Rev. Al Sharpton: 'You Cannot Fight for Freedom Without Fighting for Freedom for Everyone'

By John Mitchell Posted Mar 22nd 2011 09:10AM

At Saturday's 22nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards, the Rev. Al Sharpton presented hip-hop producer, entrepreneur and activist Russell Simmons with the Excellence in Media Award, which is awarded by GLAAD for work done to increase the visibility and understanding of the LGBT community in the media. Simmons has spoken out often on LGBT issues, urging Americans to support full equality.

"Martin Luther King said many years ago, 'You judge a man not by where he stands in the times of convenience but where he stands in the time of controversy,'" Rev. Sharpton said. "It was Russell Simmons that said to the hip-hop industry that you cannot fight for freedom without fighting for freedom for everyone. He said to the civil rights and human rights movement, to all of us, that were limited -- some homophobic -- you can't fight for human rights for some, without fighting for human rights for all."

Rev. Sharpton continued: "He said to those of us that consider ourselves faith leaders that you're not God and you cannot determine the faith of anyone and you need to get out of the way of judging and deal with the fact that God gave everyone the same human right and you must stand for that. And that is why I'm honored to present an award to a man who presented to me a full list of knowing what freedom fighting is -- and that's freedom fighting for everybody."

Watch Sharpton present Simmons with the GLAAD Excellence in Media Award below:

"It's a great honor, and I'm truly appreciative of the GLAAD Media Awards including me in this special night. I'm humbled by having one of my mentors and heroes, Rev. Sharpton, giving me this award," Simmons said. "It's no secret that faith-based communities, in some cases, have been difficult, and I think that for all of us who step outside of our comfort zone and fight for the rights of others, we are blessed. And Rev. Sharpton [has] stood up in so many ways and has been very special. And to the gay and lesbian community he's a true blessing. I'm honored and appreciative, and I just want to thank everybody. Thank you."

Other major winners included '30 Rock' for Outstanding Individual Episode, Scissor Sisters, 'True Blood' for Outstanding Drama Series, 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' for Outstanding Talk Show Episode and 'Anderson Cooper 360' for Outstanding TV Journalism – Newsmagazine for its "Gay Teen Suicides" special.

Tags: al sharpton, glaad, GLAAD awards, russell simmons

Comments

(7)

Tuesday 22 March

By Harbo

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n1ne1 : Not a good thing to say. Spoken like a true bigot.

By simpsonsimpmike

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I am disappointed about sharpton, I thought he followed the word of god....

By Wolves in sheeps clothing

Sharpton showing his true colors. A Reverend is a pillar of support for the Bible, which condemns homosexuality, what does that make Al?

By joandgary

The bible is not the last word either. I have yet to have anyone show me in the Bible where it says it is against God's law to be gay/lesbian or whatever. The Bible says a lot of things that Christians do not follow. They only defend the parts of the Bible that are convenient for them and ignore the rest, even in their own lives. Maybe if more religious figures accepted gays the world might be a better place. Besides Sharpton is a politician who can't get elected by anyone, so he became a reverend just so he could spout off his political rantings and not pay taxes. He follows the almighty dollar, not the word of God. He just uses it to get what he wants, just like every other Christian.

Joandgary. Bless you. You are so right. I am so tired of bigots defending their narrow-minded and shallow beliefs by quoting the Bible. The Bible also says that you may sell your daughter into slavery, the Bible advocates slavery, the Bible also says eating shell fish is an abomination, the Bible also says that anyone who works on Sunday may be put to death. I could go on. Let's talk about these "sins."

By kaden

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CAN YOU BELIEVE ALL THE BLACK ENTERTAINERS GIVING EACH OTHER AWARDS, IT DONT MEAN ANYTHING, KIND OF LIKE OBAMA'S NOBLE PEACE AWARD, WHAT A JOKE WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE IMPRESSING.AND AL SHARPTON OF ALL PEOPLE WHAT A JOKE,

SHARPTON HAS ONLY ONE GOD, JUST LIKE JESSIE JACKSON, THAT GOD IS MONEY, WHY DONT YOU BLACK PEOPLE GET SOME BETTER PEOPLE TO REPRESENT YOU, THEY MAKE YOU ALL OUT AS STUPID FOOLS, AND WE KNOW BETTER DONT WE, THEN SPEAK OUT NOW

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