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NAACP's Benjamin Jealous Resigns

NAACP Benjamin Todd Jealous will step down as president of the nation's oldest and largest U.S. civil rights organization, the Baltimore-based organization announced on Sunday. The resignation will become effective on December 31.

Jealous has been the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for five years and is credited with "re-energizing and modernizing" the iconic civil rights organization, notes the Baltimore Sun.

Jealous, 40, took the helm of the 104-year-old organization in 2008, at a time when members openly lamented their inability to attract a younger generation to the group. ... When he was tapped for the job five years ago, the vote was split — some members wondered whether Jealous, then 35, was too inexperienced. Only a year before that, the NAACP let go about half its staff to dig itself out of debt. Membership has declined, and its image has suffered. Clashes with the NAACP board led the former president, Bruce S. Gordon, to leave abruptly in March 2007.

Under Jealous, NAACP helped to repeal the death penalty in New Mexico, Illinois, Connecticut and Maryland; registered hundreds of thousands of voters for the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections; and organized against New York City's use of stop-and-frisk policing.

Jealous' leadership has increased the organization's revenue and digital footprint, adds the Washington Post.

Last week, Jealous said that his NAACP tenure was a sprint that has left the organization with more technological savvy and on sounder financial footing. It now has 420,000 mobile subscribers. The organization’s e-mail list has jumped from 174,000 names when Jealous joined to 1.3 million. In the 2012 election cycle, the NAACP registered 374,553 new voters — more than double the number it registered in 2008.

Given the NAACP’s periodic money woes and controversies, the most important numbers may be financial: According to the organization’s tax filings and numbers it provided, its revenue has grown from $25.6 million in 2008 to $46 million last year, and its individual donor base has expanded eightfold.

"As others questioned its vitality, we have been able to regrow the mightiest of all trees in the ecology of social justice," Jealous told the Washington Post. "I’m really going to miss the street fights we’ve been in."

As has been reported numerous times on R20, Jealous has worked to engage the NAACP in LGBT issues. In February 2009, the national board called for the overturn of California's Proposition 8 but stopped short of endorsing equal marriage. Later that year, the National Black Justice Coalition became the first Black LGBT group to address the national board. In March 2011, the first openly LGBT president of a local NAACP chapter was elected.  In August 2011, the organization held its first town hall on LGBT issues.

These actions climaxed on May 12, 2012 when the NAACP board of directors voted to endorse equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. This marked the first time the national board has fully endorsed marriage equality—and came ten days after President Barack Obama's historic announcement supporting that position. The resolution was presented at the civil rights organization's annual retreat in Miami. It was approved by an almost unanimous vote—only 2 members of the 64-member board  opposed.

In February 2010, the NAACP elected the now-45-year-old Roslyn Brock as its new chairwoman to replace the legendary Julian Bond, a civil rights icon and one of the first Blacks elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. Brock and Jealous both pledged to make the veteran civil rights organization more relevant.

Jealous says that he is leaving office to spend more time with his wife, civil rights lawyer Lia Epperson, and children, daughter Morgan, 7, and Jack, 13 months. Jealous will also launch an organization to raise money for Black political candidates. In an interview with USA TODAY, Jealous described his vision as an "EMILY's list for people of color."

Bravo and a thousand congratulations to Benjamin Todd Jealous who has left an incredible legacy on social justice.

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NAACP Endorses Marriage Equality

Bravo. The board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has voted to endorse equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. The resolution approved today by the nation's oldest civil rights organization affirms that "marriage equality [is] consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution."

This marks the first time the national board has fully endorsed marriage equality—and comes ten days after President Barack Obama's historic announcement supporting that position.

The resolution was presented at the civil rights organization's annual retreat in Miami. It was approved by an almost unanimous vote—only 2 members of the 64-member board  opposed. The resolution states:

"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."

"The mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure the political, social and economic equality of all people," said NAACP Board Chair Roslyn Brock in a statement. "We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law."

"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," added President and CEO Benjamin Jealous. "The well-funded right wing organizations who are attempting to split our communities are no friend to civil rights, and they will not succeed."

But this is not the first time the board has spoken out for marriage rights:  In February 2009, the national board called for the overturn of California's Proposition 8 but stopped short of endorsing equal marriage.

