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 “It was one guy who seemed like he wanted to make a point to be mean to us, especially the transgender ones who marched,” said Bill Coghill, 55, a transgender man who traveled from Pennsauken, N.J., to attend events and participate in the march. “And to me he was opening his mouth to something he knew nothing about.”
The remarks ensued shortly after members of In the Life Atlanta, LaGender Inc., the Human Rights Campaign and the Campaign to End AIDS joined the march at Peachtree and Ellis streets, some holding hands and carrying signs that quoted Coretta Scott King saying, “Homophobia is as morally wrong as racism.”
“Y’all gay? OK, alright,” one man shouted before backing away and turning around. “You can look at them and tell [they’re gay], they don’t need no signs.”
As participants marched down Auburn Avenue, once the hub of black businesses in the city, ITLA members started chanting, “One, two, three, four, what the hell we fighting for? Pride. Gay Pride.”
This sent one spectator into a tirade.
“That ain’t no pride, a man lying up with another man,” he said.
Other remarks heard from the crowd included, “You didn’t see those dykes?” and “Y’all can have your own march, but not on Martin Luther King [day].”
There were some signs of support from spectators, who waved and clapped their hands as the group passed.
“You better do it, Gay Pride,” one woman said.
One man cheered and pumped his hands up in the air as a sign of support.
“We actually had some people supporting us,” said gay marcher Robert Davis, 49. “But one women said she couldn’t support me, but she wasn’t really nasty about it.”
Despite the anti-gay comments, Coghill and Davis said they had a good time. They attended the annual Bayard Rustin Breakfast, which took place earlier in the day. During the breakfast, organized by ITLA, the documentary film “Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin” was shown.
It chronicles the gay man’s life as a trusted adviser to King, including organizing the 1963 March on Washington where King delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.
“This experience showed me how important it is for people like us to be involved,” Coghill said. “I did not know that it was a black gay man who organized the March on Washington.”
ITLA member Darlene Hudson said it’s important for gay people to know about the life of Rustin and inform others of his contributions to the civil rights movement.
“I really admire Bayard Rustin,” she said. “I’m not sure if Martin could’ve given the speech that he did if it wasn’t for Bayard Rustin organizing [the March on Washington] the way he did.”
Francis Wood, board member of black lesbian group ZAMI, led a discussion on gay activism and disclosing one’s sexual orientation after the screening of the documentary
“His [Rustin’s] refusal to be in anyone’s box allowed him to free himself up,” Wood said. “Oftentimes, we don’t disclose our sexual orientation because it’s easier not to explain ourselves.”
During a Jan. 13 event that featured singing, dance performances and rousing speeches, attendees of the first-ever Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by LaGender Inc. and the L.O.V.E. Coalition, were reminded of the civil rights leader’s message of unity and inclusion.
Keynote speaker Dr. Alton Pollard, director of the Black Church Studies program at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, said most black churches have lost the love ethic of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.
“In the house of God whosoever is welcome,” Pollard said. “All females and males, all gays and straights, all ethnicities and all nations.”
State Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta) said she would continue to work at the Georgia Capitol for the “full admission into society of GLBT people.”
“You’re doing exactly what needs to be done, and for that I commend you,” Orrock said.
Sylvia Rhue, director of religious affairs with the National Black Justice Coalition, discussed the first time she met Martin Luther King Jr.
“It was so great to have had the chance to meet him,” she said. “He wrote me a letter thanking me, but unfortunately my mother lost it while we were moving.”
LaGender Inc. Executive Director Dee Dee Chamblee, one of the organizers of the breakfast, said it’s going to take a coalition of gay and non-gay organizations to bring about equality.
“You are the army in the fight,” Chamblee told the crowd.
Source: southernvoice.com |
