As the New Jersey legislature prepares to extend full marriage equality, an African American Minister speaks about how his experience in the civil rights movement and Bruce Springsteen go hand in hand with support for the rights of all to marry, regardless of their sexual orientation:

The Civil Rights Movement ”back in the day” has become alive in this “Movement.” As an African American clergyman who was a foot soldier in the “Movement,” I have no time to debate the differences in the struggles of black persons and the struggles of gays and lesbians. Of course there are differences! But, prejudice, bias, and bigotry are prejudice, bias and bigotry whether directed at persons who are black, or persons who are gay. I long for the day when more persons in the African American community will become advocates/allies of gay rights, and more gay persons will become allies/advocates of the many issues important to the black community. I have for years sought to be a “bridge over the troubled waters” that divide the poor black and brown community and the gay community. The passage of the marriage equality bill may signal the beginning of new efforts to deal with the education and econonomic issues that confront

poor brown and black people.

One of my friends and mentors is a writer and teacher who lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. She writes of those who stand on the side lines, who are afraid to take a stand, who are infected with the anger and bitterness of others. She says of writing, but it applies to me as I live my life as a clergyman or to Bruce Springsteen as he lives his amazing public life as a musical icon, and to all of us who support marriage equality and all of life.

My friend writes words that really ring true when she says “the issue is not whether our writing will be political. If we are silent, our silence is political. If we write our writing is political. No one has seen the night sky exactly from your trajectory. No one has loved exactly the people and places you have loved. Who will tell that part of the earth’s story, if you do not?”

Read more from Rev. Gil Caldwell at Liberty Education Forum.