IndyStar.com
December 1, 2005

Gay Rights Measure Irks Blacks
Pastors press council to oppose protections
By Robert King
Star reporter Brendan O'Shaughnessy contributed to this story.

Huddled in prayer on the first floor of the City-County Building, leaders of more than a dozen black churches expressed opposition Wednesday to legislation designed to protect gays from housing and job discrimination.

They also said they find it offensive to equate the plight of gays to the struggles faced by blacks.

The Rev. Melvin Jackson, a veteran of black civil rights marches and pastor at Christian Love Baptist Church, was among those who said they were "deeply offended" by those who try to put the two on equal footing.

"Black people were brought to this country in chains and were held down by laws that prevented us from being citizens in this country. We could not vote. We could not sit where we wanted to. We could not eat where we wanted to," Jackson said. "We were insulted everywhere simply because of how we looked by the color of our skin.

"There is no parallel to that. And I defy anyone to say that."

In petitioning God to guide the council members who will decide the issue, the ministers uniformly expressed bitter opposition to the idea that the gay rights movement is the modern equivalent of the struggle for civil rights in the 1950s and '60s.

As Jackson stated his beliefs, the nearly two dozen other leaders who participated in the lunch-hour vigil nodded in agreement.

Such sentiments are not uncommon around the country" Few black church leaders, the bedrock of the civil rights movement, have been willing to campaign for gay rights.

Likewise, predominantly black churches have seen little of the open warfare over homosexuality that is common in largely white denominations, such as the Episcopalians, Lutherans, Presbyterians and United Methodists.

Robert Ferguson, president of Indiana Black Pride, a local grassroots organization that supports gay causes, said he can't think of a single leader from a black church who supports his group's work.

"We are desperately searching for one," he said.

Mostly, he said, he finds black church leaders who say gays are bound for hell.

"It would seem as black people, we would recognize discrimination and hate rhetoric. But we have somehow taken on some of the characteristics of our oppressor and started to oppress others," he said.

Ferguson said that because of its success, the civil rights struggle is a good model for gay rights groups seeking to bring about change. He suspects there is broader support for the cause within the pews and black communities than there is among the black clergy.

But church leaders at Wednesday's vigil said their views represent more than 95 percent of the people in their churches.

The ministers said they don't condone discrimination. But they feel laws already on the books should be enough to protect gays and lesbians. Similarly, they say they don't hate gays -- they simply won't sugarcoat biblical passages that refer to homosexuality as an "abomination" and contrary to the traditional concept of family.

Homosexuality, they said repeatedly, is a lifestyle choice, one they termed "perverse" and "depraved." Race, they pointed out repeatedly, is not a choice.

"We believe the Bible says that homosexuality is abomination, that it is a sin," said the Rev. Robert Gaillard, pastor at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. "It is not a sin to be born black."

Jackie Nytes, a Democratic council member who is co-sponsoring the ordinance, said there is a misunderstanding in black churches about what the proposed ordinance would do for gays and lesbians. "They think it's about special rights," she said, "but it's about equal rights."

Ministers prayed by name for Nytes and the 28 other members of the council during Wednesday's event. One minister asked God to give Councilwoman Angela Mansfield the strength to vote against the ordinance.

Mansfield, a Democrat who supports the ordinance, said the prayer was misguided. "Civil rights is more than just race."

A vote on the proposed ordinance could come later this month.