By Larry Durstin
In 2009, when the Cleveland City Council passed a resolution approving a simple “domestic partner” registry, the most powerful inner-city black pastors combined to organize a signature-gathering effort to repeal this toothless decree. At the time, these men of God roared against homosexuality Sunday after Sunday with the kind of righteous joy usually reserved for those popping out of the baptismal waters of the River Jordan.
So, in the midst of neighborhoods rife with single parent households, sky-high unemployment, crime, drugs, gangs, teen pregnancies, abandoned houses, failing schools, dwindling police/fire/social services, life-and-death health care issues and widespread hopelessness, these crusading clerics chose the issue of same-sex marriage on which to take their “Here I stand.”
Now, with President Obama announcing his absolute support for the rights of gays to marry, it will be interesting to see how these Cleveland ministers react to the first African-American president taking such a strong stance on a cause allegedly abhorrent to them.
If, as is likely, many will swallow their silver-tongued tirades against gay marriage and instead preach the words of forgiveness and reconciliation, perhaps it may be time to take a closer look at the motivations behind the gay-bashing practices of so many of these men of the cloth. Perhaps their bible-thumping moralism is a sign of impotence?
Since the incredible triumphs of five decades ago, it certainly could be argued that the leaders of the black church – here in Cleveland and elsewhere – have failed their flocks. Aside from gaining inroads into the political world and helping elect black officials, it appears that — on a myriad of levels — the lives of many urban blacks keep getting worse.
The reasons for this dire situation are numerous, but what responsibility do the black church and its powerful pastors have? Could they have done more for their blighted communities than simply build personal fiefdoms? In order to divert attention from their failures, have they chosen to, if you will, “pick the low-hanging fruit” by ganging up on gays?
Of course, executing an anti-gay agenda puts black churches squarely in lockstep with a majority of the other Christian denominations, most notably the Catholic Church, white conservative evangelicals and the Mormon Church. What is unusual, however, is that liberals/progressives scream to the high heavens – and rightfully so – against the repressive sermonizing spewed forth by the representatives and followers of the Pope, Pat Robertson and Joseph Smith, while nary a peep is heard regarding the discrimination against homosexuals preached from hundreds of black pulpits.
It’s certainly understandable that the Left would be — from a moral and political standpoint — supportive of African-American struggles and more hesitant to criticize them than they would conservative Republicans, with whom liberals differ on practically every issue. Still, with the courageous efforts made by black preachers in spearheading the Civil Rights Movement seemingly having devolved into an effort to blatantly discriminate against gays, perhaps the Left needs to speak out without worrying about being on the receiving end of the knee-jerk charge of racism coming, most notably, from progressives.
A vivid example of this hypocrisy was the hysterical reaction four years go to the passage of Proposition 8 in California, which banned gay marriage. In the aftermath of the vote, the Left exploded. Donor lists of those who gave money to pass Prop 8 were poured over, contributors were “outed” and retaliation against all guilty parties was threatened. In response to the revelation that the Mormon Church had donated considerable cash to the cause, cries went up to “Nuke Utah.” The usual right-wing suspects were metaphorically drawn and quartered and eternal vengeance was sworn via defiant press releases, over-produced You Tube videos and red carpet rallies.
What was all but ignored, however, was the heavy lifting done by scores of black churches to pass Prop 8, an effort which resulted in a 70 percent black vote for the ban (the highest percentage by far among racial and ethnic breakdowns). But when a handful of liberal voices meekly pointed out these statistics and called into question African-American voting patterns on “cultural” issues, editorials popped up on progressive websites decrying the racist nature of these charges.
Obama’s bold stance on same-sex marriage practically assures that this issue will be prominent in the presidential campaign. Republicans are hoping that Obama’s position will further energize their zealous base while cutting into his support among Latinos, Catholics and even African Americans. The administration is counting on progressives and young people being energized in their support of equal treatment for all Americans, and independents being generally turned off by right wing religious fanaticism.
Ultimately, a huge factor in the re-election of Obama will be the level of enthusiasm and turnout among blacks, which will certainly be influenced by the African-American clergy. And wouldn’t it be sadly ironic that the issue that could dampen – even slightly – Obama’s chances for victory was one based on discrimination against a particular group of people.
Larry Durstin is an independent journalist who has covered politics and sports for a variety of publications and websites over the past 20 years. He was the founding editor of the Cleveland Tab and an associate editor at the Cleveland Free Times. Durstin has won 12 Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards, including six first places in six different writing categories. LarryDurstinATyahoo.com