By 1960, civil rights advisor Bayard Rustin was back to organizing with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference after his discriminatory arrest years earlier.
But politician Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. wasn’t having it – and had something sinister up his sleeve.
Because Rustin was gay, Powell believed he was an “immoral element” in the movement. So, he conjured up a threat: if King didn’t call off a march Rustin was leading AND exile Rustin himself, Powell would spread a rumor that Rustin and King were lovers!
So, what did King do?
Unfortunately, King called it off, and Rustin resigned. “Bayard was more upset … by the personal betrayal,” remembered Rustin’s longtime personal assistant. “How could King let Adam Clayton Powell do this to him? I think it was one of the worst blows in Bayard’s life.”
But when it came to the 1963 March on Washington, King couldn’t do it without Rustin. Still, Rustin’s legacy remained a man behind the scenes. And as James Baldwin wrote, this betrayal made King lose “much moral credit.”
We can’t change history, but we CAN fight to uplift and celebrate the critical work of Rustin and the countless Black LGBTQ+ movement leaders of today. Liberation doesn’t mean pushing our own into the shadows – it means bringing us all into the light!