NAACP Endorses Marriage Equality

MAJOR news today. The board of directors of the NAACP has voted to officially endorse same-sex marriage. Reactions from other civil rights groups will be added to the bottom of this post as they arrive.

“The mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure the political, social and economic equality of all people,” board chair Roslyn M. Brock said in a statement following passage of the resolution on Saturday. “We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law.”The chairman emeritus, Julian Bond, had already pledged his support earlier this week as part of a coalition of black leaders trying to tamp down speculation that Obama’s support of gay marriage would divide the black community.

The resolution and statement Saturday specifically noted that the group supports “civil marriage” for same sex couples, while respecting religious freedom -- something the president also mentioned when announcing his stance. “Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law,” NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said in the statement. “The NAACP’s support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and equal protection of all people.”

Here is the text of the resolution:

The NAACP Constitution affirmatively states our objective to ensure the “political, education, social and economic equality” of all people. Therefore, the NAACP has opposed and will continue to oppose any national, state, local policy or legislative initiative that seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the Constitutional rights of LGBT citizens. We support marriage equality consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Further, we strongly affirm the religious freedoms of all people as protected by the First Amendment.

National Gay & Lesbian Task Force

This is truly a historic moment as the NAACP — the nation’s oldest civil rights organization — takes an official and unequivocal stand for marriage equality. As the country’s oldest national LGBT rights group, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force could not be more thrilled. We are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with the NAACP working together on the many issues that affect all of our lives. Whether it be fair access to education and jobs, an end to voter suppression and racial profiling, the right to love and be who we are free of discrimination — these issues affect all of us, our families and our country. Today the NAACP did what it does so well — inspires and affirms our common humanity.

Freedom To Marry

The NAACP has long been the nation's conscience and champion for an America where all share equally in the promise of liberty and justice for all. Today the NAACP resoundingly affirmed that the freedom to marry is a civil right and family value that belongs to all of us, and that discriminatory barriers to marriage must fall. The toxic tactics of anti-gay groups like NOM to 'drive a wedge between blacks and gays' will be washed away in the wave of righteous affirmation.

Human Rights Campaign

We could not be more pleased with the NAACP’s history-making vote today – which is yet another example of the traction marriage equality continues to gain in every community. It’s time the shameful myth that the African-American community is somehow out of lockstep with the rest of the country on marriage equality is retired - once and for all. The facts and clear momentum toward marriage speak for themselves. NOM has pursued ugly racial politics seeking to divide people, but what is becoming crystal clear is that its strategy is not working. Americans from all walks of life are uniting to support love, commitment, and stronger families.

GLAAD

"For more than 103 years, the NAACP has been a leading advocate and a voice for members of marginalized communities. Today’s announcement represents their continued stance against the discrimination that LGBT families face. We applaud President Ben Jealous and the NAACP Board of Directors for their leadership on this issue," said GLAAD President Herndon Graddick. "Across races, faith traditions, and political persuasions, a majority of our culture recognizes that denying gay couples the chance at happiness that comes with being married is unfair and un-American.”

National Black Justice Coalition

“As a Life Member of the NAACP, I am happy to see the organization join the President of the United States in ‘evolving’ and follow the powerful example of civil rights icons and Black voices like Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, Julian Bond, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and others who have said committed LGBT couples and families deserve the same protections as everyone else,” says Sharon Lettman-Hicks, NBJC Executive Director and CEO. “Family is the epicenter of Black life, community and culture. For Black LGBT people, its importance is just as great.”

Marriage Equality USA

"The NAACP has an unbroken history of standing up for civil rights for all Americans, right up through their stand against the discriminatory Amendment 1 in North Carolina, and now today’s historic vote affirming marriage equality for all loving and committed couples,” said Stuart Gaffney, MEUSA Media Director. “Standing together from coast-to-coast with allies such as the NAACP is what is going to make the dream of marriage equality for all loving and committed couples a reality.”

NAACP Sues Mortgage Lenders

The NAACP is suing two major banks, claiming they engaged in racist lending practices.

