Black clergy in Atlanta support gay rights

For years, Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial page editor Cynthia Tucker has called on black clergy to stop closing their eyes to the AIDS problem in their community because of their conservative views on homosexuality. It appears they have finally heard her. More than 50 black clergy from metro Atlanta have published a letter in the Atlanta Daily World calling on African-American churches to be more sympathetic to the political and spiritual struggles faced by gay men and women.

The letter, written to Martin Luther King Jr. by Alton Pollard III, director of the black church studies program at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, was sent to 100 members of the clergy, with the hope that a dozen would co-sign. Fifty-four did, making way for what we can hope is a revolution in the American black church community. It is hard enoug to be African American in this culture. To be gay, too, is quite difficult, especially if you have to hide it from your community's biggest source of support.