I had referenced Rev. Al Sharpton on one of my recent posts, and I included a link to his stance & work in overturning California's Proposition 8, which included a portion of a speech he had given at an Atlanta church. Below I have included a link to the entire article from the website for the newspaper, Southern Voice, which describes itself as the South's "most respected and most read gay and lesbian newspaper."
Below the link you'll find parts of Rev. Sharpton's speech earlier this year at Atlanta's Tabernacle Baptist Church. I know that he is a pretty controversial figure for a lot of people & I know that he probably has as many detractors as fans, but I really do love the way Sharpton can turn a phrase & how he can fire up the faithful!
Most of all, though, I love how fearless he is in speaking up for GLBTQI people & how willing he is to take this particular good fight to the fearmongers who--to paraphrase the line from the movie Saved!--delight in using the Bible as a weapon against our community.
Below the link you'll find parts of Rev. Sharpton's speech earlier this year at Atlanta's Tabernacle Baptist Church. I know that he is a pretty controversial figure for a lot of people & I know that he probably has as many detractors as fans, but I really do love the way Sharpton can turn a phrase & how he can fire up the faithful!
Most of all, though, I love how fearless he is in speaking up for GLBTQI people & how willing he is to take this particular good fight to the fearmongers who--to paraphrase the line from the movie Saved!--delight in using the Bible as a weapon against our community.
Sharpton decries churches pushing Prop. 8
It amazes me when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when the they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being delegated into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting adults from choosing their life partners. There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end brutality and poverty, but to break into people’s bedrooms and claim that God sent you.
I am tired of seeing ministers who will preach homophobia by day, and then after they’re preaching, when the lights are off they go cruising for trade.
We know you’re not preaching the Bible, because if you were preaching the Bible we would have heard from you. We would have heard from you when people were starving in California, when they deregulated the economy and crashed Wall Street you had nothing to say. When [alleged Ponzi schemer Bernie] Madoff made off with the money, you had nothing to say. When Bush took us to war chasing weapons of mass destruction that weren’t there you had nothing to say. … But all of a sudden when Proposition 8 came out you had so much to say, but since you stepped in the rain, we gonna step in the rain with you.
I am tired of seeing ministers who will preach homophobia by day, and then after they’re preaching, when the lights are off they go cruising for trade.
We know you’re not preaching the Bible, because if you were preaching the Bible we would have heard from you. We would have heard from you when people were starving in California, when they deregulated the economy and crashed Wall Street you had nothing to say. When [alleged Ponzi schemer Bernie] Madoff made off with the money, you had nothing to say. When Bush took us to war chasing weapons of mass destruction that weren’t there you had nothing to say. … But all of a sudden when Proposition 8 came out you had so much to say, but since you stepped in the rain, we gonna step in the rain with you.
