ACTION: Advocate For A U.S. Stamp Honoring Black LGBT Hero Bayard Rustin!

The National LGBTQ Task Force is promoting an action which
encourages people to advocate for a U.S. postage stamp recognizing  Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree Bayard Rustin.

They are encouraging people to write letters to the U.S. Postal Service which advocate for the creation of a stamp that would honor the life and work of this openly gay, African-American civil rights pioneer.

As the Task Force puts it:

Bayard Rustin was the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, who was an openly gay man and an LGBTQ activist. In 2013, Rustin was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In awarding the medal, the President said, “For decades, this great leader, often at Dr. King’s side, was denied his rightful place in history because he was openly gay.”

Here is a sample text of a letter that you can contribute to the campaign::

(Insert your address)

Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee
C/O Stamp Development 
US Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Room 3300
Washington, DC 20260-3501

To whom it may concern,

I write to commend one of the most significant and yet unsung heroes of the civil rights movement for the honor of a commemorative US postage stamp.

This person is Bayard Rustin, the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, who was an openly gay man and an LGBTQ activist.

In 2013, Rustin was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In awarding the medal, the President said, "For decades, this
great leader, often at Dr. King's side, was denied his rightful place in history because he was openly gay."

No we have the chance to help right this wrong. With this commemorative stamp, we can give Rustin and his legacy the public
awareness and recognition they deserve. 

It’s time to honor a true hero of the on-going fight for civil rights.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours faithfully,

I'm going to write a letter, are you?

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Partners of Bayard Rustin and Sally Ride Attend WH Award Ceremony

Bayard Rustin was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom this week, and Walter Naegle, Rustin's life partner was in attendance. The award is the nation's highest civilian award and of the 16 recipients this year (which included Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Gloria Steinem) two of them were representatives of the LGBT community, Rustin and Sally Ride. Ride's life partner Tam O'Shaughnessy also attended the ceremony.

Metro Weekly reports:

 "As the first American woman in space, Sally didn't just break the stratospheric glass ceiling, she blasted through it," Obama said of Ride. "And when she came back to Earth, she devoted her life to helping girls excel in fields like math, science and engineering. 'Young girls need to see role models,' she said, 'you can't be what you can't see.' Today, our daughters -- including Malia and Sasha -- can set their sights a little bit higher because Sally Ride showed them the way."

Ride, who became the first American woman to travel to space in 1983, died in July 2012 after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Ride devoted much of her life to advancing science education and the U.S. space program.

For Rustin, who died in 1987, Obama said final recognition for his role in the civil rights movement was part of a broader struggle for equality. 

"For decades, this great leader, often at Dr. King's side, was denied his rightful place in history because he was openly gay," Obama said. "No medal can change that, but today, we honor Bayard Rustin's memory by taking our place in his march towards true equality, no matter who we are or who we love." 

Rustin was an advisor to Martin Luther King Jr., helped organize the early "freedom rides" and played a key role in organizing the 1963 March on Washington.

[...]

Naegle and O'Shaughnessy, who had never met before, were alphabetically seated next to each other during the ceremony presenting a resonant image. Both said they believed their presence as the gay partners of two Americans being awarded the nation's highest civilian honor would not go unnoticed.

"I think having Walter and me onstage for our partners sends a huge message to the world and that feels good," O'Shaughnessy said.

It's nice to see that members of the LGBT community are being recognized at the highest level, now perhaps soon we can start recognizing people before they die. People like Mary Bonauto, Larry Kramer and Phill Wilson would be on my short list of future possibilities.

50 Years Later: Bayard Rustin Being Recognized

Bayard Rustin was the primary organizer responsible for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Justice which was held 50 years today. The march is considered one of the most important moments in the civil rights struggle for racial equality and the fact that an openly gay man was key in its organization and efficient execution is worth noting, but often has not been.

President Barack Obama recently announced he is awarding Rustin (posthumously) the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Secretary of Labor Tom Perez is also doing his part to acknowledge Rustin:

 I feel compelled, as secretary of labor, to pay tribute to him as well. My very first day on the job last month, I toured our department's Hall of Honor to see the heroic Americans enshrined there – Frances Perkins, A. Philip Randolph, Cesar Chavez and others. But where was Bayard Rustin?

He was one of our most tenacious fighters for the rights of workers, for collective bargaining, for the role unions play in expanding economic opportunity. The 1963 March on Washington that he organized – the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” as we all know, was the full name – was conceived as a demonstration against economic injustice. He understood as well as anyone that these two movements – civil rights and labor rights – are inextricably intertwined and their goals essentially the same.

So, I am correcting a longstanding oversight by formally inducting Bayard Rustin into the Labor Department's Hall of Honor.

