Meet the Gay Activist Behd Mart Luther Kg Jr.'s Civil Rights Movement

MART LUTHER KG JR., HOMOSEXUALY, AND THE EARLY GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

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. * martin luther king jr was 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

Bayard Rt was an dispensable force behd the Civil Rights Movement and openly gay. * martin luther king jr was 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.

THE THREE GAY BLACK MEN WHO INFLUENCED MART LUTHER KG, JR.

Although Rev. Mart Luther Kg Jr. is well known for his learship the civil rights movement, a new upg book is set to make the ntroversial claim that he would have been an advote for gay marriage. Those shockg claims, however, squarely ntradict what Kg's own dghter has said about him the past, and even Kg's own words, which have scribed homosexualy as a "problem." * martin luther king jr was gay *

" 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.

“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. ', " Rt said the terview, which was released early 2019 via the podst Makg Gay History.