Black caucus resists comparison of gay ‘marriage’ to civil rights

Congressional black Democrats said comparisons shouldn’t be made between the struggle by homosexuals to legalize same-sex “marriage” and the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus said they are on shaky ground with their constituents after the presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry compared the two issues during a town hall meeting in Jackson, Miss., last week.

Mr. Kerry was asked during the forum if it was fair for homosexual-rights activists to use prominent figures of the civil rights movement in their effort to legalize same-sex “marriages.” The Massachusetts senator said he saw a correlation between the issues, which didn’t fare too well in the heavily black deep South.

Caucus members said the comparison is wrong.

“The first time I heard the comparison was Sunday,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat, who attended the town hall meeting. “And my approach to [homosexual rights] is, it is a separate issue.”

Caucus chairman Rep. Elijah E. Cummings said the issue is sure to resurface as Mr. Kerry campaigns throughout black communities, since blacks are not as socially liberal when it comes to same-sex “marriage.”

“With African-Americans, you do have a conservative religious community toward [homosexual ‘marriage’],” the Maryland Democrat said.

There have been several incidents of homosexual-rights activists and city mayors invoking the names of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and equating the 1960s movement to the current struggle by homosexuals to win “marriage” rights.

But black politicians on Capitol Hill said they do not think that is right.

“The civil rights movement was more of a movement for the equal rights of all Americans: education, voting rights, jobs. Whereas gay rights in terms of gay marriage is a movement for a special group of Americans,” said Rep. Artur Davis, Alabama Democrat. “So I would not compare civil rights with gay rights.”

Mr. Thompson said same-sex “marriage” could in some small way affect whom blacks decide to support in November, “if they feel that strongly about it.” But, he said, ultimately he did not think it was enough of a hot-button issue to trump “more pressing” issues for black America in the election, such as the economy, jobs, health care and education.

Mr. Kerry said Republicans are using the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex “marriage” as a “wedge issue” to divide America. Mr. Thompson agreed.

But Republican lawmakers have said Mr. Bush was forced to act after the newly elected mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, began issuing “marriage” licenses to homosexual couples in violation of California state law, and when Jason West, the mayor of New Paltz, N.Y., and a Green Party member, also began “marrying” same-sex couples.

More than 4,100 same-sex “weddings” have been performed in San Francisco in the past two months and hundreds more in New Paltz.

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