In February 2010, the NAACP elected 44-year-old Roslyn Brock as its new chairwoman to replace the legendary Julian Bond, a civil rights icon and one of first Blacks elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. Brock joined 37-year-old NAACP President Benjamin Jealous—who has tried to engage LGBT issues— and both have pledged to make the veteran civil rights organization more relevant. In March 2011, the first openly LGBT president of a local NAACP chapter was elected. In August 2011, the organization held its first town hall on LGBT issues.

Bond lead the NAACP until 2010 and has been especially vocal on LGBT issues.  As a result of Bond's leadership, the NAACP now has an LGBT Equality Task Force. Bond also spoke at the 2009 National Equality March and has pushed for marriage equality legislation in Maryland and New Jersey.

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VIDEO: Civil Rights Icon Julian Bond Speaks Out for Marriage Equality

Legendary civil rights leader Julian Bond becomes the third and latest installment to the Human Rights Campaign's Americans for Marriage Equality.

"Gay and lesbian couples have the same values as everyone else," says the NAACP Chairman Emeritus and longtime LGBT rights ally. "Love, commitment and stable families. They should have the same right to marry as the rest of us."

Bond, who was one of first Blacks elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, has been especially vocal on gay issues in recent years.  As a result of Bond's leadership, the NAACP now has an LGBT Equality Task Force. And the national NAACP (finally) took a position on marriage equality and called for the overturn of California's Proposition 8. Bond also spoke at the 2009 National Equality March and has pushed for marriage equality legislation in Maryland and New Jersey.

The first prominent spokespersons in this video series were Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Academy Award-winning actress Mo’Nique. It is "no accident" that the first three videos featured prominent Black allies, writes New York Times columnist Frank Bruni today.

This isn’t a topic that advocates for gay rights or their many black supporters relish discussing, because it focuses on a wedge where they wish there was a tighter bond. But polls indicate that support for same-sex marriage lags among black Americans. ...

[M]any African-Americans who oppose same-sex marriage do so on religious grounds. "This is a community composed of many Biblical literalists," Bond said in a recent phone interview, adding that they put a "wrong and wrong-headed" emphasis on certain Biblical references to homosexuality.

But it’s also important to recognize that people lobbying for gay rights have at times given African-Americans pause by appropriating "civil rights" language and arguments in too broad a manner.

Wade Henderson, the president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, noted the existence of phrases like "gay is the new black" and said that attempts to equate the persecution of gay and black Americans can be "deeply offensive."

African-Americans were enslaved. And during their brutal struggle for justice, they couldn’t make a secret of what set them apart from others, said Henderson, who supports same-sex marriage, during a phone interview Friday. When gay men and lesbians glide over such details, he said, it feels "inherently disrespectful to the black experience in this country."

It's too bad that Bruni references the much-hyped  Prop 8 exit polls—debunked by several experts—but the point remains valid. Black communities tend to be more religious and attend more fundamentalist churches. Read the full column HERE.

The larger issue: Many LGBT rights organizations (and media) do relatively little networking with Black LGBTs—let alone the larger Black community. HRC is addressing that deficit with campaign, but it will take a lot more effort. Bottom line: You can't expect someone's support, you have to ask for it.

Watch Julian Bond's video AFTER THE JUMP ...

Homophobia in the Black Church Discussed at NAACP LGBT Town Hall

The NAACP held its first LGBT Town Hall meeting at its convention in Los Angeles last week. The discussion was moderated by CNN anchor Don Lemon. The panel featured Wanda Sykes, former NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, current NAACP CEO Ben Jealous, writer Kenyon Farrow, Spelman College's Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, director Patrik-Ian Polk and actor Darryl Stephens.

One of the more contentious topics: The number of anti-gay churches and ministers in NAACP leadership positions, such as Rev. Keith Ratliff, Iowa's leading black pastor and the anti-gay chair of the Iowa/Nebraska chapter, reports  More Down Low TV.

Mr. Jealous responded saying the gay community should take the NAACP seriously because the NAACP was there with the Human Rights Campaign helping to pass the Matthew Shepard / James Byrd Hate Crimes Bill. The NAACP were champions of fighting Prop 8 in California as well as fighting alongside the LGBT community in Maine, Massachusetts, in Washington D.C. and in Maryland, and in other places. Jealous also said the LGBT community needed to do more ground work in the black community and not come late in the game with an expectation. He also said the black community needed to be treated with the same respect as the other allies of the LGBT community.

The well-publicized case of disgraced anti-gay Pastor Eddie Long was also on the menu.

