{"id":548,"date":"2009-07-09T15:25:15","date_gmt":"2009-07-09T15:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2009\/07\/gay-people-should-support-the.html"},"modified":"2009-07-09T15:25:15","modified_gmt":"2009-07-09T15:25:15","slug":"gay-people-should-support-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/07\/gay-people-should-support-the.html","title":{"rendered":"Gay People Should Celebrate and Support the NAACP at 100!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gay people and their allies should take the occasion of the NAACP&#8217;s\u00a0centennial\u00a0to celebrate the NAACP&#8217;s century of accomplishments and\u00a0recommit\u00a0to supporting the organization and its objectives of ending racism in America. \u00a0<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Why?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I&#8217;ll give you three reasons.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>1) The NAACP provides an example of endurance against horrible odds to create equal rights for African American citizens. \u00a0Thinking back 100 years to 1909, slavery had been abolished for only 60 years, the rights of Black Americans were\u00a0negligible, lynchings were rampant, and Jim Crow segregation was the law. \u00a0Much has been accomplished in 100 years and the NAACP has been the pioneering civil rights group that is, in NAACP&#8217;s president Benjamin\u00a0Jealous&#8217; own words, still radical after all this time. \u00a0 The Gay movement is relatively young and while gay people do endure humiliation, it is important to remember that others have endured similar types of dehumanization &#8211; often much worse. \u00a0We need to take from the example of the NAACP&#8217;s courage and longevity.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>2) \u00a0NAACP leaders have been some of the gay communities best allies. \u00a0Case in point is Julian Bond who\u00a0eloquently\u00a0expressed his <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2009\/03\/julian-bond-black-rights-and-g.html\">support of gay people and gay marriage at the Human Rights Campaign dinner <\/a>this year saying: &#8220;Black people, of all people, should not oppose equality, and that is what gay marriage is&#8230;at the NAACP, we pledge to do our part.&#8221; \u00a0Not bad for an organization that will certainly take some heat among its constituency for taking such as stance. \u00a0Gay people should make sure that the NAACP knows that when they stick out their necks we have their backs. \u00a0<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>3) This is the most important reason that we should support the NAACP: because African American&#8217;s still live in a racist society that requires the advocacy and voice of the NAACP. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2009\/LIVING\/06\/22\/jealous.naacp\/\">Benjamin\u00a0Jealous lays out the reality well in this commentary:<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\">African-Americans are disproportionately represented on death row. Of the 3,500 people on death row, about 42 percent are black, and virtually all are poor. Studies underscore that it is race and class, more than guilt, that determines whether a defendant, once convicted, is sentenced to death.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\"><br \/><\/span><span class=\"Apple-style-span\">The statistics paint an ongoing portrait of inequality. Unemployment for African-Americans remains twice that of whites and studies show there is no scientific rationale &#8212; neither\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/topics.cnn.com\/topics\/Education\" class=\"cnnInlineTopic\">education<\/a>\u00a0nor experience &#8212; that explains the gap. In some American cities, 50 percent of school-aged black men drop out of school and as much as 50 percent of young black men are unemployed.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\">It seems obvious but sometimes it is worth reminding people that some black people are gay! \u00a0We need to make sure that everyone in our community enjoys equal rights in America what ever race, religion or nationality. \u00a0Racism is a gay issue. \u00a0<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Gay people and their allies should take a moment today and go to the website of the NAACP and make a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.naacp.org\/\">donation in thanks for the 100 years of the advancement<\/a> of the rights of African Americans, and in doing so advancing the dignity and integrity of all Americans, and the promise of the American Dream.\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gay people and their allies should take the occasion of the NAACP&#8217;s\u00a0centennial\u00a0to celebrate the NAACP&#8217;s century of accomplishments and\u00a0recommit\u00a0to supporting the organization and its objectives of ending racism in America. \u00a0 Why? I&#8217;ll give you three reasons. 1) The NAACP provides an example of endurance against horrible odds to create equal rights for African American&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homosexuality","category-race-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gay People Should Celebrate and Support the NAACP at 100! - Progressive Revival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/07\/gay-people-should-support-the.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gay People Should Celebrate and Support the NAACP at 100! - Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gay people and their allies should take the occasion of the NAACP&#8217;s\u00a0centennial\u00a0to celebrate the NAACP&#8217;s century of accomplishments and\u00a0recommit\u00a0to supporting the organization and its objectives of ending racism in America. \u00a0 Why? I&#8217;ll give you three reasons. 1) The NAACP provides an example of endurance against horrible odds to create equal rights for African American&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/07\/gay-people-should-support-the.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-09T15:25:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Raushenbush\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gay People Should Celebrate and Support the NAACP at 100! - Progressive Revival","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/07\/gay-people-should-support-the.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gay People Should Celebrate and Support the NAACP at 100! - Progressive Revival","og_description":"Gay people and their allies should take the occasion of the NAACP&#8217;s\u00a0centennial\u00a0to celebrate the NAACP&#8217;s century of accomplishments and\u00a0recommit\u00a0to supporting the organization and its objectives of ending racism in America. \u00a0 Why? I&#8217;ll give you three reasons. 1) The NAACP provides an example of endurance against horrible odds to create equal rights for African American&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/07\/gay-people-should-support-the.html","og_site_name":"Progressive Revival","article_published_time":"2009-07-09T15:25:15+00:00","author":"Paul Raushenbush","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/07\/gay-people-should-support-the.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/07\/gay-people-should-support-the.html","name":"Gay People Should Celebrate and Support the NAACP at 100! - Progressive Revival","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-07-09T15:25:15+00:00","dateModified":"2009-07-09T15:25:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/79cf4745abafd37be8b44cd0493ca805"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/07\/gay-people-should-support-the.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/07\/gay-people-should-support-the.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/07\/gay-people-should-support-the.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gay People Should Celebrate and Support the NAACP at 100!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/","name":"Progressive Revival","description":"Politics from the New Religious Progressives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/79cf4745abafd37be8b44cd0493ca805","name":"Paul Raushenbush","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/8a4\/8a469b4689362184dbcd8bfb43296365x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/8a4\/8a469b4689362184dbcd8bfb43296365x96.jpg","caption":"Paul Raushenbush"},"description":"Rev. Paul B. Raushenbush is the moderator of the Progressive Revival blog and the Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University. .An ordained American Baptist minister, Rev. Raushenbush speaks and preaches at colleges, churches and institutes around the country including the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., The Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York, and the New America Foundation. Rev. Raushenbush has served at Seattle First Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Chaplaincy at Columbia University and as College and Young Adult Minister at The Riverside Church in New York City. He has appeared on ABC World News Tonight and is a repeated guest on CNN. He has been quoted in The New York Times and The Washington Post and is a contributing editor for Beliefnet.com. His first book, Teen Spirit: One World, Many Faiths (HCI) was released in the Fall of 2004. He is the editor of the 100th Anniversary edition of Walter Rauschenbusch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s book Christianity and the Social Crisis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c In the 21st Century (HarperOne). His work at Princeton includes strengthening the interfaith community on campus. He is the Co-Director of the Program on Religion, Diplomacy and International Relations at The Liechtenstein Institute on Self Determination at Princeton University. Rev. Raushenbush studied religion at Macalester College before attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City where he graduated with distinction.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/praushenbush"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}