he as a black man had been cheated in some way from the white man. Seriously, when are blacks in general going to just stop talking about race? White people no longer care. I guess no one really wants to mention the fact that this country elected a black man, and if the whites really wanted to make race an issue, I’m sure you would hear all over the place that Obama is half white….but you don’t because whites don’t care. Blacks should stop hating whites, stop looking for excuses and stop playing the race card. Enough is enough.
Comment by David — October 22, 2009 @ 2:18 pm
Decisions should not be based on who you love. I don’t care if you love a man, woman, nor what the color of there skin is, people are people and should be treated as such.
Comment by Charlse Jordan — October 24, 2009 @ 9:17 pm
I agree decisions for the equal rights of a person should not be based on their lifestyle or the color of the skin, but I do have to say that I am tired of hearing about denied equal rights pertaining to only people of colored skin because it happens to all races including whites which people tend to forget due to previous history.
Comment by Karissa Polston — October 26, 2009 @ 6:53 pm
Powerful words spoken by a great leader, whom I heard in person at Sangamon State University in the early ’70s in Springfield, Illinois, home town of Abraham Lincoln and the scene of the 1908 race riot that lead to the founding of our organization.
I have (at http://www.penningthoughts.com) the story of that horrific event, with links to original sources, including the February 12, 2009 NAACP Springfield commemoration program booklet, which includes a reproduction of The Independent’s story of “Race War in the North.”
Nicholas Penning
Subscribing Life Member
Arlington, Va.
Comment by Nicholas Penning — November 1, 2009 @ 1:40 pm
Forgive me, the date of the NAACP Springfield commemoration was Aug. 16, 2008.
Comment by Nicholas Penning — November 1, 2009 @ 1:43 pm
Thank you so much for your thoughtful, kind and just words of support, Chairman Bond. Sometimes I feel beaten down by the reality that I am legally discriminated against by the very country which I serve.
That issues of human rights are being decided by majority vote goes entirely against the wishes of our founding fathers as stated by James Madison,
“It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. If a majority be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure.”
Again, my sincere thanks Chairman Bond.
Comment by Elisa Umpierre — February 3, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
I just read the news that you Julian Bond will be stepping down as the Chairman of the NAACP. I am deeply saddened by your departure. It is utterly ridiculous that an organization from it’s inception that was about CIVIL RIGHTS continue to openly deny the facts that many colored people are indeed LGBT. Sad, sad, sad because we the LGBT the truly open and honest LGBT will be vocal and will not hide in the closet any longer. Please Mr. Bond continue to voice your opinions on our behalf. Thank You.
Comment by greenluv1322 — February 20, 2010 @ 11:34 am