The NAACP filed lawsuits Friday against two of the nation's largest mortgage lenders -- HSBC and Wells Fargo -- alleging "systematic, institutionalized racism" in their subprime lending.
NAACP CEO Benjamin Jealous says, "We are not seeking damages; we just want them to fix the problem." We have targeted these banks because we have gone through what we can get our hands on, and it seems like there's a real problem here," NAACP CEO Benjamin Jealous told CNN. Jealous said the group wants "transparency." "We want to see the books," he added. "We are not seeking damages; we just want them to fix the problem." [snip] Under subprime lending, people who don't qualify for lower interest rates can borrow money at higher rates. The NAACP argues that the companies gave subprime rates to African-Americans who qualified for better rates and gave better rates to white customers with similar credit histories.

No damages requested, just a "you stop that right now." Hmm. Maybe the NAACP doesn't think the banks would be able to pay in the first place.

NAACP Likes The Ex-Gays

According to a press release from the nutters at Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays, in 2006 they were allowed to have an exhibit at the annual NAACP convention and have been invited back.

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) sent out a mailing today titled “NAACP Rocks,” referencing a 2006 letter of appreciation from the organization to PFOX. According to the attached copy, PFOX held an exhibit at the NAACP annual convention that year. It is not yet known if they participated in 2007 or if they will be there this year, but the email suggests they plan on participating in 2009

Read the entire story on Ex-Gay Watch. This is surprising and disappointing news, especially in light of NAACP head Julian Bond's numerous expressions of support of LGBT rights.

Alveda King Denounces The NAACP

"Neither my great-grandfather, an NAACP founder, my grandfather Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. an NAACP leader, my father Rev. A. D. Williams King, nor my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. embraced the homosexual agenda that the current NAACP is attempting to label as a civil rights agenda. In the 21st Century, the anti-traditional marriage community is in league with the anti-life community, and together with the NAACP and other sympathizers, they are seeking a world where homosexual marriage and abortion will supposedly set the captives free." - Alveda King, in a press release published by Christian Newswire.

Prop 8 Backlash Spurs Calls To End Donation Disclosure Laws

Last month the gays justifiably dug into the public records on who donated to Proposition 8, resulting in protests, boycotts and a handful of people losing their jobs. The haters screamed bloody murder (even though their side used the tactic as well) and now there's a call to repeal laws that require political donations be public. From an op/ed piece in the Wall Street Journal:

Ironically, it has long been minorities who have benefited the most from anonymous speech. In the 1950s, for example, Southern states sought to obtain membership lists of the NAACP in the name of the public's "right to know." Such disclosure would have destroyed the NAACP's financial base in the South and opened its supporters to threats and violence. It took a Supreme Court ruling in NAACP v. Alabama (1958) to protect the privacy of the NAACP and its supporters on First Amendment grounds. And more recently, it has usually been supporters of gay rights who have preferred to keep their support quiet.

There is another problem with publicizing donations in political elections: It tends to entrench powerful politicians whom donors fear alienating. If business executives give money to a committee chairman's opponent, they often fear retribution.

Other threats are more personal. For example, in 2004 Gigi Brienza contributed $500 to the John Edwards presidential campaign. An extremist animal rights group used that information to list Ms. Brienza's home address (and similarly, that of dozens of co-workers) on a Web site, under the ominous heading, "Now you know where to find them." Her "offense," also revealed from the campaign finance records, was that she worked for a pharmaceutical company that tested its products on animals.

In the aftermath of Prop. 8 we can glimpse a very ugly future. As anyone who has had their political yard signs torn down can imagine, with today's easy access to donor information on the Internet, any crank or unhinged individual can obtain information on his political opponents, including work and home addresses, all but instantaneously. When even donations as small as $100 trigger demonstrations, it is hard to know how one will feel safe in supporting causes one believes in.

As much as I want to know where some groups get their money, I'm not sure I entirely disagree. I'm not losing any sleep over the four people known to have lost their jobs versus the 18,000 gay couples who may have their marriages revoked. Boo frickin' hoo. But maybe a middle ground can be struck where only donors above a certain dollar amount are made public. Still, as Pam Spaulding notes, you can bet that Yes On 8 would have gotten even more money from corporations and high-profile people had they not feared being publicly denounced as homophobic.

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."

NAACP Calls For Overturning Prop 8

The NAACP has issued a statement calling for the overturn of Proposition 8.

"The NAACP's mission is to help create a society where all Americans have equal protection and opportunity under the law," wrote NAACP CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous (pictured) in a letter to legislative leaders. "Our mission statement calls for the 'quality of rights of all persons.' Prop. 8 strips same-sex couples of a fundamental freedom, as defined by the California state supreme court. In so doing, it poses a serious threat to all Americans. Prop. 8 is a discriminatory, unprecedented change to the California constitution that, if allowed to stand, would undermine the very purpose of a constitution and courts -- assuring equal protection and opportunity for all and safeguarding minorities from the tyranny of the majority."