"There [are] many prominent ministers who are major homophobes who themselves are gay," said veteran civil rights leader and LGBT ally Julian Bond. "I don't want to say for sure but we have our suspicions. ... I wouldn't go as far to say that Eddie Long is gay. He's openly homophobic, we know that. But I don't know that he's gay. But he is predatory."

In February 2010, the NAACP elected 44-year-old Roslyn Brock as its new chairwoman to replace the legendary Julian Bond. Brock joined 37-year-old NAACP President Benjamin Jealous—who has tried to engage LGBT issues— and both have pledged to make the veteran civil rights organization more relevant. In March 2011, the first openly LGBT president of a local NAACP chapter was elected.

Watch the report AFTER THE JUMP ...

WATCH: 28 Year Old Gay Man Elected Head of Worcester NAACP

After five years of inactivity, the NAACP chapter of Worcester, Massachusetts has re-organized and elected a 28-year-old openly gay academic as its new president, reports the Boston Herald.

Ravi Perry, a political science professor at Clark University, was elected Saturday with a slated of new officers. The 28-year-old says he hopes that as an openly gay man he can help the storied civil rights group address long-ignored gay and lesbian issues in minority communities. Perry also said that most on the newly elected Worcester board are 40 years of age, signaling a generational shift within the NAACP.

Perry tweeted this on Feb. 23: "President Obama's declaration that DOMA is unconstitutional has changed the marriage equality debate significantly. Applause!"

Perry's appointment is welcome. Much of the NAACP is still largely controlled by traditional anti-gay black churches and ministers, such as Rev. Keith Ratliff, Iowa's leading black pastor and the anti-gay chair of the Iowa/Nebraska chapter.

In February 2010, the NAACP elected 44-year-old Roslyn Brock as its new chairwoman to replace the legendary Julian Bond. Brock joins 37-year-old NAACP President Benjamin Jealous—who has tried to engage LGBT issues— and both have pledged to make the veteran civil rights organization more relevant to today's black youth.

Watch Perry's election AFTER THE JUMP ...

ALERT: Prop 8 Plaintiffs Ask Court to Lift Stay on Gay Marriages in CA

Some developing news from California  ...

The plaintiffs in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the landmark federal challenge to Proposition 8, have filed a motion with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requesting that same-sex marriages be allowed to resume immediately. The "Motion to Vacate Stay Pending Appeal" argues the court's "stay can no longer be justified ..."

The American Foundation for Equal Rights announced:

The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) and its legal team — led by Theodore B. Olson and David Boies — filed a motion with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit asking that the Court immediately lift an order preventing gay and lesbian couples from marrying in California. That order, issued in August 2010, stayed the injunction issued by the U.S. District Court that barred further enforcement of Proposition 8.

This comes on the heels of a request last Thursday by AFER to the California Supreme Court to expedite the hearing of questions relating to the standing of Proponents to maintain an appeal in federal court. AFER’s attorneys urged the California Supreme Court to hear arguments in May, rather than September.

"We are respectfully asking the Court to lift its stay on marriage for gay and lesbian couples because it has become apparent that the legal process is taking considerably longer than could reasonably have been anticipated," said Theodore B. Olson, co-lead counsel for AFER. "It’s important to remember that the stay was originally ordered with the understanding that the Ninth Circuit would rule swiftly on the case before it. Now that the issue of the Proponents’ standing to appeal has been referred for analysis by the California Supreme Court, substantial additional, indefinite and unanticipated delays lie ahead. It’s unreasonable and decidedly unjust to expect California’s gay and lesbian couples to put their lives on hold and suffer daily discrimination as second class citizens while their U.S. District Court victory is debated further."

The stay was ordered August 16 2010.

AFER also asks the California Supreme Court to expedite its timeline to rule on "standing", which it agreed to do one week ago.

Civil rights icon Julian Bond, who sits on AFER's advisory board, added that the stay is "delaying basic civil rights which is adversely affecting tens of thousands of Californian couples and families in a real way, on a daily basis. It’s simply not acceptable to continue state-sanctioned discrimination and second-class citizenship. Equality delayed is equality denied." 

9th Circuit Motion HERE (PDF).
California Supreme Court petition HERE (PDF).

Civil Rights Legend Julian Bond: End Marriage Discrimination in MD

Civil rights icon Julian Bond says Maryland must end discrimination and pass the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act. "Discrimination is wrong no matter who the victim is," the strong supporter of LGBT rights and former longtime chairman of the NAACP says in a Baltimore Sun op-ed.

