On Being Honored in Bayard Rustin’s Name

by Ernie McCray

Just being mentioned with Bayard Rustin
would be enough to fill me with glee.
But receiving the Bayard Rustin
Lifetime Achievement Award
is mind blowing for me.

Makes me feel
like Bojangles
dancing a soft shoe
down a stairway
in a Shirley Temple movie
or on Old Broadway.

Because Bayard was a hero of mine.
Big time.

Dude spent a lifetime

trying to make humankind

more loving and kind

and he went about it

with style and grace,

forever seeking new ways

to embrace

everybody’s hopes and dreams

through peaceful means,

a pacifist

following Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent

approach to achieving equality,

a philosophy

Dr. Martin Luther King

took to our country’s mean streets

as his followers

were greeted by fire hoses

that washed them down the street;

police dogs that tore at their clothes

and their dark-skinned flesh,

spilling their blood in the street;

those there to “protect and serve”

going upside their heads with billy clubs

like in a real life

Whac-A-Mole game

gone shamelessly awry in the street…

But “We Shall Overcome” was the word on the street

and Bayard kept on

organizing

and strategizing

and analyzing,

leading to a day

when we were treated

with a legendary

“I Have a Dream” speech

that’s now ingrained in our history,

and he also with each step of the way

fought proudly and uncloseted

for the dignity, of people like him

who were gay.

And when I think of what he’d have to say

about the ongoing struggle of today,

I can just hear him say: “Love each other, brothers and sisters.

Unify.”

Why?

Because whether we are

African American or Asian American

Latino or Indigenous, gay or straight,

whatever,

we’re in this fight together,

and it will be via our commonalities

that we build the world we want to see.

Oh, and I have to say

that it’s moments like these

that I find myself thinking

of the gay people in my life

during my formative years

who’ve contributed to who I’ve come to be:

Mr. Batiste and Mr. Haynes

who had to live on the “down low”;

Hazel, one of the most incredible

human beings I have ever come to know

whose smile was as bright

as the sun reflecting off mountain snow,

always laying some knowledge on me

she thought I needed to know;

Artie Green who put on

colorful fashion shows

that were the talk of the town in Tucson

so many years ago.

They’ve been on my mind every time

I’ve marched and chanted

Hey, hey! Ho, ho!

Homophobia’s got to go!”

kind of rhymes;

when I’ve stood against

ballot propositions

trying to get rid of LGBTQ educators,

colleagues of mine;

when I’ve defended

boys who came to the prom in a dress;

when the graduates

of the first gay convocation

at my alma mater, the U of A,

listened to my address;

when I’ve supported GLSEN and GSA

or taken on

the Boy Scouts of America of the USA

for their bigotry towards scouts and leaders

who happen to be gay

or taken part in actions

to make sure

LGBTQ students are safe

at school or where they play.

So, to receive any kind of accolades

for my participation

in work I’ve simply

felt needed to be done,

is a gesture

I hold dear

with the deepest appreciation.

I already was,

but this ensures

that I will keep on pushing

towards a more ideal civilization

as there’s still so much to be done,

rights to be won.

But for these brief moments

I’ll just bask in

and thank everyone

for this most treasured recognition.