Julian Bond, chairman emeritus of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
is calling on Marylanders to uphold a gay marriage law approved by
lawmakers.
The 72-year-old Bond made his plea in a
video for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, the coalition of groups
working to approve Question 6 on November 6.
“I know a little about fighting for
what's right and just,” Bond says in the 30-second video.
“Maryland's gay and lesbian families share the same values and they
should share in the right to marry.”
“I believe people of faith understand
this isn't about any one religious belief. It's about protecting the
civil right to make a lifelong commitment to the person you love,”
he adds. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
Bond is a longtime supporter of gay
rights. At a 2005 fundraiser held in Virginia, he told the crowd
that “the simplest of ordinary everyday acts” such as “applying
for a marriage license” can have “extraordinary consequences, can
change the world.”
(Related: NAACP's
Julian Bond: It's time blacks started talking about gay marriage.)