Kind of flies in the face of that "all blacks oppose marriage equality" myth, doesn't it?

Mitt Romney To Address NAACP

The man who has pledged to impose a federal amendment to ban same-sex marriage will address the group who earlier this month officially endorsed it. That should be...interesting. Via press release:

Every four years we invite the presidential candidates to address our convention, and we are delighted that Governor Romney has decided to join us,” stated NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock. “Governor Romney will have the opportunity to speak to NAACP leaders from every state in the nation. We are proud to offer a forum to discuss the important issues of the day.” “We are pleased that Governor Romney has decided to join us in Houston this summer,” stated NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous. “This election will be about how to provide the best future for all Americans, of every color and background. As America grows more diverse, we can choose to embrace that diversity or let it divide us. We look forward to an engaging conversation with Governor Romney about his vision for a more just society.”

Mitt Romney's "vision for a more just society"? Snork.

NAACP To Sally Kern: Resign Now

The NAACP is calling for the resignation of Sally Kern after the Oklahoma legislator said that black people have higher rates of imprisonment because they are lazy. Via Advocate:

NAACP state president Anthony Douglas wants Kern to resign. “This is an outrage. We're calling for her to go today. She needs to step down now," he said. Under the leadership of Benjamin Todd Jealous, the NAACP has accelerated its support of gay rights and sought to recruit more gay leaders and people from diverse racial backgrounds. Kern apologized for her remarks Thursday. While the speaker of the House Kris Steele said he disagreed with her, he accepted the apology, reports KOCO TV. State representative Mike Shelton said he wants Kern reprimanded. "There is no place for those kind of comments on the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives or the Oklahoma State Senate," Sheldon said.

RELATED: Buzzfeed today posts 25 of Kern's most outrageous claims.

Black Pastor Calls For Quitting The NAACP

"When you recognize that the black community is strongly a Christian-based group of people, conservative in most of the things they believe, the NAACP has gone diabolically the opposite direction of tradition of the black community. [The NAACP] really is doing this in order to stay relevant and in order to build up their revenues as it relates to what they can get from the gay community. I think those individuals who call themselves Christian or call themselves Jewish who are members of the NAACP should denounce the organization, should cancel their membership, and really look for something else or another organization such as the Frederick Douglas Foundation to be affiliated with." - Timothy Johnson, the (surprise) founder of the Frederick Douglas Foundation, whose website appears to be entirely about defeating Barack Obama.

Allen Apologies To NAACP

Rep. Bob "Tearoom" Allen apologized to the North Brevard chapter of the NAACP in Florida yesterday to deny charges of racism raised when he told cops that he feared that he was about to be "made a statistic" by the black men loitering in the park he was cruising.

Allen told the NAACP that he now that he's been arrested, he understands that the civil rights movement was not just about racial equality, saying, "That was a battle they didn't fight for just people of color." The NAACP said they accepted his apology.

Naugle Causes Rift Among Black Activists

Fort Lauderdale's Naugle debacle is causing a rift among local black activists, with the NAACP coming down on the side of gay activists. On the other side, some black ministers are decrying the NAACP's involvement, with one saying, ''The NAACP is getting away from their mission . . . the organization never got involved with sex sins. Homosexuals have masterfully redefined words to suit their cause . . . theirs is not a civil rights issue.'' NAACP Chairman Julian Bond recently endorsed gay marriage, further enraging black fundamentalists.

But some black religious leaders are no friends of Naugle. Rev. Rosalind Osgood: ''He's continued to be downright derogatory about various groups of people different from himself, whether they be black, poor or gay. My faith doesn't allow me to support the practice of homosexuality, but no one should be degraded . . . Jesus loves everybody regardless of their sins or other problems.''

LOS ANGELES: Chapter Head Of NAACP Resigns Over Donald Sterling Scandal

CNN reports:

The Donald Sterling scandal has claimed collateral damage: the president of the NAACP's Los Angeles chapter. Leon Jenkins resigned Thursday, after the civil rights group came under fire for its plans to present a lifetime achievement award to the Los Angeles Clippers owner. The NAACP chapter rescinded its offer Monday after Sterling's racist remarks came to light. But the damage was done. The backlash the group faced was brutal. "Please be advised that the legacy, history and reputation of the NAACP is more important to me than the presidency," Jenkins said, in announcing his resignation. He said he was stepping down to separate the organization from the "negative exposure I have caused."

