In a move that some called historic, the country’s oldest African American civil rights group voted Saturday to endorse same-sex marriage…saying it opposed any policy or legislative initiative that “seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the constitutional rights of LGBT citizens.”
The vote marks a national turning point on the issue of gay marriage. President Obama announced this month that he supports gay marriage. A Gallup Poll last year found, for the first time in the poll’s history, that a majority of Americans supported the legalization of gay marriage, 53% to 45%.
“Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law,” Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the 103-year-old NAACP said in a statement.
“The NAACP’s support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution and equal protection of all people.”
Still, it may be a long time before the entire community joins in support.
Many African Americans oppose same-sex marriage…
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read the full article – learn how African Americans are key voters in discriminatory laws – L.A. Times