We cannot move toward full human rights protection and opportunity without confronting — and ending — homophobia. For it is homophobia that is at the root of denying the freedom to marry to gays and lesbians. As my late neighbor and friend, Coretta Scott King, said in 1998: "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood."

Three years ago we celebrated the 40th anniversary of a case aptly called Loving v. Virginia, which struck down anti-miscegenation laws and, many years later, allowed my wife, Pam, and me to marry in the state that declares "Virginia is for lovers." Then, as now, proponents of marriage-as-is invoked "God's plan." The trial judge who sentenced the Lovings said that when God created the races: "He placed them on separate continents. … The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix." God seems to have made room in his plan for interracial marriage. He will no doubt do the same for same-sex marriage.

And:

Standing for the freedom to marry is about supporting all families, but I would be remiss without highlighting the impact that this inequality has on black same-sex couples, who statistically are already economically disadvantaged compared to their straight sisters and brothers. In comparison to black opposite-sex couples and white same-sex couples, black same-sex couples are more likely to parent children and earn a lower annual income. The lack of marriage rights negatively affects black same-sex couples because they are also more likely to work in the public sector, relying on health insurance that is often only afforded to married couples.

Read the full op-ed HERE ...

You may recall that  Bond refused to attend the February 2006 funeral of Coretta Scott King that was held at Bishop Eddie Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. "I just couldn't imagine that she'd want to be in that church with a minister who was a raving homophobe," Bond said. Speaking in September of the four sexual coercion lawsuits filed against Long, if the allegations are true, Bond noted, "it will be a sad victory for gay rights."

WATCH: Civil Rights Legend Julian Bond: Long a "Raving Homophobe"

Veteran civil rights leader Julian Bond is speaking out for the first time on the four lawsuits filed against anti-gay mega-church pastor Bishop Eddie Long, whom he describes as a "raving homophobe." If the allegations are true, Bond says, it will it will be a "sad victory for gay rights."

Bond is the former chairman of the NAACP and a strong supporter of gay rights. In June 2006, Bond famously refused to attend the funeral of Coretta Scott King that was held at New Birth MB Church. At the time he said, "I knew her attitude toward gay and lesbian rights. And I just couldn't imagine that she'd want to be in that church with a minister who was a raving homophobe. And I couldn't see myself in my church either."

Bond, who was an early leader in the civil rights movement alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., amplified his remarks on the embattled anti-gay pastor. "He said that homosexuality is worthy of death. He is a raving homophobe," said the civil rights legend former longtime Georgia legislator. "If [the allegations] are true, it's just sort of typical of people who are raving homphobes who are secretly homosexual. And who are homophobes because they are filled with so much self-loathing and self-hate that they've got to let it come out in some way, and it comes out in homophobia."

Hear, hear. In recent years Bond as been very active on LGBT rights, speaking at the National Equality March and testifying to the New Jersey Senate on behalf of marriage equality. Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...

REPORT: 2 Men Allege Sexual Coercion by Anti-Gay Eddie Long

Two Georgia men have filed lawsuits claiming that prominent Atlanta-based mega-church pastor Bishop Eddie Long coerced them into sex, reports CNN and CNN.com. Long pastors one of the largest and most prominent Black mega-churches in the country and has routinely spoken out and marched against gay rights.

"Defendant Long has a pattern and practice of singling out a select group of young male church members and using his authority as Bishop over them to ultimately bring them to a point of engaging in a sexual relationship," the suits allege. The pastor took one plaintiff, Anthony Flagg, 21, on overnight trips to a half-dozen American cities in recent years, Flagg's suit alleges. "Long shared a bedroom and engaged in intimate sexual contact with plaintiff Flagg including kissing, massaging, masturbating of plaintiff Flagg by defendant Long and oral sexual contact," the suit says.

Long took the other plaintiff, Maurice Murray Robinson, 20, to Auckland, New Zealand, in October 2008 for his 18th birthday and engaged in oral sex with him, Robinson's suit alleges. "Following the New Zealand Trip, Defendant Long regularly engaged in sexual touching, and other sexual acts with Plaintiff Robinson," Robinson's suit alleges. Long spokesman Art Franklin said Tuesday that "we categorically deny the allegations." "It is very unfortunate that someone has taken this course of action," he said. "Our law firm will be able to respond once attorneys have had an opportunity to review the lawsuit."