Rustin was an openly gay man during a time of fear and intolerance. There was no Human Rights Campaign. There was no Pride Month. There was no “It Gets Better” campaign featuring some of the most visible public figures in America. Nope, “it gets better” was just something you had to believe when you told it to yourself.

This is great news!

Cross-posted from LGBT Rights in the Internet Era

Obama Awards Two (Dead) LGBT Heroes the Medal of Freedom

The Congressional Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honor. Today the White House announced that it was awarding the Medal to two openly LGBT heroes of mine, Bayard Rustin and Sally Ride.

Sally Ride (posthumous)Sally Ride was the first American female astronaut to travel to space.  As a role model to generations of young women, she advocated passionately for science education, stood up for racial and gender equality in the classroom, and taught students from every background that there are no limits to what they can accomplish.  Dr. Ride also served in several administrations as an advisor on space exploration. Bayard Rustin (posthumous)Bayard Rustin was an unyielding activist for civil rights, dignity, and equality for all.  An advisor to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he promoted nonviolent resistance, participated in one of the first Freedom Rides, organized the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and fought tirelessly for marginalized communities at home and abroad.  As an openly gay African American, Mr. Rustin stood at the intersection of several of the fights for equal rights. 

This is the 50th anniversary of the Executive Order signed by President John F.Kennedy establishing the award. There are other luminaries on the list that you may recognize (like Oprah Winfrey).

Celebrating 100th Anniversary of Bayard Rustin's Birth

Martin Luther King, Jr (left) with Bayard Rustin, one of the key architects
and organizing strategists of the Afrcan American civil rights movement

Today is March 17, 2012, the centennial of the birth of Bayard Rustin, a giant in the Civil Rights Movement for racial equality, and an openly Black gay man. Rustin is well-known as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "right hand man," the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington where King gave his "I Have A Dream" speech. Rustin was also one of the co-founders of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and a primary organizer of the Freedom Rides of the 1960s.

Despite being the subject of an award-winning documentary called Brother Outsider (available on Netflix), the history and legacy of Rustin is not as well-known as it should be, although that is starting to change. For example, recently the City of Berkeley issued a proclamation in recognition of Bayard Rustin's 100th Birthday, but really an activist of his significance and impact one would expect multiple proclamations from various cities around the country.

Happily, the country's only national Black LGBT organization, the National Black Justice Coalition, has realized the opportunity of Bayard Rustin's centennial and is using it to organize a year-long series of events, in conjunction with the producers of the documentary, that they are calling the Bayard Rustin Centennial Project:

To honor Rustin's courage and his invaluable legacy, NBJC will spend this year celebrating the beloved "unsung hero" through its commissioned Bayard Rustin Centennial Project and in ongoing collaborations with Walter Naegle, Bayard's surviving partner and Executor/Archivist of the Estate of Bayard Rustin. NBJC is also working with Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer, co-producers and co-directors of Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, a biographical documentary that asserts Rustin's significance in American history. The recipient of more than 25 awards, Brother Outsider has been screened at The United Nations, The Kennedy Center, and for Members of Congress. 

"The National Black Justice Coalition is looking forward to spearheading this collaborative movement to bring greater visibility to the invaluable legacy of Bayard Rustin.  We recognize and value that our mission mirrors his life's work - to eradicate racism and homophobia," says NBJC's Executive Director Sharon Lettman-Hicks. 

"Furthermore, his identity as an out Black gay man in the Civil Rights Movement lends validity to our belief that legal rights and protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of all ethnicities are not just civil rights, but human rights, and that Black LGBT people absolutely deserve a place at the table of equality." 

NBJC's Bayard Rustin Centennial Project is honored to join in the year-long series of celebratory events taking place across the country and to build upon more than 30 years of Black LGBT community tributes to the late, great, beloved freedom fighter.

I'm sure that as more people learn about Bayard Rustin, they too will be as inspired by his life and legacy as I was when I co-founded the Barbara Jordan / Bayard Rustin Coalition, a Los Angeles-area Black LGBT community education and social justice advocacy organization in 2006.

Happy Birthday, Bayard!

Juneeteenth 2011 NEXT SUNDAY!

There is only one week until the 2011 edition of the Juneteenth Awards and Pride Celebration run by the Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition. Buy your tickets here.

Juneteenth Party Today!

Today is the "JRC Celebrates Juneteenth" event in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles from 2 to 5pm benefiting the Barbara Jordan/ Bayard Rustin Coalition, the only Black LGBT advocacy organization in Southern California.

MadProfessah will be there (with The Other Half), and hope that you will attend also. Admission costs $50 and there are awards going to Doug Spearman and Vallerie Wagner.