Fox Host Hails "NAACP" National Champs

Raw Story wonders if it was a Freudian slip.

“The UConn Huskies are the 2014 NAACP national champs,” Childers remarked during the second hour of the Fox & Friends First morning show. On her next attempt, she correctly stated that the team had won the national title for the NCAA — or National Collegiate Athletic Association. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People — or NAACP — is a civil rights organization focusing on equality for African-Americans and other minorities. At least 10 of the 15 players on the winning UConn team were African-Americans.

NAACP Denounces NC Marriage Bill

The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP has issued an open letter to all state residents. An excerpt:

Our legislature and all North Carolinians should focus on providing sound basic education for every child; equal access to good health care; living wages; workers rights; recovery from natural disasters; and protections for maximum voter turnout. Who can tell thousands of families living without health care that they are better served by the legislature debating whether to amend the Constitution to address a personal religious issue in a way that will enshrine discrimination into the sacred document? [snip] The NAACP strongly urges you to reject the so-called same sex amendment and any other present or future proposals of constitutional amendments that would permanently deprive any person in our great state of his or her inalienable rights.

Neverland, The State Park?

The NAACP is backing a plan to turn Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch into a California state park.

As home to pop legend Michael Jackson, Neverland Ranch housed a working locomotive, a Ferris wheel and other amusement park rides, a 10,000-volume library and a zoo. But could the opulent Santa Barbara County estate become home to California's newest state park? A resolution is in the works to order state parks officials to study converting the roughly 2,600-acre property into a state park. The state NAACP is backing the idea, and a lawmaker has signaled he is on board to carry the legislation. "I think Michael's history is world history and I think it would become the No. 1 attraction for the state parks if we could pull it off," said state NAACP President Alice Huffman, who also serves on the state Parks Commission.

The state would have to pay Jackson's creditors an estimated $100M for the property, a seeming impossibility for a state near bankruptcy. But backers of the state park idea point to Elvis Presley's Graceland estate in Tennessee, which grossed $36M just last year for its private owners. An admission charge to a state-owned Neverland hasn't been discussed, but memorabilia sales alone could be considerable.

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!

NAACP President Ben Jealous At Netroots

His handler took this photo of us just as I was expressing my admiration and thanks for the NAACP's ardent support of the LGBT movement. It's a pity my eyes are closed, but I think I was a little taken up in the moment.

Obama Selects Lay Person To Deliver Prayer At Second Inauguration

The widow of murdered civil rights activist Medgar Evers has been chosen to deliver the invocation at President Obama's second inauguration.  Mylie Evers-Williams will be the first woman and the first lay person in history to deliver the prayer.

Obama will privately take the oath of office for his second term on the constitutionally mandated date of Jan. 20, a Sunday. But the public ceremony will be the next day, coinciding with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. In a statement issued by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Evers-Williams said “it is indeed an exhilarating experience to have the distinct honor of representing” the civil rights era at the Jan. 21 event.  This year is the 50th anniversary of the murder of Evers, who was the NAACP’s Mississippi field secretary at the time of his death. Myrlie Evers-Williams spent decades fighting to win a conviction of her late husband’s shooter, and served as chairman of the NAACP in the 1990s.

Wingnuts are already raising a stink that a civil rights activist has been chosen over a preacher. The Washington Post notes that "conservative evangelical" Pastor Louie Giglio has been selected to deliver the inaugural benediction.

Mississippi Considers License Plate Honoring Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard

Mississippi is considering issuing a license plate honoring one of the founding Grand Wizards of the Ku Klux Klan. SRSLY.

Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, notorious for leading a massacre of black Union soldiers and leading the KKK in its early days, would appear on the plates in 2014 if the group Sons of Confederate Veterans gets its way. The organization is sponsoring a series of specialty plates over the next four years to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. This year's plate features the last home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. The state's chapter of the NAACP strongly criticized the call to honor Forrest, who led several battles in Mississippi during the war. "He should be viewed in the same light that we view Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden," Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP in Mississippi, told The Associated Press, adding that the Klan was a "terrorist group."

Reagan sticker, check. Confederate plate, check. Wait, on a Volvo?