Irony alert - Organization co-founded by black gay man threatens member for supporting gay rights

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is seeking to remove the president of its Los Angeles chapter, Rev. Eric P. Lee, for helping to organize opposition to Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage amendment that was passed in California last year.

From The New York Times:

In April, Mr. Lee attended a board meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Kansas City, Mo., and found himself once again in the minority position among his colleagues on the issue of same-sex marriage, but he was told, he said, by the group’s interim president, Byron Clay, that the organization publicly had a neutral position on the issue.

So a month later, Mr. Lee said, he was surprised to receive a call from the National Board of Directors summoning him immediately to Atlanta to explain why he had taken a position on same-sex marriage without the authority of the national board.

Explaining that he was unable to come to Atlanta on such short notice, Mr. Lee then received two letters from the organization’s lawyer, Dexter M. Wimbish, threatening him with suspension or removal as president of the Los Angeles chapter if he did not come soon to explain himself.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was the organization led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1950-60s civil rights movement. It sprung from the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and was on the forefront of the majority of racial battles during that time.

Since King's death, however the organization has fallen into anonymity and controversy (including an ugly battle between it and King's son, Martin Luther King, III).

Many media sources are playing up the fact that this was the organization led by King during the civil rights movement, but a lot of them are forgetting a crucial element of the story.

One of the co-founders of SCLC was Bayard Rustin, an aide of King, chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, and an openly gay black man.

A constant mantra amongst African-Americans is that "we never forget where we came from."

Well in this case apparently SCLC has forgotten where it came from.