Frederick douglass gay

God even rewarded him by giving him more slaves. Small wonder, then, that Confederates proclaimed that slavery had been decreed by God. And their beliefs had terrible consequences for those they owned. Vice President JD Vance joined Theo Von's podcast for an episode filled with strange jokes at the expense of abolitionist Frederick Douglass—repeatedly riffing on a baseless claim that Douglass fought to end slavery so he could “meet men.”.

Read literally, what could be clearer? Frederick Douglass, the Freedom to Marry, and LGBT Equality Early on in our work for marriage equality, we had the occasion to reread the autobiography and other selected writings of renowned abolitionist and civil rights champion Frederick Douglass.

On July 4, , Frederick Douglass delivered a riveting speech to the citizens of Rochester, New York. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever. They may have forgotten that before the Civil War defenders of slavery did exactly the same thing.

Few today would think of using the Bible to defend the divine authority of kings or to argue that seizing land from the Native Americans was ordained by God. Such beliefs, once taken seriously, now seem self-serving and misguided. In the experience of Frederick Douglass, the former slave and abolitionist, religion served only to harden the hearts of slaveholders.

But those who base their opposition on scripture should have a deeper cause for concern. The immediate reaction from their families was unfavourable, to say the least. Paul, in his letter to Philemon, appeared to call for the return of escaped slaves. Time and again, history has shown that people who cite the Bible as a reason to deny rights to others have almost always lost.

They have reason to be worried. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself, Edited with an Introduction by David W. Blight, (Bedford St. Martin’s, ). In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass was the offspring of a similar instance of forced sexual encounters between slaveholder and slave when he acknowledges “my father was a white man,” (Douglass 12).

A growing plurality of Americans accepts gay unions, and approval is strongest among the young. For most of American history, however, interracial marriage was forbidden as unnatural. Douglass’s theme was white America’s hypocrisy in celebrating Independence Day while a seventh of the population was in chains.

Simply put, a static, selective reading of scripture has been no match for the dynamism of ever-expanding rights in America. Having announced his support for gay marriage, President Obama now faces the wrath of people who quote the Bible in opposition. By Fred Nielsen.

Opponents of gay marriage can easily find Bible verses to buttress their case. Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.

The Bible seemed to approve, unambiguously, of the ownership of human beings. For them, slavery and Christianity were incompatible. Some Christians gave priority to the letter of the law, to those verses that seemed to ordain slavery, while others, like Douglass, stressed what they took to be the spirit of the whole Bible, a message of inclusiveness and equality.

Their arguments, in the judgment of posterity, have discredited them and their faith. Today, critics consider gay marriage an abomination and seek legal backing for their position. Slavery, Gay Rights, and the Bible. So, changes in law are probably inevitable. In January , in a surprising move that not even their own families saw coming, Frederick Douglass and Helen Pitts married in the home of a mutual friend.

The Bible could, of course, be read in more than one way. The Ohio State University website.