NAACP Backs Gay Marriage as "Civil Right".




By Claudio E. Cabrera



National Gay and Lesbian Task Force applaud the decision.

The opinions of black pastors and church leaders on gay marriage have been much talked about since President Obama's approval of same-sex marriage. Many in the black community disapprove of gay marriage. Last year, a poll showed 62 percent of African American disapproved of gay marriage calling it a religious matter, not a civil rights issue.

But one black organization yesterday took a historic step.The country's oldest black civil rights group voted Saturday to endorse same-sex marriage.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People passed a resolution supporting gay marriage at a meeting of its board of directors in Miami, saying it opposed any policy or legislative initiative that “seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the constitutional rights of LGBT citizens.”

“Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law,” Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the 103-year-old NAACP said in a statement. “The NAACP’s support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution and equal protection of all people.”

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Directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force erupted in applause at their board meeting Saturday as their phones buzzed with the news.

“Today is a historic day,” Rea Carey, executive director of the task force, said a phone interview from Seattle. “This is what leadership looks like in this country.”