From Baltimore Gay Life
April 29, 2005

Gay Marriage Debated At Morgan State University
by Shelton Jackson

On Monday, April 18, a town hall meeting was held at Morgan State University that debated the morality of homosexuality and examined the issues surrounding same-sex marriage.

The forum, called “The Tongue in Cheek of Black Homophobia: Gay Marriage, Religion, and the Closet,” was set up with a panel of experts from different organizations representing the LGBT community.

That panel consisted of H. Alexander Robinson, executive director/CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition, who provided the legal explanations of the topics, and Timmothius Mack-Jones, a member of the board of directors of The Portal, an LGBT community center. Khadijah Tribble and Meredith Moise, members of Equality Maryland, and Katrina Scott, the treasurer for Morgan State’s Rainbow Soul were also part of the panel.

Three couples from Maryland’s ACLU lawsuit to legalize gay marriages in Maryland were present as well. The debate was moderated by Anthony McCarthy of WEAA’s “Daybreak,” a morning show on Morgan State University’s radio station.

There was only one person on the panel that was in opposition to gay marriage: Larry Thompson, Jr., an associate minister at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.

“You’ll give lip service to the LGBT but I don’t see the ‘T’ represented on that panel,” said Lauren, a transgender audience member as she pointed out the missing piece of the puzzle among the panel of experts – the lack of transgender representation. After an “okay” from the audience she joined the panel, making it a more representative of the entire LGBT community.

“I like the way people always pick and choose what parts of scriptures they want to use,” said Lauren. “If you are going to quote the Bible to me, read the whole damn thing and not just the part that makes your point.”

Much of the discussion centered on the “morality” of homosexuality and the issue of God and what was right in the eyes of many religions. There were several examples offered from both sides on how homosexuality is a sin. However, the anti-gay marriage proponents could not provide an answer to the question of why homosexuality is greater than any other sin. Not even the minister on the panel could provide a non-biased answer. He seemed more worried about offending anyone than speaking on his beliefs.

“The Bible is not God,” said McCarthy, as the discussion became very heated and started to verge on becoming a sermon. “Can we all agree on that?” After a resounding “Yes!” from the audience McCarthy said, “Then let’s move on.”

After an hour of debating the morality of homosexuality the conversation finally turned to gay marriage. The rest of the discussion was about the difference between religious marriage and civil marriage.

“We don’t want religious marriage,” said Tribble of Equality Maryland. “We want civil marriage and the over 1,000 benefits and protections that come with that legal standing.”

The benefits and protections of civil marriage are in question in Washington, where D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams (D) is faced with the decision of whether to acknowledge a gay couple married in Massachusetts by allowing them to file a joint tax return. The mayor is under pressure from the Republican-controlled Congress not to recognize the couple, or else face a sharp backlash from the GOP controlled Congress, which has the power to control the District’s budget.

Overall, it was an evening of very arousing discussion. The audience, however, was mostly pro-gay marriage so it was not necessarily the best environment for the opponents to express their opinions. But that did not stop them.

“If we let gay people get married then we might as well let people marry dogs and cats,” said an audience member. “Where does it end? It’s just not right!”

The reaction throughout the auditorium was one of pure shock, as mouths dropped to listen for his explanation. Moise, one of the panelists, seemed poised to rise from her seat to confront the speaker, but he could not explain his comment without referring to God and the Bible.

The couples involved in Maryland’s ALCU lawsuit spoke about their reasons for being part of the suit and wanting the same rights and protections granted to heterosexual married couples.

“I am sick of black people thinking they have the monopoly on oppression,” said Moise. “Oppression is oppression is oppression!”

The forum was sponsored by Equality Maryland’s Marylanders of Color Collective, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy organization in partnership with The National Black Justice Coalition, a national civil rights group for the black LBGT community; and Morgan State University’s Rainbow Soul, the student run gay/straight alliance at the University.