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NAACP Announces Resolution Supporting Marriage Equality

Posted by on May 21, 2012 in This Day In Gay | 1 comment

Well, there goes NOM’s biggest talking point…

On May 19th, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People released a resolution supporting marriage equality. At a meeting of the 103-year old civil rights group’s board of directors, the organization voted to support marriage equality as a continuation of its historic commitment to equal protection under the law.

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.

I was lucky enough to sit in on the press call announcing the resolution, and boy oh boy was there lots of talk of the 14th Amendement and the Equal Protection Clause. The NAACP sees banning same-sex marriage just like the LGBT community does – an illegal and unconstitutional usage of the law to prevent some Americans from access to their full and equal rights.

One of the standout moments was NAACP President Benjamin Jealous’ plain spoken statement that it is because of his faith that he supports marriage equality, and that the equality of LGBT Americans does not threaten his faith in any way.

A thousand, thousand thank you’s to the NAACP for standing up for their LGBT allies, neighbors, friends, and family members. We’re all in this together.