Church walks the walk of King's message

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/14/jakes/index.html

Despite the fact that I am whole heartedly Atheist, I have always held Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's message and works in the highest esteem. Perhaps it is because I am "as queer as a lemon on a peach tree", and an Atheist that his message brings tears of pride and hope to my eyes.

I support Bishop T.D. Jakes in his work with the poor, and his efforts to keep Dr. King's dream alive. I do hope that some day he will realize that he is completely wrong when he calls homosexuality a "brokenness", and that he would never hire a "gay person". It's no different than when John Dixon of Mallory & Evans told me during a job interview that he "would never hire a n****r". Let me tell you more about this interview, and the subsequent retracted job offer.

During my interview with his payroll manager, she told me that his background checks are extensive, and that he could "find out if you were wearing underwear". Despite the fact that I told them about my 2005 bankruptcy (I even gave them a copy of all three credit reports), after a background check, they used my bankruptcy as the reason for retracting the job offer. I am sure that background check turned up something about my support for gay rights, and my signatures on many online petitions. Aside from this, there would have been no reason for him to retract the job offer. The company refused to release the information found during their "background check", because it was not based on anything that FCRA would cover. As such, they claimed I have no right to see the report.

My conclusion is that they retracted the job offer because I am gay. The very same way they would not even consider hiring a black person.

Some people bristle at the idea that the civil rights movement, and the gay rights movement could have anything in common. It is true that they are different. The hate is different only because racism is based on the pigment (or lack thereof) of a person's skin. Whereas homophobia is based on either a narrow interpretation of the bible, or the idea that it is somehow unnatural. They are also different in that you cannot always perceive a person's sexual orientation by looking at them. You can usually determine a person's race (or at least that they aren't the same race as you), by looking at the person. Aside from these differences, the basic emotion of hatred is still the same between racism and homophobia. The emotion is fear.

For racism: kkk, black panthers, aryan nation, nation of islam, the nazi party
For homophobia: kkk, black panthers, aryan nation, nation of islam, the nazi party

The same groups plot to murder and terrorize us for daring to challenge their views. Weather you are Black, White, Hispanic, Native American, Arab, Indian, Asian or LGBT; one or all of these groups want your head.