My goodness. Will wonders never cease?
The California chapter of the NAACP has endorsed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state, marking the first time an arm of the venerable civil rights group has lent its political clout to the issue that has divided the black community.
Members of the California State Conference of the NAACP narrowly voted at their convention last fall to support the pending "Religious Freedom and California Civil Marriage Protection Act," but the group did not make its position public until this week, in advance of the bill's first legislative hearing. "In a place like California, you can not possibly work for rights if you don't work for gay rights," said Alice A. Huffman, California NAACP president. "You either believe in the rights of everyone or you are in the wrong business."
Mind, I wouldn't expect an outpouring of support from NAACP chapters nationwide. The topic has been so spectacularly divisive that I don't imagine that most NAACP chapters are eager to take a public position. Additionally, given that a substantial portion of their membership does not seem to believe that gays should be allowed to marry (each other, that is), taking any position on the issue would, in all likelihood, frequently put a civil rights group in the position of rejecting civil rights for an admitted minority group. That might be considered just a touch awkward.
Posted by iain at April 06, 2005 12:35 PM
