Julian Bond For Mississippi Marriage

"Mississippians know sexual orientation or gender identity shouldn’t matter when it comes to working hard and taking care of your neighbor. Mississippians know all children are valued, no matter who they are. And Mississippians know that above all, treating one another with dignity and respect is what counts.

"The fight for basic civil rights is not a quest for superiority or an unvoiced desire for power. It is, at its root, a battle to raise us all up. We all deserve the right to try and fail, move forward and fall back, and ultimately succeed on our own merits and individual gifts. But for many of us, our ability to dream of a greater and more brilliant future is limited by the color of our skin, the texts of our religious tomes, and the gender of whom we love and who we are.

"The push for full equality for all Americans has always come with hurdles and setbacks. But we are not dissuaded from our path. LGBT Mississippians and their families yearn for a better day, one that we can work together to create. Let’s begin right now." - NAACP chairman emeritus Julian Bond, writing for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. Hit the link and read the full op-ed.

Julian Bond For Maryland Marriage

Julian Bond: NOM Is Scary

(Via Good As You)

Julian Bond On NOM's Race-Baiting

"NOM's underhanded attempts to divide will not succeed if Black Americans remember their own history of discrimination. Pitting bigotry's victims against other victims is reprehensible; the defenders of justice must stand together." - Julian Bond, Chairman Emeritus, NAACP.

Julian Bond For Marriage Equality

NAACP Stages First-Ever Panel Discussion On Black LGBT Rights

Clip via No More Down Low TV. A partial clip description:

The debate gets heated when the current NAACP president is asked how can the LGBT community take the NAACP seriously when its current board members are out saying that gay rights are not civil rights, referring to current NAACP board member Rev. Keith Ratliff recent statement: "Gay community, stop hijacking the civil rights movement."

Celebs Pressure Obama On Marriage

A coalition of openly gay celebrities and their allies have issued a public letter to the president, asking that he complete his "evolution" and come out publicly in support of same-sex marriage. The letter reads, in part:

Like so many Americans, you have spoken of your personal journey toward support for the freedom to marry. You have talked about the gay and lesbian people in your life, their commitment to each other and care for their kids, and their families that aren’t so different from any other family.

We ask you now for your leadership on ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, an exclusion that harms millions of Americans each day. Whether to end discrimination in marriage is a question America has faced before, and faces again today. With so many Americans talking it through in heartfelt conversations, it is a question that calls for clarity from the President.

Among those signing the letter: Ellen DeGeneres, Anne Hathaway, David Geffen, Martin Sheen, Eric McCormack, Lily Tomlin, Scott Fujita, and Julian Bond.

Julian Bond Endorses Equality March

NAACP chairman Julian Bond has joined the list of high-profile endorsements of the National Equality March. Via press release:

Most notably, recent endorsements for the NEM have come from allies representing organizations not usually thought of as part of the immediate LGBT community. US Representative, Danny K. Davis, of Chicago, Illinois; Michael Letwin, Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW); and NAACP Board Chairman, Julian Bond, have all recently voiced their support for the NEM. "GLBT rights are civil rights; there are no 'special rights' in America. Everyone has rights - or should have - and I am happy to join in this battle for justice and fairness," explains Bond. Other notable endorsements include Susan Stryker, Associate Professor of Gender Studies at Indiana University and author of “Transgender History”; and the Tony Award-winning production of Broadway’s Hair, which will be going dark for the weekend of the NEM in order to attend the event.

Visit the Equality Across America site for information about volunteering, events, and fundraising.

NAACP Head Julian Bond To HRC: Gay Rights Are Civil Rights

It's a longish speech, but there are some truly great moments. Julian Bond = hero.

Julian Bond Speaks To LGBT Activists at NGLTF's Creating Change Conference

NAACP head Julian Bond gave a rousing plenary speech yesterday at the 20th Annual Creating Change conference in Detroit. Creating Change is a yearly meeting of more than 2000 LGBT activists and is presented by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.

Julian Bond Joins Florida's Marriage Equality Fight

NAACP head Julian Bond has joined the fight against Florida's coming statewide ballot on marriage equality.

Julian Bond, an icon in the civil rights movement for nearly 50 years and longtime national Chairman of the NAACP, has stepped into a leadership role with the Fairness for All Families Campaign the statewide coalition effort to defeat the deceptively named "Florida Marriage Protection" Amendment.

The campaign's Honorary Board members includes: Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz; former Department of Elder Affairs Secretary and past AARP President Bentley Lipscomb; Florida NAACP President Adora Obi Nweze; Howard Simon, Executive Director, Florida ACLU; Rev. Nancy Wilson, Worldwide Moderator, Metropolitan Community Churches.

"Julian Bond has long been a voice for fairness and equality and we are proud to have him speaking out against this harmful amendment that singles people out for discrimination and make it harder for Floridians to take care of their love ones," said Barbara A. DeVane of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans and a member of the Fairness board.

The Fairness for All Families Campaign is a coalition of more than 200 organizations and community leaders representing seniors, business leaders, consumer groups and social justice organizations working together to oppose the effort to take away benefits and enshrine discrimination in Florida's constitution.

The addition of Julian Bond to the Fairness for All Families Campaign comes at a time when newspaper editorial boards across the state are actively opposing the amendment and describing the harm to all unmarried Floridians including seniors, public employees and others who rely on domestic partnership benefits to protect their loved ones.

Three cheers for Julian Bond!

Friendly Voices: Julian Bond

"Gay and lesbian rights are not "special rights" in any way. It isn't "special" to be free from discrimination – it is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship. The right not to be discriminated against is a common-place claim we can expect to enjoy under our laws and our founding document, the Constitution. That many had to struggle to gain these rights makes them precious - it does not make them special, and it does not reserve them only for me or restrict them from others.

When others gain these rights, my rights are not reduced in any way. Luckily, "civil rights" are a win/win game; the more civil rights are won by others, the stronger the army defending my rights becomes. My rights are not diluted when my neighbor enjoys protection from the law – he or she becomes my ally in defending the rights we all share.

For some, comparisons between the African-American civil rights movement and the movement for gay and lesbian rights seem to diminish the long black historical struggle with all its suffering, sacrifices and endless toil. However, people of color ought to be flattered that our movement has provided so much inspiration for others, that is has been so widely imitated, and that our tactics, methods, heroines and heroes, even our songs, have been appropriated by or serve as models for others.

No parallel between movements for rights is exact. African-Americans are the only Americans were enslaved for more than two centuries, and people of color carry the badge of who we are on our faces. But we are far from the only people suffering discrimination – sadly, so do many others. They deserve the laws' protections and civil rights too.

Sexual disposition parallels race – I was born black and had no choice. I couldn't and wouldn't change if I could. Like race, our sexuality isn't a preference – it is immutable, unchangeable, and the Constitution protects us all against prejudices and discrimination based on immutable differences.

Many gays and lesbians, along with Jews, worked side by side with me in the '60s civil rights movement. Am I to now tell them "thanks" for risking life and limb helping me win my rights – but they are excluded because of a condition of their birth? That they cannot share now in the victories they helped to win? That having accepted and embraced them as partners is a common struggle, I can now turn my back on them and deny them the rights they helped me win, that I enjoy because of them?

Not a chance."

NAACP National Chairman Julian Bond, in a letter congratulating the Fort Lauderdale NAACP for their stand against Mayor Jim Naugle.