Tuesday, July 16, 2013

35 LGBT Groups Denounce Zimmerman Verdict

One of the ironies that drives me to distraction at times is the fact that far too many black pastors continue to allow themselves to be used as puppets and water carriers by white Christofascists organizations with either a history of racism or leadership lines that track back to vehement segregationists.   Here in Virginia, the white supremacists at the viciously anti-gay Family Foundation have black pastors jumping through their hoops like trained circus dogs when it comes to parroting anti-gay propaganda.  Meanwhile, the folks at The Family Foundation hate and despise blacks just as they hate gays.  Hopefully, black organizations and some of these dim witted pastors will take note that 35 LGBT organizations signed a joint letter calling for justice for Trayon Martin in the wake of the travesty of George Zimmerman's literally getting away with murder.  Here is the text of the letter via Towleroad:

Trayvon Deserves Justice

We cannot begin to imagine the continued pain and suffering endured by Trayvon Martin's family and friends. We stand in solidarity with them as they continue to fight for justice, civil rights and closure. And we thank everyone who has pushed and will continue to push for justice.

Trayvon Martin deserves justice and his civil rights. We support the organizations and community leaders who are urging the federal government to explore every option to ensure that justice is served for Trayvon and that his civil rights are honored and respected. But our work does not end there: we will honor Trayvon Martin by strengthening our commitment to end bias, hatred, profiling and violence across our communities.

We represent organizations with diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender constituencies. Our community has been targets of bigotry, bias, profiling and violence. We have experienced the heart-breaking despair of young people targeted for who they are, who they are presumed to be, or who they love: Rashawn Brazell, Lawrence King, Ali Forney, Brandon Teena, Brandon White, Matthew Shepard, Marco McMillian, Angie Zapata, Sakia Gunn, Gwen Araujo and countless others.

Every person, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, must be able to walk the streets without fear for their safety.

Justice delayed is justice denied and in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "a right delayed is a right denied." We honor Trayvon by seeking justice for all people.

Here is a list of the signatories to the letter:

All Out
American Civil Liberties Union
Believe Out Loud
BiNet USA
Bisexual Resource Center
Center for Black Equity
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals
Equality Federation
Family Equality Council
Freedom to Work
Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network
Gay-Straight Alliance Network (GSA Network)
GetEQUAL
GMHC
GLAD
GLAAD
Harvey Milk Foundation
Human Rights Campaign
Immigration Equality
Lambda Legal
Movement Advancement Project
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Minority AIDS Council
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
PFLAG National
The Trevor Project
Trans Advocacy Network
Transgender Law Center
Trans People of Color Coalition

Blacks in general and black pastors in particular need to realize that gays are their natural allies - the "godly Christian" white folk hate them as much as they hate us.  They need to stop allowing themselves to to be duped by Bible verses into to assisting their enemies.  

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