RALEIGH, N.C. (RNS) Most black church nsir homosexualy a s, and have risted any attempt to reterpret biblil passag nmng . But some pastors are fdg ways to skirt the theologil issue, and support equal treatment of gays and lbians as a legislative ncern. By Yonat Shimron.
Contents:
- BLACKS, GAYS AND THE CHURCH: A COMPLEX RELATNSHIP
- THE DIALOGUE AROUND GAY MARRIAGE IN BLACK CHURCH
- N.C. BLACK PASTOR TREADS REFULLY ON GAY MARRIAGE
- BLACK PASTOR SAYS GAY MARRIAGE IS NOT A CIVIL RIGHT
- ANTI-GAY BLACK PASTORS SAY YOU’RE THEIR ENEMY IF YOU SUPPORT MARRIAGE EQUALY
- AIN-AMERIN PASTORS CALL ON OBAMA TO RENSIR GAY MARRIAGE STANCE
- WHY BLACKS EVOLVED SO 'QUICKLY' ON GAY MARRIAGE
- BLACK PASTORS GROUP: OBAMA'S SUPPORT FOR GAY MARRIAGE 'MIGHT ST HIM THE ELECTN'
- OBAMA LLS PASTORS TO EXPLA GAY MARRIAGE SUPPORT; BLACK CHURCH ‘NFLICTED' BY PRINT'S CISN
- BLACK PASTORS SPEAK OUT ON OBAMA'S GAY MARRIAGE STANCE
- BLACK PASTORS' GROUP URG CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AGAST GAY MARRIAGE RULG
- DECRYG GAY MARRIAGE, BLACK PASTORS JO LEGAL FIGHT
- OTIS MOSS, III CHALLENG FELLOW BLACK CLERGY ON MARRIAGE EQUALY FOR GAYS AND LBIANS
- BLACK GAY AND LBIAN PASTORS MERGE CHURCH TO PROMOTE 'RADILLY INCLIVE' THEOLOGY
BLACKS, GAYS AND THE CHURCH: A COMPLEX RELATNSHIP
While many black pastors nmn homosexualy om the pulp, the choir lofts behd them are often filled wh gay sgers and micians. The fact that gays and lbians often hold learship posn the church is the worst kept secret black Ameri. * black pastors gay marriage *
When Pete Buttigieg, an openly gay man, vied to bee the Democratic printial nomee earlier this year, he opened a natnal nversatn about the relatively low levels of support for LGBTQ people and same-sex marriage by Ain Amerins, pecially among olr members of the Black Church.
They found that “relig nomatns play a strong role stcturg attus about the moraly of homosexualy, and support for specific polici of toleratn and nondiscrimatn. ” They also nclud that “Ain Amerins are signifintly more likely to view homosexualy as wrong, keepg wh their nservative Prottant origs and high rat of relig participatn. Though Sherkat mentns Ain Amerin wrers om the 1960s and 1970s who claimed that homosexualy was primarily a whe phenomenon and therefore anthetil to black inty, is possible that relign-driven antipathy fluenced the wrers’ views.
The virtuosy of gay sgers, micians and posers has been the drivg force velopg popular gospel choirs — even chart-toppg, Grammy-wng acts — that make money for a church, help expand ngregatns and raise the profil of pastors. It all happens unr an unspoken "don't ask, don't tell" ctom that allows gay people to be active the church, though closeted, and church to reap the benefs of their membership. "On the one hand, you're nurtured the choir but you also have to s through some of those fire and brimstone sermons about homosexualy beg an abomatn, " says E.
THE DIALOGUE AROUND GAY MARRIAGE IN BLACK CHURCH
* black pastors gay marriage *
Bishop Yvette Flunr of Oakland, Calif., is openly gay and the founr of The Fellowship, an anizatn of black pastors and church openly welg of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr members. " Commentator Keh Boyk, who is Ain-Amerin and gay, lls a paradox: "The church might be the most homophobic and most homotolerant of any stutn the black muny.
" Woon, the pastor North Carola, agre that the prence of gays and lbians choirs or other church mistri reveals the "duplicy and, ankly, the hypocrisy of the black church.... He says his church also has ntued to support gay members who have ntracted HIV/AIDS, unlike some other church that ostracize them — a practice many people on both sis of the issue say has been mon.
N.C. BLACK PASTOR TREADS REFULLY ON GAY MARRIAGE
What really ed the black muny's rapid "evolutn" on gay marriage over the past month? The answer is simple: We didn't evolve overnight. We've been evolvg for s, even when the media wasn't payg attentn. * black pastors gay marriage *
But many others say they are torn between their allegiance to their church, which form the cultural and stutnal backbone of black muni, and their sire to live ee of homophobia. " Gospel mic superstar and megachurch pastor Donnie McClurk shocked the non-gospel world years ago by revealg a 2001 book that God "livered" him om a gay "liftyle" that he said was a rult of beg sexually abed as a boy. The Love Center Church Oakland, Calif., found by the late Bishop Walter Hawks, one of gospel mic's biggt stars the 1970s and 1980s, ma wav for welg black gays and lbians.
