…apparently because being gay “is a choice”:

“We know what we have gone through as an ethnic group. We feel the terminology, the definition itself, has really been hijacked,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s just another ploy to garner more support from people who may not understand what the civil rights struggle was all about.”

Bishop Michael A. Badger, pastor of Bethesda World Harvest International Church on Main Street, said that he doesn’t doubt there is discrimination against gay people but that it is hardly on the order of what African-Americans have encountered and still face.

“As an African-American, I don’t have a choice in the color of my skin. I have a choice in whether I’m abstinent or not,” Badger said. “I don’t think you can compare the two.”

Actually he said because “abstinence” is “a choice”. Well, that makes even less sense.

Just because the two issues aren’t exactly the same doesn’t mean they aren’t both about civil rights. And sorry, I think we can draw more parallels between the civil rights movement and the fight for gay rights than with the fight against gay marriage. To quote journalist Earl Ofari Hutchison: “Homophobia and racism are frequently two sides of the same coin.”

Let’s be honest. I’d rather get schooled on said parallels and what the civil rights movement was about by Coretta Scott King than from this guy.

Oh, and for those of you who wonder why this issue is even important, read this story from today’s NYT.

What do you think?

Via / Buffalo News

Image via LogoOnline(Noah’s Arc)