Lessons From the Inauguration of President Barack Obama
Their meaning for LGBT persons, same-gender couples, and their allies
by Gilbert H. Caldwell
- Gilbert Caldwell
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I am not a musician, but I am a lover of the music called Jazz. Jazz is a living manifestation of the influence of African culture upon American culture. Many of us describe Jazz as being "America's Classical Music." If we think of traditional classical music as European, then Jazz -- which had its birth in America -- is our indigenous classical music. My writing seeks to imitate the creativity and improvisation of the Jazz musician. In improvisational Jazz, as the musician plays his/her solo, the other musicians allow those solos to inform, influence and inspire the solos that they play in response. My hope is that the following written "solo" will inform, influence and inspire those who "read" it. Often in Jazz, instrumental solos, no matter how mediocre, bring forth in others, solos that are transformational. So may it be with these words; (My solo).
1. The history and memories of slavery and segregation in America are more deeply rooted in us than we have dared to imagine. The excitement generated by the election and inauguration of Barack Obama that prompted tears and laughter and exuberance, revealed what too many have denied; "America's Original Sin; Racism" (Sojourners Magazine) has been/is a cancer we have found it difficult to acknowledge. None of us should now misunderstand why so many persons of African descent are fearful that LGBT Rights efforts will diminish the distinctive and destructive history of America's racial apartheid. The Civil Rights Movement that confronted and served to distinguish the legal remnants of racial segregation, must be honored for its original intent, even as it is related to the rights of LGBT persons and the LGBT community. The particulars of the Black experience of dehumanization, protest and some success, must never appear to be diminished or diluted by any of us who are active in the LGBT Rights struggle; whether we are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or ally advocates.
2. The hundreds of thousands of persons who gathered in DC for the inauguration of Barack Obama could not help but remind us of the 1963 March on Washington -- and remembering that March is incomplete, if we leave out the role Bayard Rustin played in making that March possible. Bayard Rustin, born in West Chester, Pennsylvania became a Quaker, Pacifist, War Resister and an important Organizer in the Civil Rights Movement, was an African American gay man! It would not be inappropriate for the LGBT Rights Movement to introduce to many and re-introduce to others, the writings of Bayard Rustin. His words may have a particular resonance today, comparable to the words of Martin King and Mahatma Gandhi.
3. As Barack Obama placed his hand on a Bible owned by Abraham Lincoln and repeated the oath of office, I thought of how, many persons, distort and thus minimize the significance of the Bible. As Barack Obama placed his hand on the Bible, I thought of the New York Times story written before the election that quoted a man who said; "I cannot vote for Barack Obama because he is the son of a white mother and a black African father. The Bible is against interracial marriage and I cannot vote for him because he is bi-racial." (Paraphrase). We hear many times from the pulpits and pews of some churches these words: "The Devil is a Liar." It is a way of saying that the Devil is doomed to defeat because he/she/it is a speaker of untruths. If Church leaders and followers continue to "use" the Bible in their efforts to deny, limit and restrict the rights of same gender loving persons; the Bible will be dismissed because, with the Devil, "The Bible is a Liar." The Bible has continued to be a source of inspiration and direction despite the fact that slavery, racial segregation, and the unwillingness to ordain women into the ministry have all been sanctioned by Biblical interpretation. Now most persons admit that using the Bible to enslave Africans, segregate African Americans, and deny marriage to interracial couples and ordination to women, was the result of biased Biblical interpretation! If however, during the Obama administration, those whose predecessors allowed their bigotry to make the Bible a book of bias continue to do to LGBT persons and same gender loving persons what their predecessors did to others, they will further weaken, rather than respect the book of their faith; the Bible. Scripture has not changed, but thank God our interpretation of the meaning of Scripture for Black rights has changed! At the very least, while many Christians are beginning to re-visit their anti-gay Biblical interpretation, may they cease using their biased Biblical interpretation to suppress the Constitutional rights of LGBT persons.
4. The Inauguration of Barack Obama was a living Mosaic of his commitment to bring to the table persons and groups who represent a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives. The preachers, the poet, the musicians, the participants in the parade, the Inaugural Balls, the designers of the outfits that first lady, Michelle Obama wore, the nominees for Cabinet and others positions, all reflect President Obama's desire/vision to create "A More Perfect Union" out of human diversity. The challenge is making sure that we do not become satisfied with a "cosmetic diversity" that is superficial without substance. Black people have been present almost from the very beginnings of this nation, but that presence has been presence without power. LGBT people have been present and possessed power, but that presence has come at the cost of invisibility and therefore their power has been compromised. Someone once said of Jazz: "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing." Diversity means nothing, or at least very little, if it is superficial and not of substance. We have seen that a diversity of persons can sit at the table prepared by our new President. Now, we must make sure that all of those at the nation's new table will have equal access to the rights guaranteed by our Constitution. We can do this because those who once said, "Yes We Can" are now saying, "Yes We Did." If we could elect Barack Obama President, then making equal rights available to all ought be as easy as "Taking the A Train." (Duke Ellington)
5. "When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge (his) dignity as a human being, (his) very act of protest confers dignity on (him)" -- Bayard Rustin. The Black community discovered early on in its American journey that protest in itself is an affirmation of their God-given dignity. The slaves responded to the bigoted and oppressive use of that Scripture that read, "Slaves be obedient to your earthly masters," by singing the Spiritual; "Before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free." LGBT persons and same gender loving persons have discovered the dignity that comes from protest. Human dignity is inseparable from Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream." Langston Hughes asks in his poem, "What happens to a dream deferred?" Hughes asks, "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun or fester like a sore and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crest and sugar over - like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?"
CHANGE!, is already evident in President Obama's non-ideological approach that focuses on bringing all people together. But it is up to us to provide new content and meaning to this new day. In a time of war and economic crisis and disruptions all over the world, how foolish it is for any of us, for any leader in church or state, to pretend that denying equal rights to same gender loving people will contribute to the creation of peace, the easing of the economic crisis or the ending of world-wide disruptions. Any person who suggests or says about the segregation of LGBT persons what Alabama's Governor George Wallace said about racial segregation: "Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" is blind, deaf and dumb to the inevitability of total acceptance of the rights of LGBT persons. May this acceptance come soon, so that we all might confront the real enemies of this moment.
Gil Caldwell is a retired United Methodist Minister. He was one of the founders of United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church and participated in and was arrested during the Soulforce demonstrations at the 2000 United Methodist General Conference. He and his wife of 51 years, Grace, also participated in the Soulforce visit to The Potter's House (The church of Bishop T.D. Jakes) during the American Family Outing in May of 2008.
