On this Mart Luther Kg Day, Autostraddle remembers the activist legacy of Coretta Stt Kg and her fight for gay rights.
Contents:
- CORETTA'S BIG DREAM: CORETTA STT KG ON GAY RIGHTS
- BERNICE KG DEFENDS HERSELF AGAST ANTI-GAY REMARKS
- GAY HISTORY – CORETTA STT KG ADVOT FOR LGBT RIGHTS.
- HOW CORETTA STT KG LEVERAGED MLK’S LEGACY TO FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS
- CORETTA STT KG ON GAY RIGHTS
- THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985
CORETTA'S BIG DREAM: CORETTA STT KG ON GAY RIGHTS
Bernice Kg, dghter of Mart Luther Kg fends herself after makg Anti-Gay ments * coretta scott king lgbt *
For more than twenty years before her ath 2006, she fought tirelsly for gay rights and lked the civil rights movement wh the LGBT rights movement, believg all the while that her work was a fahful exprsn of the clive dream shared by her hband. Kg's first public foray to the gay rights movement occurred durg her steady learship of the 20th anniversary of the 1963 march. Durg the n-up to the anniversary, Kg whstood the ti of social nservatism and pledged her support for the Gay and Civil Rights Act then before Congrs -- a groundbreakg bill that would have prohibed discrimatn agast gays and lbians hog, employment and public acmodatns.
BERNICE KG DEFENDS HERSELF AGAST ANTI-GAY REMARKS
* coretta scott king lgbt *
Enuraged by gay and lbian lears, Mrs. Given the homophobia of some civil rights lears takg part the rally, Kg's cisn to make room for a lbian speaker was nothg short of prophetic.
GAY HISTORY – CORETTA STT KG ADVOT FOR LGBT RIGHTS.
So was Lor's brief speech:I am Audre Lor, speakg for the Natnal Coaln of Black Gays.
Today's march openly jos the black civil rights movement and the gay civil rights movement the stggl we have always shared, the stggle for jobs, for health, for peace and for eedom.
HOW CORETTA STT KG LEVERAGED MLK’S LEGACY TO FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS
Kg's public advocy for gay and lbian rights creased after the Supreme Court led, Bowers v. Hardwick, that gays did not have a nstutnal right to engage nsensual sodomy. She happily agreed and took the ocsn to exprs her "solidary wh the gay and lbian movement.
CORETTA STT KG ON GAY RIGHTS
Kg also unseled and forted gay iends sufferg om the ravag of HIV and AIDs. Wh help om her special assistant Lynn Cothren, an openly gay man, she created a welg environment at the Kg Center and ed the Center's rourc to te the lol muny about the disease. Kg was so touched when one of her close gay iends died that she hosted his fay and circle of iends for a quiet day of sewg stch on a panel that would bee part of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
In 1993 she held a prs nference urgg Print Clton to stop the ban on gays and lbians servg openly the ary. Many gays and lbians, she stated at the time, had marched the civil rights movement, givg her every reason to return the support they had so eely offered Ain-Amerins the 1950s and 60s.
THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985
And 2002, after a vic beatg of a gay man at Morehoe College, Mrs. Kg roundly nounced the "toxic" vis of homophobia and lled for an crease public fundg for diversy fearls approach to gay rights reached new heights when she publicly nounced Print Gee W.
Kg stated: "Gay and lbian people have fai, and their fai should have legal protectn, whether by marriage or civil unn. " Even more potedly, she add: "A nstutnal amendment banng same-sex marriage is a form of gay bashg and would do nothg to protect tradnal marriag. " The implitn of her pot was clear: Print Bh had wrongly endorsed gay the earlit days of her advocy, Coretta Stt Kg remaed firmly nvced that her hband would have supported her mpaign for LGBT rights.
At last, Coretta Stt Kg believed that by fightg for gay rights, she was simply helpg to build "the beloved muny of Mart Luther Kg, Jr., where all people n live together a spir of tst and unrstandg, harmony, love and peace. "She was right about that, and I was glad to see her dghter Bernice, known for her opposn to gay marriage, fally showg public signs of support for .