As the recent marriage equality debate has moved to the national spotlight, the issue is often compared to the African-American civil-rights movement of the ’60s, particularly in comparison to interracial marriage. While the struggles may not be the same, getting support from the African-American community has become increasingly important to GLBT activists for marriage equality.

On a national level Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., has spoken out not only on her support of marriage equality, but has gone on the record to say that her husband would have supported same-sex marriage. Similarly, the NAACP has come out in support of marriage equality. The National Black Justice Coalition, an organization made up of African-American and GLBT activists, has begun urging ministers in the African-American Community to refrain from using religion to inhibit support for marriage equality.

One of the most eloquent local voices on the issue has been Art Cribbs, pastor at the Christian Fellowship Congregational Church of San Diego, United Church of Christ, in the Emerald Hills neighborhood of San Diego.

Shortly after the national focus on same-sex marriage began, Cribbs took it upon himself to deliver a sermon restating his church’s commitment to the GLBT community and pointing out that his church has been ordaining gay and lesbian ministers since the early 1970s. He also vowed to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies in the church.

“I would not say it was an issue that I invited,” said Cribbs in a recent phone interview, “but I think it calls anyone who is involved in justice and concerned about human dignity to speak to because it has been placed in our laps and it is now becoming a part of the political landscape.”

During the civil rights era and for much of the last century, the African-American community has been under the microscope as civil rights issues were scrutinized and debated. Now, Cribbs believes it is the GLBT community’s turn to be under the microscope, and he says the scrutiny can be a growing opportunity for everyone involved in the debate.

“I think it is really important to understand that when two people have come to the conclusion that what they have is very special and sacred, that that is to be honored,” Cribbs said, speaking to the religious implications of the issue. “There is a biblical verse that says ‘What God has brought together, whom God has brought together, let no one separate’ and I think that is to be honored. That text is there as a general principle to remind us that we are to be supportive of each other and not seeking to destroy and not seeking to divide partners and relationships.”

“It’s really important for us to pay attention when a person says ‘that hurts’ or ‘that violates me’ and to not jump to a criticism of one who has expressed that complaint or that pain but to understand what has happened here that is a violation,” Cribbs said. “What has happened here that is causing pain, and to what extent have I contributed to the violation … of this person.

“I believe sincerely that our humanity is defined by our identity with the suffering of others. We come to know our own depth of feeling when we know the depth of suffering of others. We come know our own story when we can identify parts of our story in the story of others,” Cribbs said.

With the possibility of a constitutional amendment that would single out same-sex couples and deny them equal marriage rights, the GLBT community is seeking to build a coalition around its most important civil rights struggle to date. But Cribbs stands apart from this movement, claiming that a coalition simply is not enough.

“I find coalitions to be unhelpful and exploitive,” he explained. “I prefer alliances where people come together out of the concern of the other, as opposed to out of my concern about who I can get to rally around my concern. I think that’s what coalitions do, they look at specific issues pertaining to a specific group and attract whoever they can to that. An alliance I believe qualitatively increases relationships and has a deeper meaning that will take us beyond today’s concern. It means I get to know you as a person and your history and your story, and out of that context join in preserving your humanity in the way that by doing that my own humanity is preserved.”

California saw the power of coalitions this past year when minority communities came together to defeat the divisive Prop. 54, better known as the Racial Privacy Initiative. While promising a colorblind society, African-American activists believed the ballot measure actually would have led to decreased funding for community projects and a reduced ability to report hate crimes, while also undermining resources for major healthcare issues that affect a disproportionate number of people in minority communities. While not directly affected by the legislation, the GLBT community joined with the African-American community, Asian-American community and Latino community, among others, to take a united stand against Prop. 54, and the joint effort paid off.

“I think we have learned well the lessons of wedge politics,” Richard Valdez, co-chair of the San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination Coalition, recently told the Gay & Lesbian Times. “United we stand, divided we fall. Time after time, the right wing has targeted a minority group with a legislative or ballot measure that roles back progress. Back in October of 2003 we were facing Prop. 54, the so-called ‘Racial Privacy’ initiative and I am proud that the LGBT community participated in defeating that proposition resoundingly, and we only succeed in defeating the efforts of the right when we all work together to prevent discrimination.”

“We’re trying to bring the same energy to San Diego in the coalitions efforts to contribute to the defeat of this so-called marriage amendment,” Valdez added. “A number of local African-American leaders have joined our efforts and we hope to bring in many more as well as leaders from other communities of color.”