NAACP holds first ever LGBT town hall at national convention

The NAACP held its first ever town hall meeting to discuss LGBT issues during its 102nd annual convention in Los Angeles last week. #

Julian Bond, an activist and civil rights leader, said at the town hall that gay rights are civil rights. Bond said that black members of the LGBT community share a common history and a continued struggle to address issues of bigotry, yet their identities, talents and leadership are often diminished because of homophobia and the fear of physical violence. #

Bond added that within black America and the NAACP there are differences of opinion on the subject, saying that we know that sexuality is not a choice and that LGBT black people suffer a level of discrimination and harassment far beyond the levels felt by straight black women and men. #

Bond added, “If you disagree or if your Bible tells you that gay people ought not be married in your church, don’t tell them they can’t be married at city hall. Marriage is a civil rite as well a civil right, and we can’t let religious bigotry close the door to justice to anyone”: #

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Wanda Sykes, a lesbian comedian and actress, said at the town hall that she was raised in the church and taught that being gay was an “abomination.” She added that she suppressed everything and even got married, but her relationships could not go any further. #

“If you try not be gay, you are being this other person and miserable,” Sykes said. “You can’t pray it away.” #

“I consider myself a Christian and the one thing that Jesus told us was to love, above all, to love thy neighbor,” she said. “What’s this crap about ‘Hate the sin, but love the sinner’? That doesn’t even make any sense. Either you love somebody or you’re judging them; you can’t have it both ways”: #

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