“My friend, I believe that is an unjust law. If I were to sit in the back I would be condoning injustice”.

For series 3 of The Gathering Podcast, we will be looking at the lives and faiths of four Queer Christians throughout history. This week we are talking about Bayard Rustin!

Bayard Rustin was a civil rights' activist, organiser, and agitator in the U.S. throughout the 20th century. He was a mentor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and in charge of organising the world-famous March on Washington - but his life is rarely taught about in schools or histories of the movement. Why? Because he was gay, and unapologetic about it. With his activism rooted firmly in his faith, Rustin achieved incredible feats, and he never denied his identity as a gay man. Listen more here, with your host Georgia (LGBTQ+ Community Link Worker), and guest Fr. Ruth (Gathering member).

Content warnings for discussions of racism and homophobia.

The Gathering is an LGBTQ+ church in Cardiff City Centre. We meet every Sunday at 19:00-20:30 - more details on our website here.

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, where you can find out more about us and what we're doing!

Bibliography

AfroMarxist. ‘Eyes on the Prize: Bayard Rustin Interview’ (2020), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PfPgKAMyaY

Bayard Rustin, ed. by Devon W. Carbado, Donald Weise. Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin (Minneapolis: Cleis Press, 2014)

Bayard Rustin, ed. by Michael G. Long. I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life in Letters (San Francisco: City Light Books, 2012)

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin (2003; dir. Nancy Kates and Bennet Singer)

Eric Marcus. ‘Bayard Rustin’, Making Gay History: The Podcast (2019), https://makinggayhistory.com/podcast/bayard-rustin/

Eric Pace. ‘Bayard Rustin Is Dead at 75; Pacifist and a Rights Activist’, The New York Times (1987), https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/25/obituaries/bayard-rustin-is-dead-at-75-pacifist-and-a-rights-activist.html

Jervis Anderson. Bayard Rustin: Troubles I’ve Seen: a Biography (Michigan: Harper Collins, 1997)

John D’Emilio. Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003)

TheDCARTS. ‘Bayard Rustin and James Baldwin: Freedom Fighters and Friends’ (2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OalPJ3ITHKg

Walter Naegle, Jacqueline Houtman, and Michael G. Long. Troublemaker for Justice: the Story of Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the March on Washington (San Francisco: City Light Books, 2019)

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