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21 Mar 2008 10:08 am

Wright And Gays

This doesn't excuse some of his remarks, but it does give another view of the man:

As a leader, Wright defied convention at every turn. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune last year, he recalled a time during the 1970s when the UCC decided to ordain gay and lesbian clergy. At its annual meeting, sensitive to the historic discomfort some blacks have with homosexuality, gay leaders reached out to black pastors.

At that session, Wright heard the testimony of a gay Christian and, he said, he had a conversion experience on gay rights. He started one of the first AIDS ministries on the South Side and a singles group for Trinity gays and lesbians—a subject that still rankles some of the more conservative Trinity members, says Dwight Hopkins, a theology professor at the University of Chicago and a church member.

One thing I will always respect about Jeremiah Wright is that, alone among many black ministers, he saw and embraced the God-given dignity of gay men and women. He is a flawed man. He has said some angry things. But I do not believe he is an evil man, as some have claimed. And I also believe he has been a pioneer in one the great current civil rights movements, and done it in a place where it has been hardest.

(Hat tip: Chris Crain).

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