Julian Bond on Gay Rights and Civil Rights Though African
Americans have a long history of fighting for civil rights, not
all believe that the battle is similar to that for gay rights.
Huffington Post contributor Michael G. Long parses civil rights
activist Julian Bond's take on how he thinks Martin Luther King
Jr. would view the struggle for gay rights. And what about Dr.
King? "I believe in my heart of hearts," Bond says, "that were
King alive today, he would be a supporter of gay rights. He
would see this as just another in a series of battles of justice
and fair play against injustice and bigotry. He would make no
distinction between this fight [for gay rights] and the fight he
became famous for." Is Julian Bond right to align Martin Luther
King, Jr. with the movement for LGBTQ rights? Three potential
problems arise: First, there is no evidence to suggest that King
understood homosexuality as an immutable characteristic. In
fact, way back in 1957, he believed that homosexual feelings
were "probably not in