NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond was one of the big guns brought in during last night's marriage equality hearings in the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee. The marriage bill passed committee 7-6 and now heads to the Senate for a Thursday vote.
The civil rights icon compared homophobia to racism. Says Bond, who traveled from Washington, D.C., to testify: "Like race, our sexuality isn’t a preference. It’s immutable, unchangeable and the Constitution protects us all from discrimination."
Bond adds: "Black people should not oppose marriage equality. And that is what gay marriage represents. It does not matter the rationale. Religious, cultural, pesudo-scientific. No people of goodwill should oppose marriage equality. And they should not think that civil unions are a substitute. At best, civil unions are separate but equal. And we all know where that got us."
Bond spoke at the National Equality March in October. He is also the co-chair of the NAACP’s LGBT Equality Task Force. Watch his testimony beginning at 1:10 AFTER THE JUMP.
| Senate committee hears emotional testimony on same-sex marriage bill |
God, I love Julian Bond. What a truly great man. He is one of last great lions of the civil rights movement. Bless his soul.
Posted by: FREELEO | 08 December 2009 at 17:37
This was a wonderful day for New Jersey, the gay community and for America. Julian Bond is one of the great heroes of the civil rights movement. Dr King and Coretta Scott King would be so proud. Bernice King ... we.ll she can go to hell.
Posted by: Dalton | 09 December 2009 at 00:16
Julian Bond is 5 kinds of awesome. It's easy to be for civil rights when it impacts you, but it's truly a moral indvidual who's willing to speak out when it has no bearing on one's own life. That's a principle in action.
Posted by: mjolnir202 | 09 December 2009 at 11:48