Given that measure, we don't want to do this huge social experiment that may actually take the very last heart's beat out of this stutn that is so val to the perpetuy or rryg on our culture, our people and our As I'm sure you know, there are plac like Massachetts where gay marriage has been legalized for some time now, and the sky has yet to fall. So I believe you'll see a lot of signatur and a referendum, and I believe that as was 31 tim out to vote on this, there will be yet another victory should the opportuny to vote e to the people of It would be tertg, there uld be referenda on gay marriage not jt Maryland this year.
I also want to add that the real threat to the black fay is not allowg gay marriage, 's forcg people who are homosexual to the closet bee that leads to fai beg broken up, that leads to children beg beaten and abed.
BLACK PASTOR SAYS GAY MARRIAGE IS NOT A CIVIL RIGHT
Sce 2003, lears of the Ain Methodist Epispal Church have ma several public statements clarg the nomatn’s opposn to the ordatn of openly gay clergy members. * black pastors gay marriage *
It seems like we don't need to take this step, which so radilly ref Jt to follow up on Jay's send pot: Do you have members of your ngregatn who are homosexual or lbian or bisexual?
I thk 's about whether we want tentnal sign that is acrdance wh whose view of Jay - I'm sorry, I jt want to give Jay a chance to e Well, I thk that I gus you raise a qutn of moraly, and as I have studied this, I work diversy and issu of equaly and whatnot that that's always kd of way to make homosexuals, sayg that somehow they are ls moral.
ANTI-GAY BLACK PASTORS SAY YOU’RE THEIR ENEMY IF YOU SUPPORT MARRIAGE EQUALY
Black pastors across the untry dwelt on Print Barack Obama's stance durg worship servic Sunday, after Obama's May 9 announcement that he supports gay marriage. * black pastors gay marriage *
As you jt heard om Bishop Harry Jackson, who jt joed , black clergy Maryland and around the untry have what they ntend are solid reasons to oppose gay marriage, reasons based scripture and beliefs about the stcture of Ain-Amerin all black pastors agree. And so they overwhelmg unrstand that Those who advote rights for gays and lbians, transexuals and people who are bi, also argue that opns beg to change when people that you love, you know are gay or lbian or bisexual or transgenr, that when your or your uncle or your nt or your teacher you learn is gay, then all of the sudn your opns beg to That's te.
AIN-AMERIN PASTORS CALL ON OBAMA TO RENSIR GAY MARRIAGE STANCE
Lear of Ain-Amerin Pastors Group: Prott Gay Marriage Through Civil Disobedience * black pastors gay marriage *
And I thk the balance, the bill do a great balance protectg relig stutn and relig eedom yet providg civil liberti, as Do also afford the opportuny, and as Bishop Jackson suggted, 's very likely this is gog to be on the ballot as a referendum em November, but do also afford the opportuny to open a dialogue the Ain-Amerin muny where sometim nversatns about homosexualy are not always wele?
WHY BLACKS EVOLVED SO 'QUICKLY' ON GAY MARRIAGE
Sendly - exce me - there are homosexual - or people who stggle wh that, who do e to the church, but they realize that they mt make a cisn as to where they stand that has given all a measure of fah, but we are able to overe anythg if our belief is Christ. I tly believe will take only a ltle outreach to the black Christian muny to change the mds of many more parishners, if not the 're talkg about the Ain-Amerin church and gay marriage. Acrdg to a 2008 poll, among Amerins who say they have bee more favorable toward gay and lbian people the past five years, 21% said that their relig lears were a ntributg factor.
BLACK PASTORS GROUP: OBAMA'S SUPPORT FOR GAY MARRIAGE 'MIGHT ST HIM THE ELECTN'
Almost immediately after New York beme the sixth state to pass marriage equaly, Middle Collegiate Church nducted marriag for three gay and lbian upl, simultaneoly.
After all, J thought poverty was a big no-no, so he’d probably be more cled to tell his flock to go after the Koch Brothers than your gay uncle and lbian ntie.
OBAMA LLS PASTORS TO EXPLA GAY MARRIAGE SUPPORT; BLACK CHURCH ‘NFLICTED' BY PRINT'S CISN
– gathered Thursday one of the natn's most famo civil rights ci to ask Print Obama to reverse his stance on same-sex than a dozen pastors om the Coaln of Ain Amerin Pastors joed Memphis, Tenn., to speak out agast Obama's support for gay marriage and to oppose the LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr) muny's "hijackg" of the civil rights movement.
