Bayard Rt was an dispensable force behd the Civil Rights Movement and openly gay.
Contents:
- THE THREE GAY BLACK MEN WHO INFLUENCED MART LUTHER KG, JR.
- BAYARD RT: MART LUTHER KG’S VIEWS ON GAY PEOPLE
- MART LUTHER KG JR., HOMOSEXUALY, AND THE EARLY GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
- THIS IS HOW MART LUTHER KG JR FELT ABOUT GAY PEOPLE, ACRDG TO INIC CIVIL RIGHTS MPAIGNER BAYARD RT
- MART LUTHER KG JR.’S VIEW ON GAY MARRIAGE
THE THREE GAY BLACK MEN WHO INFLUENCED MART LUTHER KG, JR.
Bayard Rt was an adviser to Mart Luther Kg Jr. and the anizer behd the 1963 March on Washgton. And though he was gay, his legacy remas ltle known among many the LGBTQ muny. * was martin luther king gay *
His homosexualy st him that visibily and was nsired by some as a hdrance to the movement's succs. The d will air this week an episo of the podst Makg Gay History.
Rt was the target of homophobic attacks, and as he discs the terview, he was siled by other black lears at key moments durg a movement he helped steer. Kg about my beg gay and particularly bee I would not ny , that he set up a mtee to explore whether would be dangero for me to ntue workg wh him, " Rt says to the Bla the terview. He nced, but as Eric Marc, the host of Makg Gay History, tells NPR's Michel Mart, Rt kept workg for the e.
Those rerdgs have helped foster a better unrstandg of the gay in — one that Marc nces was absent om his civil rights tn. "I feel like I was robbed of my history as a gay person, " Marc says.
BAYARD RT: MART LUTHER KG’S VIEWS ON GAY PEOPLE
* was martin luther king gay *
" Marc fds spirg that Rt was open about his sexualy at a time when beg gay was still nsired dangero. His arrt rerd clud prottg and charg related to his homosexualy.
" To Rt, assertg his inty as an Ain-Amerin went hand--hand wh intifyg as a gay man. "It occurred to me shortly after that that was an absolute necsy for me to clare homosexualy, bee if I didn't I was a part of the prejudice, " he said. He was Bayard Rt, a man whose life was shaped by the very prejudic the movement fought agast, not only bee of his race, but also bee he was gay.
MART LUTHER KG JR., HOMOSEXUALY, AND THE EARLY GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
This 1987 say by Bayard Rt reveals a personal acunt of MLK's feelgs toward gay people. * was martin luther king gay *
“The qutn is never gog to be homosexualy, ’s gog to be promiscuy, and I n’t fend that. Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carola brought natnwi media attentn to Bayard after claimg that the march was beg anized by “Communist, draft-dodger and homosexual. However, wh learship wh the movement opposed to his volvement, Rt whdrew his would ntue his role activism, speakg at events for gay rights the 1980s.
It was also durg this time, the last years of his life, that Rt gave an terview wh the Washgton Bla, rellg the dualy of beg both black and gay the Civil Rights Movement and how that shaped his refal to hi his sexual moment particular helped motivate his cisn to be open about his sexualy.
THIS IS HOW MART LUTHER KG JR FELT ABOUT GAY PEOPLE, ACRDG TO INIC CIVIL RIGHTS MPAIGNER BAYARD RT
', " Rt said the terview, which was released early 2019 via the podst Makg Gay History. "It occurred to me shortly after that that was an absolute necsy for me to clare homosexualy, bee if I didn't I was a part of the prejudice, " he ntued.
Durg his lifetime, Mart Luther Kg Jr was not a vol advote for gay rights (he was assassated a year before Stonewall, 1968), nor did he speak out agast them. Do they dite that Dr Kg saw homosexualy as somethg that uld, this boy’s se at the very least, be fixed?
The opns of those who knew and loved him, however, suggt he was no homophobe. He was also a gay man. In 1987, almost 20 years after Dr Kg’s assassatn, Rt approached the subject of his attus towards gay people an say.
MART LUTHER KG JR.’S VIEW ON GAY MARRIAGE
“It is difficult for me to know what Dr Kg felt about gayns except to say that I’m sure he would have been sympathetic and would not have had the prejudicial view, ” he wrote.
Rt said this his own gayns “was not problem for Dr Kg but a problem for the movement”, explag that eventually some of the reverend’s ner circle eventually “me to the cisn that my sex life was a burn” and “advised him that he should ask me to leave”. Coretta Stt Kg was a tirels gay rights mpaigner. In 1998, addrsg a Lamda Legal anniversary luncheon, Mrs Kg said: “I still hear people say that I should not be talkg about the rights of lbian and gay people, and I should stick to the issue of racial jtice.
’ I appeal to everyone who believ Mart Luther Kg Jr’s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lbian and gay people. Mrs Kg was a tirels LGBTQ+ rights mpaigner, g out support of the groundbreakg Gay and Civil Rights Act that would have banned anti-gay discrimatn many public arenas 1983. Until her ath 2016 she ntued to fight for LGBTQ+ equaly: llg on then-print Bill Clton to stop the gay ary ban 1993 and nmng Gee W Bh 2004 for his anti-marriage equaly stance.