Zimmerman on Dangerous Drugs, People Obama should pardon and NAACP Gay Marriage Decision – Black Talk Radio

Response: I found the piece on NAACP Gay Marriage Decision to be quite interesting as an NAACP Life Fully Paid Member.

Black Talk Radio: The NAACP has officially endorsed Gay Marriage framing it as a civil rights issue, will this cause a rift in the membership base with many of its chapter presidents being pastors of Christian churches. (More)

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Amendment One

George Zimmerman

Trayvon Martin

 

Media Advisory: NC NAACP to Hold News Conference on National NAACP Endorsement of Marriage Equality

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 20, 2012   For More Information:           Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137                                                Mrs. Amina J. Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700   NC NAACP News Conference on Endorsement of Marriage Equality    DURHAM – The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP will hold a news conference on Monday morning to discuss the decision to endorse marriage equality by the NAACP National Board of Directors over the weekend.   The news conference will take place at 11:45 AM at the North Carolina Institute for Minority Economic Development building at 114 W. Parrish Street, Durham, NC, 4th Floor.   Three members of the National Board are from North Carolina: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President of the North Carolina NAACP and chair of the Political Action Committee for the National Board; Ms. Carolyn Q. Coleman, 1st Vice President of the North Carolina NAACP and Assistant Secretary of the National Board; Mr. Lenny Springs, Assistant Treasurer of the National Board.   Below is the media release from the National NAACP regarding this endorsement:   NAACP Passes Resolution in Support of Marriage Equality Decision Affirms Opposition to Government Efforts to Codify Discrimination   (Miami, Florida) The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People today 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 mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure the political, social and economic equality of all people," said Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NAACP. "We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law." "Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law. The NAACP’s support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and equal protection of all people." said Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP. The NAACP has addressed civil rights with regard to marriage since Loving v. Virginia declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional in 1967. In recent years the NAACP has taken public positions against state and federal efforts to ban the rights and privileges for LGBT citizens, including strong opposition to Proposition 8 in California, the Defense of Marriage Act, and most recently, North Carolina’s Amendment 1, which changed the state constitution’s to prohibit same sex marriage. Below is the text of the resolution passed by the NAACP board of directors:   The NAACP Constitution affirmatively states our objective to ensure the "political, educational, 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.       ###    Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

 

NAACP Endorses Same-Sex Marriage – The Root

Quote: “Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law,” NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous said in a statement released Saturday. “The NAACP‘s support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and equal protection of all people. The well-funded right wing organizations who are attempting to split our communities are no friend to civil rights, and they will not succeed.”

Ten days after President Barack Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, the NAACP has voted to endorse it as well.

From the Washington Post:

The NAACP now presents itself as a counterbalance to the influence of the traditionally socially conservative black church. It can also help establish closer ties between blacks and gays, two of Obama‘s most loyal constituencies. (More)

See related:

NAACP backs same-sex marriage as civil right

Amendment One

Serendipity in Obama’s timing on gay marriage – The Miami Herald

So apparently, Barack Obama is finally done evolving.

That, you will recall, was the president’s word for the process of reconsidering his opposition to same sex marriage. Last week, after being publicly and inadvertently (?) prodded by his vice-president, Obama announced the results of all that cogitation. He told ABC News he has “just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married. (More)

See related:

Amendment One

Same Sex Marriages – State law already defines marriage as being between a man and a woman

North Carolina is the only state in the Southeast without such a prohibition in its constitution. State law already defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. Still, amendment supporters argue that traditional marriage would be better protected against potential legal challenges by same-sex couples in six other states and the District of Columbia.

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Wilson lawmakers divided on controversial issue (Paid Content)