Open letter to Pastor Stacy Swimp - you can't omit African-American lgbts from black history

Stacy Swimp wants to omit people like Bayard Rustin from black history.

Stacy Swimp is an African-American Michigan pastor who right now is riding the crest of his ego.

Recently, he spoke in front of the Michigan House in opposition of a non-discrimination ordinance claiming that gays never suffered the indignities of discrimination as had African-Americans. The House, by the way, killed the bill because there wasn't enough support for it.

But Swimp's words, which if I reposted here would cause my blood pressure to go up again as it did when I first read about the story, is just yet another infuriating attempting from ignorant, homophobic African-American heterosexuals to again omit lgbts of color from black history.

And to make matters worse, a good friend of mine sent a link to his facebook page in which he attacked Laverne Cox for making the cover of Time magazine.  I won't repeat the negative transphobic nonsense he and his supporters brayed.

I will just repeat what I wrote as a response in the form of an open letter not just to Swimp but other holier-than-thou African-American heterosexuals who are attempting to slander lgbts of color and deny us our right in the rich plateau of Black History:

Good gosh, listen to you all. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, especially you, Mr. Swimp. I got news for you all, No matter how many verses of the Bible you cite (the same book which was used by the way to justify slavery and segregation), you will NEVER be able to omit African-American gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender folks from Black History. It's our history too. We were there during slavery, Reconstruction, and segregation. We were lynched, raped, abused, and scorned just like you heterosexual African-Americans. And we played a great part in the civil rights movement. You forget that Bayard Rustin, an openly black gay man, coordinated the 1963 March on Washington. You forget about James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, Barbara Jordan, etc. 

You attempt to condemn us to the realms of your own ignorance because you are too limited to see us as anything but outputs of your lurid imaginations of what supposedly gays do in the bedroom. That's YOUR problem. You all are the epitome of ignorance. Arbitrarily accusing gays of pedophilia is no different than arbitrarily accusing black men of being thugs or black women of being sluts. What verse of the Bible gives you the right to bear false witness? What verse of the Bible gives any of you the right to bogart, slander, accuse, and attack? Whether you like it or not, black gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender folks aren't going away. 

Ms. Cox is looking mighty fine on the cover of Time magazine and rather than attack her, you should praise her for being open and honest. She is a role model to millions of folks, ESPECIALLY African-American transgender men and women. No matter how much it sickens you or how high and mighty you pretend to be, there is nothing you can do about HER or any of us lgbts of color. You can try but you can't erase us, you can't omit us, and most of all you can't condemn us. THAT right belongs to God and the last time I checked, NONE of you are him. God doesn't condemn us because he loves us the way we are. Tend to your own houses before you come knocking on our doors.

Related post: 

The Erasure of 'Gay' From Black History & the Black Community Must Stop