NEWS RELEASE
January 27 , 2005

EQUALITY MARYLAND
Contact: Dan Furmansky, Executive Director
Phone:    Office 301-587-7500
Toll Free in Maryland: 888-440-9944
Cell    301-461-4900
Email:  dan@equalitymaryland.org

NATIONAL BLACK JUSTICE COALITION
Contact: H. Alexander Robinson, Strategic Director
Phone: 202-547-1995

CLERGY AND AFRICAN AMERICAN LEADERS DENOUNCE ANTI-GAY RALLY IN ANNAPOLIS

‘No Moral High Ground’ in Using God’s Name to Tear Down Families, Participants Say

Annapolis–– African American community leaders and local activists with the National Black Justice Coalition joined more than 50 clergy today to denounce an anti-gay rally that was taking place just down the street in front of the State House. The press conference at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis followed a statewide “People of Faith Alliance” meeting organized by Equality Maryland, Maryland’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization. The Alliance gathering included a morning of prayer, study and discussion on how to support LGBT Marylanders and their families amidst a flurry of anti-gay activity across the state.

“It is vitally important to show Marylanders that people of faith also believe in equal rights and equal protection under the law for all, including families headed by same-sex couples,” said Rev. Harris Thomas of Unity Fellowship Church in Baltimore. “As black folks we have to not take on the ways of our oppressor and oppress other people.“

Some organizers with “Defend Maryland Marriage” have claimed that Marylanders are “under attack,” and have said that church and moral leaders must become aware of their[“extreme homosexual activists’”] intent to sodomize our children.” They have aired in congregations a ten-year-old video entitled “Gay Rights/Special Rights,” which claims that “the gay/lesbian agenda wants your child’s mind and body!” These same leaders have also lied to clergy across the state, telling them that if Maryland granted marriage licenses to same-sex couples, they would be forced to perform marriages in their churches.

"Many African-American gay and lesbian couples are raising children in communities all across the country, and we need every bit of protection that marriage and civil rights laws provide," said H. Alexander Robinson, Strategic Director with the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC). "The tight, strong, African-American family is alive and well in black gay and lesbian households, and we are no less a part of the African-American community because we are also a part of the gay community. We will not stand by and allow this attempt at civil segregation to take hold in our state or our nation."

According to a report issued by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and NBJC last fall, of the more than 11,000 households headed by same sex couples in Maryland, 4, 977 are headed by African-American same-gender loving couples. Black gay couples are nearly twice as likely as white gay couples to be raising children (among women, 61 versus 38 percent; men, 46 versus 24 percent), and black gay couples are nearly as likely as married African-Americans to be raising children: 69 percent of black married households have kids.

“There is nothing moral about writing discrimination into our constitution and making sure that thousands of Maryland couples are strangers in the eyes of the law,” said Equality Maryland Field Organizer Meredith Moise, who is a Reform Catholic deacon in Baltimore. “To keep a person from accessing her partner’s health care benefits, to deny her the right to take Family and Medical Leave to take care for her partner, to make her ineligible to sign a death certificate as next of kin, and to prevent her from inheriting a partner’s social security -– how is this justice?”

###

Equality Maryland is Maryland’s largest civil rights organization, focused on making life better for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens of Maryland. Equality Maryland works to secure and protect the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Marylanders by promoting legislative initiatives on the state, county and municipal levels and educating the public about the issues faced by our diverse community.

Equality Maryland can be found online at www.EqualityMaryland.org

The National Black Justice Coalition is an ad hoc coalition of black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered leaders who have come together to fight against discrimination in our communities. The goal of the organization in 2005 is to build black support for marriage equality and to educate the community on the dangers of amending the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

NBJC can be found online at www.nbjcoalition.org

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Marcus Penny is the biological son of Khadijah Tribble, who is partnered with Robin Dickerson-Tribble. He is 8 years old in the third grade. Marcus He often speaks of the day when his moms will be married.

Rickie Green is the founder of the Portal, a non-profit, peer led, volunteer driven center which serves the African American Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender communities of Baltimore City. For more information: www.portalbmore.org

Alexander Robinson is the strategic director of the National Black Justice Coalition and resides in Baltimore.

Dr. Alvin Williams and Nigel Simon, live in Upper Marlboro with their three children. They have been in a committed, intimate relationship for the last seven years and held a commitment ceremony on July 15, 2000 in the presence of 300 family and friends. The two are currently challenging the constitutionality of the denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Maryland.

Rev. Christine Y. Wiley is Senior Pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in South East Washington, DC, where Alvin and Nigel worship.

Rev. Harris Thomas is the Founding Pastor of Unity Fellowship Church in Baltimore City. He has served on Mayor Martin O’Malley’s Gay and Lesbian Task Force and is the first openly gay African American minister to speak in the Baltimore City Public School system to high school youth on sexual diversity. He is also the father of one.

Meredith Moise is the field organizer for Equality Maryland and a resident of Baltimore City, where she lives with her partner and her father. She serves as a deacon with the United Reform Catholic Church.

Andrew Foster Connors serves as head pastor of Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church in Baltimore City.