The board of the NAACP voted Saturday to endorse marriage equality. This is a huge development. Anti-marriage equality groups have been trying to drive a wedge between the black community and the forces of marriage equality.
The NAACP’s courageous endorsement of marriage equality will help neutralize that toxic rhetoric:
The Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights group, issued a jubilant statement following the NAACP announcement. “We could not be more pleased with the NAACP’s history-making vote today – which is yet another example of the traction marriage equality continues to gain in every community,” said HRC president Joe Solmonese. “It’s time the shameful myth that the African-American community is somehow out of lockstep with the rest of the country on marriage equality is retired – once and for all. The facts and clear momentum toward marriage speak for themselves.” [WaPo]
The NAACP’s timing couldn’t be better. More than half of all African Americans told pollsters they agreed with President Obama’s decision to endorse same sex marriage.