Don't remember the Maine vote, just keep eyes on gay prize

Perhaps the Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell picked up his unflinching boldness in his pursuit of justice from all those years he spent on the civil rights trail with the man he calls Martin King.

But as a new member of PFLAG's national board, the well-respected, heterosexual, African-American, Methodist minister is exactly what the gay rights movement needs today, says John Cepek, the suburban Cook County man who is national president of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

Denying marriage and other rights to same-gender couples is not only wrong, it is "anti-American" and "cheapens the breadth, depth and profound meaning" of the Bible, says Caldwell, who did graduate work at Harvard Divinity School and received degrees from North Carolina A&T State University and the Boston University School of Theology, where Martin Luther King Jr. received his degrees. Caldwell and his wife of 52 years, Grace, live in New Jersey.

A self-described foot soldier, Caldwell marched on Washington in 1963, fought for civil rights in the "Mississippi Freedom Summer" of 1964, and marched with King from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

He won't equate the civil rights battle for people with dark skin to the current battle for civil rights for people who are gay, saying that doesn't help the cause.

"I try not to get bogged down on the differences," says Caldwell, who says the push to correct injustice is what matters.

"Our stories of experiencing prejudice, bigotry and injustice are different, but the successful challenge of them is at the heart of who/what America is," writes Caldwell in a letter to PFLAG.

Now 76 and retired from a full-time ministry, Caldwell writes and blogs on the need for gay rights. He realizes the perception that African-Americans and religious people often are seen as opponents of gay rights. That just adds to his passion.

This week's vote in Maine against gay rights was disappointing, but Caldwell calls it another example of "letting the majority determine the rights of the minority." If not for court decisions upholding the rights of the minority, some states still might vote to ban interracial marriage or integrated schools, Caldwell notes.

Just as African-Americans were (and in many cases still are) joined in the push for civil rights by Americans of different races and faiths, gays should have the backing of people who are heterosexual and religious, Caldwell says.

People who use the Bible to deny rights to gays, "use the Bible to sustain their bias," Caldwell says. "And that, to me, does great damage to the sacred book for those of us who are Christian. I say we've done damage to the depth and breath of scripture when we have used the Bible as a book to bash people."

As someone who was part of history, Caldwell has seen that before.

"Once, the Bible was used to sustain slavery. Once, it was used to sustain segregation. Once, it was used to sustain bans on interracial marriage," Caldwell says."For those of us who are Christian, Jesus cuts through the bigotry. The Bible hasn't changed, but our views on slavery have."

Noting that the civil rights movement of the 1960s saw many defeats, Caldwell urges people fighting for civil rights for homosexuals to keep the faith.

He can paraphrase one of his "favorite quotes" from King to keep him inspired.

"Today we know with certainty that segregation is dead," King wrote in his 1963 book "Strength to Love." "The only question remaining is how costly will be the funeral."

Caldwell says the days when civil rights belong only to the heterosexual population are dying.

"We're in the funeral-making with heterosexualism," Caldwell says, employing a word he lumps in with racism and sexism. "We just have to figure out how long that will be."