Saturday, January 18, 2014

Anti-gay group exploits MLK holiday with bogus, bought-and-paid for black leaders

Based upon this blog post gleaned by Goodasyou's Jeremy Hooper, it's obvious why anti-gay groups like the National Organization for Marriage are always accusing the lgbt community of exploiting the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

It diverts attention away from when THEY exploit it. In this blog post, NOM conveniently omits the fact that two of the pastors listed - Bill Owens and Harry Jackson are "bought-and-paid for. Bill Owens and his wife Deborah received $20,000 from NOM while Harry Jackson also received $20,000 as well as other monies funneled to a DC organization he led. And of course NOM omitted any talk of its cynical strategy of creating a division between the black and lgbt community.

And the sad irony? In spite of all Owens said about being involved in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, those genuinely involved in the movement have called into question claims about his actual involvement. However, it was discovered that Owens has several ties to Republican and right-wing organizations.

Lastly, I would lose all of my gay points if I did not point out that the event NOM especially exploits, the 1963 March on Washington, was planned, coordinated, and executed by an openly gay black man -  Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Bayard Rustin (Editor's note - damn, those last seven words felt so good to write!)

According to Hooper, NOM eliminated this post and who can blame the organization? It has to be most tasteless exploitation of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday holiday known to man - and I don't mean that as a euphemism.