Is Rev. Bernice King Evolving On TBLG Issues?

Like many African-American trans and SGL people I've been a vocal critic of Rev. Bernice King ever since Dr. King's baby girl made this foul 2004 statement:

“I know deep down in my sanctified soul that my father (Dr. King) did not take a bullet for same-sex marriage.”

She was also a co-organizer and participant in a December 11, 2004 anti-same gender marriage march in the ATL that started at the foot of her father's grave.at the King Center sponsored by Bishop Eddie Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.

She was until last year an associate pastor and elder at New Birth until she left during the scandal to become the CEO of the King Center..

Now the GA Voice's Dyana Bagby is reporting that Rev. King made an eyebrow raising statement at a rally honoring Dr. King, Jr. in Atlanta that called for straight and TBLG people to come together to fulfill the legacy of her father.


It was reported that during Rev Bernice King’s sermon calling for unity, she said she didn’t care if people “were black or white,” she asked for “Hindu, Buddhist, Islamist” people to come together, people from the “North side or the South side,” and most surprisingly added the words “heterosexual or homosexual, or gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender.”

Say what? Is it true she sounded more like her late mother Coretta than her cookie-chomping Aunt Alveda?

“We need all of us,” Rev. Maressa Pendermon, a minister with LGBT-inclusive Unity Fellowship Church, reported King as saying in the GA Voice article..

That we do.  If Rev. Bernice King has come to that epiphany, amen!   The proof will be Rev. King's deeds over the next few years.

The onus is on her after years of anti-gay statements and actions to show an extremely skeptical African-American rainbow community and our allies to borrow her father's words, she has moved from supporting the children of darkness and come over to supporting the children of light..

Dr King On NBC's 'Meet The Press'

Since it's King Day, thought I'd share a video of him appearing in a 1965 broadcast of NBC's Meet The Press 

Happy King Day To You!

Today is the national holiday in the States that since 1986 we have celebrated the life and legacy of the man who Tavis Smiley calls the greatest American our people ever produced.  It's one of the few things lately me and Tavis Smiley see eye to eye on these days, but he's correct.

Dr. King's words are timeless and even more apropos and prescient in the second decade of the 21st century as they were when he first wrote or spoke them during his all too brief lifetime.

At some point during this MLK Day celebration I'm going to take some time during it to reread some of his essays and speeches and do as he called it some hard, solid thinking about them in the context of the human rights struggle that transpeople are waging for their own liberation from intolerance, anti-trans violence aimed at us and transphobic hatred.

I want to do my part to make rel the promises of democracy for America's trans citizens. . 

I hope those of you who are reading this take some time to think about what you can do to help the trans community expand human rights for us and by doing so expand them for yourselves.

Happy King Day, TransGriot readers!

Happy 83rd Birthday Dr. King!

Today would have been the 83rd birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

This January 15 day finds us at a time in which a towering monument stands with his likeness on the western side of the Tidal Basin in Washington DC has been completed and dedicated. 

We will also celebrate another King Day federal holiday tomorrow.

But we also find ourselves on his birthday once again combating the forces of faith- based intolerance Dr. King battled during his time on Earth who wish to roll back painstakingly made human rights progress.

We have a America that is seemingly more divided than ever politically and the first African-American president facing what is certain to be an ugly reelection campaign. We also have a country in which some people arrogantly think it's okay to be bigots, Gordon Gekko 'Greed Is Good' acolytes and hate on the poor.

This is a moment in time in which as Dr. King called them, dedicated minorities need to stop being timid about the status quo, stand up and proudly step up to be drum majors for justice.

"The hope of the world is still in dedicated minorities.  The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been in the minority. That creative minority of whites absolutely committed to civil rights can make it clear to the larger society that vacillation and procrastination on the question of racial justice can no longer be tolerated.  It will take such a small committed minority to work unrelentingly to win the uncommitted majority.  Such a group may well transform America's greatest dilemma into her most glorious opportunity."

That creative minority now more than ever needs to step up and show leadership in their communities, because the people who are being attacked by the Forces of  Intolerance and your country desperately need you to do so.


It's the least we can do to celebrate the birthday of a great American who gave his life to not only liberate my people from the shackles of ignorance, prejudice and crushing despair, but is the inspiration for millions around the world.

Happy birthday, Dr. King.

Alpha Man:The Brotherhood Of MLK

The African-American fraternities and sororities that we call the Divine Nine not only have an exalted place in our people's history, they have been movers and shakers in helping us uplift our community, this nation and in some cases the world.   

With the just concluded dedication Sunday of the MLK Jr. National Memorial, Alpha Phi Alpha, the first African-American Greek letter fraternity gets some well deserved love for their persistence in making this project happen.

As someone who comes from a family in which I have members who are members of Divine Nine frats and sororities, I was interested in watching this BET special entitled Alpha Man:The Brotherhood Of MLK. 

There have been some historical giants who have crossed the burning sands to become members of this over a century old fraternity such as the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, civil rights warrior and UN Ambassador Andrew Young, Olympian Jesse Owens,  former Jamaican Chief Minister Norman Manley and actor Paul Robeson, but the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is probably one of the most recognized members of Alpha Phi Alpha. .    

This BET special focuses on Dr. King and his time as a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, their involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, and the 15 year effort to make the dream of a monument on the National Mall to him by his fraternity brothers become a reality.

President Obama MLK Jr Memorial Dedication Remarks

The MLK Jr Memorial in Washington DC was finally dedicated earlier today, and here are President Obama's remarks for the ceremony.