The lawsuits name Long, New Birth MB and the Longfellows Youth Academy as defendants, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution. According to the suits, the Academy is a program for young men 13 through 18. The suits seek unspecified damages from Long. It is not yet online at the DeKalb County court system.

In June, Robinson was arrested and charged with burglary in connection with a break-in to Long's church office, reports the Journal Constitution. An iPhone, iPad and other items were taken from the office. Robinson's attorney says the theft was Robinson's attempt to retaliate against the pastor. The lawsuit also claims Flagg was moved into a home owned by another New Birth pastor when he was only a high school junior.

The FBI reportedly is reviewing the case, an Atlanta source tells R20.

Long is a married father of four. Known for his extravagance and "routinely preach[ing] sermons dressed in expensive tailored suits and dripping in diamonds," Long and fellow Atlanta-based mega-pastor Creflo Dollar are among the high-profile televanelists being audited by a Senate committee.

If schadenfreude could be compared to a gourmet meal, the bombshell allegations against Eddie Long certainly qualifies as a four-star feast at Le Cirque. In addition to being one of the nation's most prominent pastors, Long is also among the most vocal critics of gay rights and same-sex marriage in the Black church. In December 2004, one month after voters approved an amendment to the Georgia state Constitution that banned gay marriage, Long led a 25,000 person march against gay rights and marriage equality.

Eddie Long is also the spiritual mentor of the anti-gay Rev. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr and new chair of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization founded by her father more than five decades ago. Julian Bond, the chair of the NAACP and a strong supporter of gay rights, refused to attend the funeral of Coretta Scott King that was held at New Birth MB Church. "I knew her attitude toward gay and lesbian rights. And I just couldn't imagine that she'd want to be in that church with a minister who was a raving homophobe. And I couldn't see myself in my church either."

Glass stones, houses, etc.. More details as they develop.

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Bmore Sun: Will New NAACP Chair Roslyn Brock Push for Gay Rights?

Last week the NAACP elected 44-year-old Roslyn Brock as its new chairwoman to replace the legendary Julian Bond. Brock's election was described as "a generational shift in leadership" of the nation's oldest civil rights group." Brock joins 37-year-old NAACP President Benjamin Jealous as the "youngest to hold their positions" in the organization's history and both have pledged to make it more relevant to today's black youth. Does that include embracing LGBT issues and gay rights, asks an editorial in the Baltimore Sun.

One way would be to embrace President Barack Obama's call for ending the military's discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which forces gay and lesbian soldiers to lie about who they are or face dismissal. The arguments heard today against gays serving openly in the military offer an eerie echo of fears voiced 60 years ago about allowing black soldiers to serve on an equal footing with whites. When President Harry S. Truman signed the executive order integrating the armed forces in 1948, the decision was hailed by the NAACP as a great step forward in the struggle for equal rights. There's no reason the fight for equal treatment of gays and lesbians in the military shouldn't be part of the NAACP's long tradition of working to level the playing field for all oppressed minorities.

Enlarging the NAACP's civil rights mission to include combating discrimination against gay and lesbian service members might bring Ms. Brock and Mr. Jealous in conflict with their base of supporters among African-American churchgoers, many of whom oppose homosexuality on religious grounds. Ironically, the two young leaders could find themselves obliged to undertake the delicate task of reminding rank-and-file members that the Bible was also once used to justify slavery and segregation. They might also point out that many of the gay soldiers discriminated against by the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy are black.

More than "many". As we wrote at The Grio, MSNBC's new portal for black news and opinion, blacks are disproportionately affected by DADT. Blacks make up about 29 percent of active duty troops and more than 45 percent of those dismissed under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" 2008.

Under Bond and Jealous, the veteran civil rights organization supported expanding hate crime and employment protection laws to LGBTs. The NAACP now has an LGBT Equality Task Force. And of course the the national board of the NAACP (finally) took a position on marriage equality and called for the overturn of California's Proposition 8. But the organization is still largely controlled by traditional anti-gay black churches and ministers, such as Rev. Keith Ratliff, Iowa's leading black pastor and the anti-gay chair of the Iowa/Nebraska chapter. 

Would it make good sense for the NAACP to throw its weight behind a DADT repeal and other gay rights issues. Absolutely. But will it happen anytime soon?