African-American pastors rally in support of marriage amendment

By Joni B. Hannigan & James A. Smith Sr. - Sep 30, 2008 - 2

A group of African-American pastors from the Tampa Bay area have announced their support of a state constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage in Florida. Pastor W. James Favorite told reporters he believes the comparison of gay marriage to the fight for equality by black men and women in America is wrong.

“I am offended at the suggestion that the plight of people who engage in certain sexual behavior is anywhere near equivalent to the struggle of black men and women in this country who suffered and many died for simple equality,” Favorite said.

“Gay people were never denied the right to vote or to drink out of a water fountain or to sit where they pleased on a public bus. Gay people have never been hosed down with water canons or beaten back by police officers because they were denied personhood. Gay people have never been spat upon for the color of their skin or lynched like animals in the field for trying to gain their freedom. How dare anyone and certainly the gay community for saying that their efforts to normalize their sexual desires are anything like the struggle that my people have faced and gone through. Homosexuality [has] the elements of choice and volition, being black is a God-given, inherent and unchangeable characteristic.” Read the complete column…

This excerpt is reprinted with permission from the Florida Baptist Witness.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to preserve the institution of marriage and the value of family in the lives of Americans. To learn more about these important issues, additional resources are available here. If your church is interested in purchasing bulletin inserts or other materials on marriage and family, please visit our online bookstore.

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2 comments (post your own) feed

1 On Sep 30th, 2008, at 5:42pm, Rev.Peter Treadwell wrote:

I am in full agreement with those brothers in Florida. I am a 47 year old African-American and I will never condone that perverted choice life style and niether will abortion ever be acceptable either because its murder not choice but murder.

2 On Oct 3rd, 2008, at 4:02pm, eric wrote:

Apparently a jackboot is much more comfortable if you’re the one wearing it.

I took part in the voter registration drives. I went eyeball to hood-slit with ‘christians’ who claimed that they had the right to determine the course of others’ lives. [and still bear the scars of those encounters]

I read nothing here that I didn’t hear from those other ‘christians’ many years ago.

Shame

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