Comic Illustrates MLK's Role in Egyptian Revolution

Pundits and press have noted the peaceful atmosphere surrounding Egypt's revolution and the subsequent resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. While the events of the past two weeks will be debated for years to come, the American Islamic Congress, a non-profit group founded after September 11th, are citing a recently translated comic book about Martin Luther King Jr.'s non-violent philosophy as a potential factor in Egypt's civil disobedience.

Comics Alliance elaborates:

The AIC's HAMSA initiative - designed to link civil rights groups throughout the Middle East -- undertook in 2008 a project to translate The Montgomery Story into Arabic (and later Farsi). With the endorsement of [publisher] the Fellowship of Reconciliation, [AIC Egypt director Dalia] Ziada distributed 2,000 copies of the comic throughout the Middle East.

Ziada distributed even more copies during the revolution in Egypt, and told AIC members in a newsletter, "Last week I distributed copies in Tahrir Square. Seeing the scene in the square firsthand is amazing. Despite violent attacks and tanks in the street, young people from all walks of life are coming together, organizing food and medical care, and offering a living model of free civil society in action."

The original, American book, called The Montgomery Story, about the bus boycotts, was published in 1955, 56 years ago. A true hero, whether comic or real, never goes out of style.

Watch: Black LGBT Groups March in L.A. MLK Day Parade

No More Down Low sends along this video of several Black LGBT groups marching in Los Angeles' Kingdom Day Parade in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Writes NMDL:

"This was the third consecutive year that the Barbara Jordan/ Bayard Rustin Coalition, The Here to Stay Coalition, Black Lesbians United, In the Meantime Men’s Group, At the Beach Los Angeles Black Pride, and over 50 same gender-loving/LGBT activists marched down Crenshaw and King Blvd. to promote acceptance, visibility, dialogue and community-building as a strategy to fight homophobia and promote more awareness of Black LGBT issues within the Black community."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

IL Hate Group's MLK Day Message: Civil Rights are Not Gay Rights

The Illinois Family Institute, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and has ties to fellow hate groups the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defense Fund, issued a press release on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, denouncing LGBT rights.

Writes the IFI's lead hater Laurie Higgins:

For years, homosexual activists and their allies have manufactured and exploited an absurd and offensive analogy between homosexuality and race in order to advance their moral and political agenda. Homosexualists use the heroic battle to end racial discrimination as a Trojan Horse to eradicate moral judgments about homosexual conduct. All civilized persons -- particularly African-Americans -- should be outraged. Regarding this analogy, homosexualists have no ethical commitments to either logic or evidence, and they have no regard for the black family in America that already experiences tremendous struggles

Of course the group's vitriol is based on the lie that homosexuality is a choice:

If our elected leaders truly hold as ignorant an understanding of the nature of homosexuality as evidenced in these statements, then they don't deserve their positions. These statements reveal the utterly foolish, erroneous, and offensive idea that homosexuality is equivalent in nature to race. There is no evidence or justification to warrant such an analogy. 

Race or skin color is 100 percent heritable, absolutely immutable and carries no behavioral implications whatsoever. Homosexuality, on the other hand, is defined by desire and voluntary sexual acts that are open to moral assessment. There is no research proving that homosexuality is immutable or biologically determined. In addition, homosexuality carries inherent behavioral implications that all societies throughout history have deemed immoral.

Homosexual activists and their allies are advancing their subversive moral and political goals by hijacking the rhetoric of the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. They seek to intimidate philosophical conservatives into silence by associating them with racism and bigotry. Volitional homosexual acts are not equivalent to race. And morals beliefs regarding volitional homosexual conduct are not equivalent to racism. 

A hate group tell the truth? Hate groups can't deal with the truth.

Watch: Martin Luther King Jr.'s March vs Glenn Beck's Rally

Two August 28ths at the Lincoln Memorial, AFTER THE JUMP...

Watch: Alveda King Speaks At NOM Event In Atlanta

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s niece, Dr. Alveda King, spoke in front of another lowly attended NOM event during the Atlanta stop of their Hate-a-Palooza "Summer for Marriage Tour."

Even with an ever-growing population in the US and all over the world, King told the small crowd that humans could face extinction if gays and lesbians were allowed to marry.

Said King:

"I come from a long line of Christian soldiers...we know that people of virtually every faith and culture agree that marriage is a union between a man and woman...marriage of a man and a woman remains the guard against human extinction."

Marriage equality supporters once again greatly outnumbered those of NOM's attendees - only 30 bigots showed up this time. By contrast, about 300 people supporting marriage equality counter-protested the event. One local NOM supporter said he was "so disappointed more people didn’t show up.”

NOM has faced low attendance at their rallies since the start of their tour, but, according to the GA Voice, Brian Brown is now saying that bigots are staying away because they feel intimated by the harassment they've faced from marriage equality supporters. As we've seen before, apparently blocking someone's view is what they consider harassment. Guess they're still painting themselves as victims.

Watch King's speech as well as a follow-up interview, AFTER THE JUMP.

How Long?

Videographer and activist Sean Chapin sends in this 'meditation' video on MLK Day.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Also, would MLK have supported equal rights for gays? KPLC in Lake Charles, Louisiana explores that question HERE.