National Black Justice Coalition responds to NOM's Race Baiting Documents

NBJC responds to NOM's race baiting tactics, which has become national news.

From their website:

“These documents expose NOM for what it really is—a hate group determined to use African American faith leaders as pawns to push their damaging agenda and as mouthpieces to amplify that hatred,” says Sharon Lettman-Hicks, NBJC Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer.

Despite NOM’s appalling efforts to endanger committed couples and families by elevating equality opponents of color, a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll confirmed growth in support for the freedom to marry since October 2009, with strong growth in support among African Americans by 56 percent.

And support from our community doesn’t stop there. Numerous African American civil rights leaders, such as John Lewis, Julian Bond, and Coretta Scott King, have stood up for the freedom to marry and equality for all Americans, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of color.  

“NOM is fighting a losing battle,” adds Lettman-Hicks. “With these memos made public, the black faith community must refuse to be exploited and refuse to deny their fellow brothers and sisters equal protections under the law.”

That's real talk from Sharon.

Interesting Quote: Sharon J. Lettman-Hicks Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition

It is with this same sense of urgency that King would summon the LGBT community to act if he were alive today. He would question whether HBCUs are equipped to serve LGBT students who are victims of anti-gay harassment or domestic violence. He would rally young people and administrators to take action before we lose another black life.


Noting that we are inextricably linked through our common humanity and our fight for equality, King stated, "Eventually the civil rights movement will have contributed infinitely more to the nation than the eradication of racial injustice. It will have enlarged the concept of brotherhood to a vision of total interrelatedness."


NBJC is calling on both the civil rights and LGBT communities because King's words continue to ring true as we propel this movement forward. We must remind ourselves, like King did, why we cannot wait, why the time to have these conversations and the time to act is now.

Sharon is talking about the death of Robert Champion Jr., a gay drum major at Florida A&M.

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National Black Justice Coalition Ask Organizations to Keep Fighting to Repeal DADT

They are on it.

NBJC released a statement about the DADT vote:

National Black Justice Coalition Encourages
Ally Organizations to Keep Fighting
to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

For Immediate Release

On September 21, the Senate failed to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT),” a law that calls for all gay and lesbian people who serve in the armed forces to be discharged without benefits if their sexual orientation is revealed. Supporters voted 56-43 in favor of starting debate on the 2011 Defense authorization bill, short of the 60 needed. A Republican-led filibuster blocked efforts to reverse DADT, shelving an Obama administration priority until after the November election.

In response to the delayed repeal, National Black Justice Coalition Executive Director Sharon Lettman-Hicks stated,

“The battle to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has been stalled temporarily, but the fight is not over. We thank our ally organizations and informed leadership for staying the course to reverse an unjust and outdated law that compromises the moral integrity of our armed services by forcing gay and lesbian servicemembers to lie about who they are and who they love. More than thirteen-thousand servicemembers have been discharged due to DADT, including a disproportionate number of Black women. Those women have been left without health benefits and pensions and with a stained professional record simply for being lesbians. We look forward to the day when, even in our short-term memory, this will seem absurd--the fact that people debated whether servicemembers who sacrifice their lives every day to keep our country safe also have the right to be honest about who they are without becoming victims of government-sanctioned identity suppression.”

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The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) is a civil rights organization dedicated to empowering Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. NBJC's mission is to end racism and homophobia.

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