"Not all black pastors disagree wh Print Obama's approval of same-sex Brad Braxton is the foundg pastor of The Open Church Baltimore, Md., and feels homosexual unns are "an endorsement of God's eternal votn to abundant life and holy love. Jt when I thought the black homophobia storyle had died out, I me across a provotively tled article Monday morng wrten by Lenox Magee: " Has Time Come for Gay Blacks? In fact, until the past , many black gay and lbian people did not believe gay marriage was or should be the fol pot of the LGBT movement or the lm tt for measurg LGBT support.
A host of other issu like HIV/AIDS, accs to health re, jobs, and employment discrimatn were often listed as more important by black gay and lbian all that started to change 2003 when the Massachetts Supreme Judicial Court issued s groundbreakg cisn makg the first state to allow same-sex marriage. And spe all the rhetoric om a few loud voic the muny, we've long embraced some of our most famo LGBT members, om the gay wrers of the Harlem Renaissance to the openly gay pop fictn thors like E.
BLACK PASTORS SPEAK OUT ON OBAMA'S GAY MARRIAGE STANCE
We've also practilly nonized openly LGBT lumari like Jam Baldw, Alv Ailey, and Lorrae Hansberry, and we've celebrated the achievements of openly gay men like Billy Strayhorn and Bayard Rt. Of urse we still face ser challeng wh homophobia the black muny, but there's never been any measurable evince that 's any worse our muny than any other muny. I've looked at the pollg and the rearch over the past 20 years, and many s, black people have actually been more supportive of civil rights for gays and lbians than wh have, pecially when to gays the ary, employment rights, and other issu of discrimatn.
BLACK PASTORS' GROUP URG CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AGAST GAY MARRIAGE RULG
As far back as 1993, a Gallup poll found that 61 percent of blacks supported allowg gays to serve openly the ary while only 42 percent of wh held this belief. On the polil issu of discrimatn agast gay people, we got all the social and moral issu, we were takg our cu om relign, which has tradnally been a somewhat more nservative stutn all cultur.
DECRYG GAY MARRIAGE, BLACK PASTORS JO LEGAL FIGHT
In fact, many of our church have embraced a "don't ask, don't tell" policy about homosexualy, and as a rult, the black church has bee, paradoxilly, the most homophobic and the most homo-tolerant stutn the black tensn between our polil progrsivism and social nservatism existed for s, but that too has slowly started to change. But even Print Obama uld not have changed black opn so dramatilly if blacks were as homophobic as the media portrayed to tth is blacks were never more homophobic than wh were. A group of Ain-Amerin pastors say that Print Barack Obama’s backg of gay marriage may st him the electn due to weakeng support among black voters -- although he still has overwhelmg support om William Owens, head of the Coaln of Ain-Amerin Pastors, a group of black Christians backg tradnal fay valu, said Obama has taken the black vote for granted.
” Supreme Court asked to back gay marriage ban A Pew Rearch Center poll nducted April found that 49 percent of Ain-Amerins oppose legalized same-sex marriage, pared wh 39 percent who support .
OTIS MOSS, III CHALLENG FELLOW BLACK CLERGY ON MARRIAGE EQUALY FOR GAYS AND LBIANS
5 ln-member Ain Methodist Epispal Church have ma several public statements clarg the nomatn’s opposn to the ordatn of openly gay clergy members and marriage rights for same-sex upl.
In Augt 2003, after an article USA Today rrectly stated that the Ain Methodist Epispal Church ordaed gay misters, Bishop Richard Frankl Norris issued this statement refutg that posn and stcted all AME pastors to read to their ngregatns: “The official posn of the Ain Methodist Epispal Church is not favor of the ordatn of openly gay persons to the ranks of clergy our church. He fend tradnal marriage a 2008 Christiany Today article, sayg he wasn’t sure he’d perform a same-sex blsg, although he did exprs support for gay and lbian civil rights.
After takg a leave of absence om Harvard Universy to study the Bible and homosexualy, Matthew V gave a speech at his church about acceptg gay Christians that has amassed over 1 ln views on YouTube sce 2012. He also started The Reformatn Project, a nonprof tryg to “reform church teachg on sexual orientatn and genr inty, ” and wrote the book “God and the Gay Christian: The Biblil Case Support of Same-Sex Relatnships.
BLACK GAY AND LBIAN PASTORS MERGE CHURCH TO PROMOTE 'RADILLY INCLIVE' THEOLOGY
While he said recently that his church, Northland, A Church Distributed, will mata that the Bible prohibs gay relatnships, he now believ nservative church should wele and support those of all sexual orientatns. — -- After makg his historic remarks on same-sex unns last week, Print Barack Obama led a nference ll wh black church pastors to expla his support for gay marriage, the New York Tim reports. News stori: • Newsweek ver: Obama 'first gay print' • How Whe Hoe gay marriage claratns are affectg other Democratic ndidat • Secret Service sex sndal: Congrsnal members ll for wir probe, more female agents Want more of our bt polil stori?