On Monday, April 7, 2008, New York Governor David Paterson was awarded the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Leadership Award. The governor is known to have advocated for passage of the State Assembly’s Same-Sex Marriage bill in 2007, and he has long been considered an ally of homosexual activists. 

Governor Paterson was unable to attend the awards dinner due to ongoing budget negotiations, but he did send a video reaffirming his support for same-sex marriage. The Governor began his comments with his trademark humor, but pro-family advocates don't believe that Paterson's support of same-sex marriage is a laughing matter. 

Even more troubling was the fact that the Governor attempted to connect those advocating for same-sex marriage and other homosexual rights as equivalent to the African-American struggle for civil rights. In Governor Paterson’s pre-recorded message, he said, “New York has been a national leader in many civil rights movements… We have an immense opportunity to expand civil rights here on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.” Paterson called upon New York’s civil rights leaders “to recognize that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities deserve equal rights as well.”

Rev. Dr. Norman Macklin of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Troy says, “The idea that gay marriage is about civil rights is a misnomer. It’s not a civil rights issue or a human rights issue, but a moral issue.”

More than one African American pastor, including Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr. of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, has referred to the “high jacking” of the Civil Rights movement and rejected the “civil rights” claim being promoted by the homosexual community.

While it is true that many people disapprove of homosexual behavior, there is hardly centuries of violence, segregation and slavery the likes of which were experienced by our black brothers and sisters. Nowhere is a homosexual man or a lesbian woman being told to drink from a separate fountain, attend different schools or ride in the back of a bus. Proponents of gay marriage insist that they are being discriminated against, yet openly avowed homosexual and bisexual individuals continue to be elected to the New York State Legislature. The issue is clearly not one of civil rights and a lack of political representation.

The Rev. Dr. Washington Lundy, President of the African American Empire Baptist Missionary Convention, recently reminded legislative leaders, “We are adamantly and unequivocally opposed to any legislation, regardless of what form it may be presented in, that endorses same-sex marriage or civil unions.”

The image of a black governor advocating for homosexual rights against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement is powerful in style, but in reality it is lacking in substance. Discrimination based on race in this country is illegal for the specific reason that race is a characteristic which is inborn, involuntary (you can not choose it), immutable (you can not change it), and innocuous (it harms no one). The choice to engage in homosexual behavior is none of the above.

Christians hoped for better from Governor David Paterson, but unfortunately we are seeing more of the same sell outs, for purposes of political expediency.