Black pastors to protest NAACP support for gay marriage

A coalition of 1,300 black pastors will go to Houston for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention this week — to host a protest against the NAACP’s decision to follow President Obama in backing gay marriage.
“ The Black church founded the NAACP, and it is not the organization for the advancement of gays and lesbians–whatever the merits of that movement,” said Rev. William Owens, president of the Coalition of African-American Pastors. “Return to your roots and stand with the Black Church on marriage.”

“Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law,” Ben Jealous, the NAACP president, said in a statement in May. Jealous’ declaration followed Obama’s acknowledgement that he supported gay marriage — though the president stopped short of calling it a civil rights issue and instead said he would leave the issue to the states.