Friday, August 19, 2005

Rights Advocate Coretta Scott King Suffers Stroke

(Link) If you need someone to pray for today, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr's widow would be the one. She's been a staunch supporter of GLBT equal rights.

1 comment:

LNewsEditor said...

JIC Post:
From 365Gay.com

(Atlanta, Georgia) Coretta Scott King, the 78-year-old widow of Martin Luther King Jr., and an outspoken supporter of LGBT civil rights, is listed in fair condition in an Atlanta hospital after reportedly suffering a stroke.

A spokesperson for Piedmont Hospital said her vital signs were stable but that she had suffered a heart attack and stroke on Tuesday before being admitted to hospital.

She is unable to speak but the spokesperson said she is expected to make a full recovery.

Family members have made no public statements on King's health or her prospects for recovery. In a statement Martin Luther King III said "expressions of love and concern" have been pouring in for his mother and the family.

King has for a number of years spoken out in favor of LGBT issues - especially in support of same-sex marriage and against the proposed federal amendment to ban gay marriage in the Constitution.

In March 2004 King in a speech at Richard Stockton College in New Jersey affirmed her belief that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue.

"Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union," King said.

"A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages."

She has frequently denounced other black leaders who support amending the Constitution.

King has frequently said that her late husband also supported gay rights and saw it as a civil rights issue.

Last December she distanced herself from an Atlanta march organized by a prominent local black preacher who said Martin Luther King would have opposed gay marriage. King's daughter, Bernice King, attended the rally - speaking out against gays and same-sex marriage.