Black Pastor Thanks Civil Rights Movement Then Says Gays Don’t Deserve Same Equality

Rev. William Owens on Tuesday compared President Barack Obama to Judas, the Apostle of Jesus that betrayed him, because he supports marriage equality. Not only that, but Rev. Owens, who is the founder of the Coalition of African-Americans Pastors and also a liaison to black churches for the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), also said, “The President is in the White House because of the civil rights movement, and I was a leader in that movement, and I didn’t march one inch, one foot, one yard for a man to marry a man or a woman to marry a woman.”

Basically, “I have my equal rights, so I’m going to fight against these people getting equal rights, because God said so.”

He then goes on rambling incoherently about equal rights and blood and Jesus, saying, “So the President has forgotten the price that was paid. People died or they suffered or they gave their blood to have equal rights in the United States. And for the homosexual community and for the President to bow to the money, as Judas did with Jesus Christ, is a disgrace and we are ashamed. We will not take it back. We will not back down. We are going to take action across this country to change the course that this President has us in.”

At first you think he’s starting to come to a point, then he just compares the president to Judas for some reason. Is he trying to say that LGBT people (the Romans) are giving him money for his campaign, therefore he’s betraying America (Jesus) by supporting gay rights, and that is a disgrace that they are ashamed of? I can’t tell. Rev. Owens has also launched a campaign urging black voters to not support President Obama’s bid for reelection because of his support for marriage equality.

I just find it funny that a black man, especially one who fought in the Civil Rights Movement, is trying to deny equal rights to another minority that is constantly stereotyped and discriminated against. It’s also disheartening though that people actually think this. Black support for gay rights is significantly low, and NOM has taken advantage of this. As documents that were uncovered during an investigation showed, NOM is apparently, but not surprisingly, trying to “drive a wedge between gays and blacks” in order to prevent the advancement of marriage equality.