HARLEM: Activists To Fundraise For Ali Forney In Response To Hate Church

On December 3rd, Harlem Against Violence & Homophobia will hold a fundraising event for the Ali Forney Center in response to the continuing attacks on the LGBT community by crackpot Pastor James David Manning, whose church is on the same street as Ali Forney's drop-in center for homeless LGBT youth.

“We can’t sit back and ignore the hateful words on the ATLAH sign,” said Harlem resident Stacy Parker Le Melle, organizer for Harlem Against Violence, Homophobia and Transphobia, the community group comprised of local residents working together to resist ATLAH’s hate speech. “We are trying to help those easily hurt by ATLAH’s messaging, the youth who have been pushed out of their homes due to family rejection, much of it religious-based,” said Le Melle. “We want a neighborhood safe and welcoming for all.”

For their second benefit night, the Harlem residents group will screen Brother Outsider, an award-winning documentary of the life of marginalized civil rights titan Bayard Rustin. Special guests include filmmakers Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer, and Mr. Rustin’s longtime partner Walter Naegle.

"Bayard Rustin spent his life working to build bridges between communities. He sought to heal racial, ethnic, and religious division and he did so in the spirit of love and reconciliation," said Walter Naegle. "Today, our world is still plagued by such strife and thus his work and message is more relevant than ever in seeking to build a just and equal society. 'No Time for Hate,' is a perfect opportunity to carry forth this message."

Hit the link for more information and tickets to the screening.

Quote Of The Day - Brian Brown

"The struggle for civil rights in America as envisioned by Dr. King is ongoing, and I am personally very honored and proud to be able to call some of its greatest leaders my close friends and allies: people like Bishop Harry Jackson, Bishop George McKinney, Bishop David Hall, Pastor Eugene Rivers and so many others. And of course, there is Dr. King's own heroically pro-life, pro-marriage niece, Dr. Alveda King.  The true legacy of the Civil Rights movement cannot be praised too highly. I say the true legacy of the Civil Rights movement because these great men and women know, as well as you and I, how that legacy has been hijacked by those who try to claim it for the purpose of redefining marriage and imposing a radical redefinition of the family on our society. They know — as we all know through simple common sense — that this hijacking is a travesty and an insult." - Hate group leader Brian Brown, declaring that Martin Luther King would have opposed same-sex marriage and LGBT rights.

Here's just three of the inconvenient facts missing from Brown's message: 1) "Heroically pro-life, pro-marriage" Alveda King has had three divorces and three abortions. 2) MLK's widow, Coretta Scott King, was an ardent supporter of same-sex marriage and LGBT rights.  From her famous 2004 speech to the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force: "I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people. But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream, to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people." 3) The chief organizer of MLK's historic 1964 March On Washington was Bayard Rustin, an openly gay black man who last year was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

UPDATED: Sally Ride & Bayard Rustin Get Presidential Medal Of Freedom

Accepting the medals on behalf of their late partners were Tam O'Shaughnessy (Sally Ride) and Walter Naegle (Bayard Rustin). Both presentations were preceded by the off-stage announcer recounting the contributions made by Ride and Rustin to the history of the LGBT movement. The live stream has now concluded.

Civil Rights Pioneer Bayard Rustin And Astronaut Sally Ride To Be Posthumously Awarded Presidential Medal Of Freedom

Civil rights pioneer (and gay man) Bayard Rustin, who organized the 1963 March On Washington, and astronaut Sally Ride, who (at her request) was outed after her death of cancer last year, will be among the recipients of this year's Presidential Medal Of Freedom awards, the highest honor given to any civilian. Via press release from the White House:

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Executive Order signed by President John F. Kennedy establishing the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as well as the first ceremony bestowing the honor on an inaugural class of 31 recipients. Since that time, more than 500 exceptional individuals from all corners of society have been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  President Obama said, “The Presidential Medal of Freedom goes to men and women who have dedicated their own lives to enriching ours. This year's honorees have been blessed with extraordinary talent, but what sets them apart is their gift for sharing that talent with the world. It will be my honor to present them with a token of our nation's gratitude."

The Human Rights Campaign reacts:

Bayard Rustin’s contributions to the American civil rights movement remain paramount to its successes to this day,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “His role in the fight for civil rights of African-Americans is all the more admirable because he made it as a gay man, experiencing prejudice not just because of his race, but because of his sexual orientation as well.” Rustin was active in the struggle for civil rights for sixty years, from organizing early freedom rides in the 1940s, to serving as key advisor to Dr. King, to helping found the A. Philip Randolph Institute.

But his advocacy was far from limited to the rights of African Americans. He worked to end apartheid in South Africa, fought for the freedom of Soviet Jews, worked to protect the property of Japanese Americans interned during World War II, and helped highlight the plight of Vietnamese “boat people.” And in the 1980s, he also spoke up for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, testifying in support of anti-discrimination legislation in New York. “Bayard Rustin dedicated his life to advocating for fairness and equality and overcame prejudice to help move our nation forward,” added Griffin.

 The 50th anniversary of the March On Washington is August 28th.

RELATED: Some of this year's other recipients will surely upset the wingnuts. They are: Ernie Banks, Ben Bradlee, Bill Clinton, Daniel Inouye, Daniel Kahneman, Richard Lugar, Loretta Lynn, Mario Molina, Arturo Sandoval, Dean Smith, Gloria Steinem, C.T. Vivian, Patricia Wald, Oprah Winfrey.

Alveda King Fires Back At Critics

"The 21st century homosexual lobby likes to point to the professional relationship between my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bayard Rustin, his openly homosexual staffer who left the movement at the height of the campaign. Rustin attempted to convince Uncle M. L. that homosexual rights were equal with civil rights. Uncle M. L. did not agree, and would not attach the homosexual agenda to the 20th century civil rights struggles. So Mr. Rustin resigned. He was a brilliant strategist and was hired by Uncle M. L. not because he was gay, but because he was a capable strategist. He also was not fired, he chose to resign. My uncle was not a bigot, and he didn't judge people for the color of their skin nor their sexual orientation. Neither do I. As compassionate Christians who won't be forced to sit on the back of the bus as far as our spiritual commitments are concerned, we can be compassionate without endorsing sin." - Alveda King, apparently feeling the heat after yesterday's denouncement of the NAACP. Hit the first link for much more.

Can Lightning Strike Twice?

On the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream speech at the 1963 March On Washington, many are hoping that tonight Barack Obama can somehow recapture the excitement and optimism of that day.

Many veterans of the march will gather at televisions in their living rooms Thursday night, or sit with friends and old comrades and watch an event they would have considered impossible not just in 1963, but perhaps in 1983, or 1993. Theirs is often a cautious optimism; time has left them with a sense of the provisional nature of progress.

David R. Jones, now president of the Community Service Society in New York, recalled milling about in Washington in 1963, a 15-year-old there with classmates from a lefty school in Manhattan. Then Dr. King began to speak, and they fell quiet. “I never saw that kind of a speech,” Mr. Jones said.

Some of you have written to ask that I make sure to mention today that the March On Washington would not have happened without Bayard Rustin, the openly gay advisor to MLK and the chief organizer of the march. In 1986, the year before he died, Rustin said, "The barometer of where one is on human rights questions is no longer the black community, it's the gay community. Because it is the community which is most easily mistreated." Tonight Barack Obama should honor Bayard Rustin and make a strong and unwavering statement of support for the LGBT community during what will surely be the most watched speech of his life. I have a dream.