Exercises in Narcissism

Indeed, Rustin’s work with King was only part of a life whose influences on the advance of freedom and justice are only beginning to be recognized. Rustin attributed his activism to his Quaker upbringing, and the idea of “a single human family” in which all members are equal. Those same values are reflected in Rustin’s wide-ranging activism. He was active in the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from its 1942 founding and participated in CORE campaigns such as the 1947 Freedom Rides. He was arrested and convicted in North Carolina and served 22 days of hard labor on a chain gang. He helped to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and events like the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom and National Youth Marches for Integrated Schools. He advocated a feminism inclusive of women of different races and social classes. He opposed the wartime internment of Japanese Americans. He maintained a vital lifelong interest in the independence of African nations, visiting Africa several times. He advocated for labor rights and was a longtime ally of union leader A. Philip Randolph, for whom he continued to work after the March on Washington. And, consistent with the long Quaker tradition of pacifism (“all wars and fightings with carnal weapons we deny”) Rustin was a tireless peace activist, working with both the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the War Resisters League. He was himself a draft resister during World War II and was imprisoned from 1944 to 1947 as a result of his disobedience to the 1940 Conscription Act. In the 1950s, Rustin was active in the movement for nuclear disarmament and an end to testing of nuclear weapons. Perhaps most significant historically is the key role he played in bringing Gandhian nonviolence into the Civil Rights movement. During the Montgomery bus boycott, Rustin convinced King to get rid of guns intended for self-defense, making a defining impact on the civil rights movement and its moral authority.

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Gay, Black, and Quaker: History Catches Up with Bayard Rustin | Politics | Religion Dispatches

Bayard Rustin is easily one of my heroes. 

Just when you thought Barack Obama couldn’t get any more out of touch with America’s values, AP reports his administration wants to make foreign aid decisions based on gay rights. …This administration’s war on traditional American values must stop.

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A statement by Rick Perry • Criticizing President Obama over a memorandum he issued today, which stated broad support for advancing LGBT rights and protecting them from violence. It explicitly mentions the efforts of foreign governments to criminalize LGBT persons (the state of affairs in Uganda the last few years being one such galling example), and states that foreign aid will be directed to promote LGBT human rights. Rick Perry (clearly attempting to spark some momentum for his flat-lined bid for the GOP presidential nomination), decided to pounce, saying further: “Investing tax dollars promoting a lifestyle many Americas of faith find so deeply objectionable is wrong. President Obama has again mistaken America’s tolerance for different lifestyles with an endorsement of those lifestyles. I will not make that mistake.” source (via • follow)

Will any of his fellow republicans reprimand him? Just another reminder of why I could NEVER vote Republican.

Female homosexuality did not jeopardize Germany’s future
because women were reproductive Boy Scouts, “always sexually prepared,” while homosexual men were far more likely to become “psychologically
impotent.

— Robert G. Moeller, on Nazi attitudes to Homosexuality.