RENWL

Click on flyer to enlarge

Click on flyer to enlarge

It was a year ago this month and some change when the Prop 8 folks blanketed the entire African American community in Los Angeles.  Every household south of Pico Blvd. received one of these flyers. We still have our copy of it as a matter of fact. The thing looks almost brand new—as if it was put in our mailbox just yesterday.  It’s a special souvenir. It was on that day in November last year that we stood on our front stoop staring at this flyer on a beautiful afternoon; it was a Saturday if our recollection correctly serves us.  Looking at it first glance,  it was clear no black churches had paid for it;  even the big churches couldn’t afford to pay for and mass mail out shiny four-color flyers like the one we held in our hands that afternoon.

But man those preachers on the back of the flyer sure had a lot to say about same-sex marriage.  It was the Obama photo and quote that made us stop breathing . Reading and rereading at it at least half a dozen times as a lump formed in our throat at the betrayal, something didn’t seem right. We’d heard the words before—vaguely recalled Obama saying something about not supporting Prop 8. But we must’ve been wrong—our church leaders wouldn’t lie—-they don’t lie. We were raised to believe that no matter what—our ministers were of the highest integrity—these were men of God.  God is the truth and there’s no way possible none of these men would stand behind something untrue. That’s what we were raised to believe and know about these men above anything else. Even if they didn’t approve of homosexuality or gay marriage—that was only because that’s what the bible says. They have to support that.  That’s their job.

All our lives—that’s what we believed. Until that day last November—a few days before the election when that flyer arrived in our mailbox. And we stood on our front stoop—staring at it. Rereading it over and over. Until finally we came back inside and got on the Internet to find Obama’s quote and what he really said.  When we found what he actually said we were changed forever.

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