Al Sharpton: # 5 Of Top 10 Straight Advocates For Gay Rights

This is the fifth of a series of bois that I will be posting over the next few days on the people that The Human Rights Campaign picked as the Top 10 Advocates For The Gay And Transgender Rights.

Al Sharpton: (Minister and political activist)


The Reverend Sharpton has been working for justice and equality for over four decades now, and his work is as crucial today as it ever has been. He was ordained as a Baptist Minister at the age of 9, and at 15 he was appointed by Jesse Jackson to head Operation Breadbasket, an organization that seeks to make better jobs available to African Americans. The Reverend Sharpton has long been a supporter of equal rights for GLBT Americans, and, as a candidate for President in 2004, brought those views to the national stage. In doing so, he raised the profile of obstacles faced by the GLBT community, and he raised the bar for all politicians for what it truly means to support equal rights. When asked whether he supported gay marriage at the HRC Forum on July 11, 2003 , the Reverend Sharpton responded, “That's like asking me, ‘Do I support black marriage or white marriage?'” At a November, 2003 debate in Iowa , the Reverend Sharpton asked of all of us, “ Are we prepared to say gays and lesbians are less than human? If we're not prepared to say that, then how do we say that they should not have the same rights and human choices of anyone else?”
from Human Rights Campaign