Gays Lose Another Advocate With Death of Yolanda King

Yolanda Denise King, the oldest child of civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. died late Tuesday in Santa Monica, California at age 51.  Relatives think it might have been a heart problem.

King was an actor, speaker, producer and the founder and head of Higher Ground Productions, billed as a "gateway for inner peace, unity and global transformation." On her company's Web site, King described her mission as encouraging personal growth and positive social change.

She was also an author and advocate for peace and nonviolence, and held memberships in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference — which her father co-founded in 1957 — and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Her death comes more than a year after the death of her mother, Coretta Scott King.

In 2005, King presented the Gavin Newsom Visionary Award at the Fourth Annual Equality Awards & Gala to the California State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for their support of marriage for gays and lesbians. King was known for her support of lesbian and gay  civil rights and was a popular speaker at LGBT events.

She was among 187 protestors in 2000 that went to jail to make an impression on the United Methodists and the Archbishop of Canterbury in Cleveland, Ohio in a civil disobedience action seeking equal treatment from religious groups for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people. 

Comments

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I don't think that, I know she was a great referent of that tendency so this world has changed a lot, we should to be happy for all the things this woman could reach while she was alive.

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I'm fairly happy to go away my messages inside your posts, I'd really enjoy to hear another suggestions which you or your readers. God Bless you and your splendid loved ones and also the happiest.

[kasie age 16]

im terribly ary geff evans i miss understood the way they have the posted things under the comments i ment to put tht torward eguest 2007 cause tht was truely mean...again i am sry

[kasie age 16]

i think yolanda was a amazing strong woman she followed in the strong steps of her father..it takes a lot to loose a great fighting man like that and then stay strong and try to live day to day with the fear that what if that same tradgidy happens again..geoeffry evans i think what you said was truely uncalled for..Yolanda King RIP and God Bless your family and friends

[Ron Lee]

Think you Jazzy for the info on Yolanda, one of the networks should be doing a story on the Kings. The King family has my sympathies,they have carried themselves well,indeed. I would expect perhaps Rev.Jackson my have a tribute to her this saturday on his show. MUCH LOVE FOR ALL THE KINGS.

[eGuest_2007]

Glad she's gone...The King family is wacko...African-Americans are sliding into a toilet bowl...The Kings are a big part of why...They are wrong about a lot of things...They are near the heart of the problem...Glad, not sad...Glad Coretta's yap-yap is quieted too.

[eGuest_2007]

Glad she's gone...The King family is wacko...African-Americans are sliding into a toilet bowl...The Kings are a big part of why...They are wrong about a lot of things...They are near the heart of the problem...Glad, not sad.

[GEOFFREY EVANS]

Dear Sister Jasmyne, Thank you for your fitting tribute: We must continue making the 'human love difference'.

I submit a poem for YOLANDA: "FLY HOME"

FLY HOME
SWEET SPIRIT
FLY HOME
AND
TAKE YOUR REST

WE HERE WILL CONTINUE
LIKE YOUR MOTHER CORETTA
YOUR FATHER MARTIN
LIKE BEAUTIFUL YOU

THE LESSONS TAUGHT
AND
LEFT IN OUR MINDS-HEARTS
WILL HELP US MAKE IT THROUGH

FLY HOME
MY SISTER
FLY HOME
AND
TAKE YOUR REST

IT'S WITH LOVE
CAN WE ONLY DO OUR BEST

FLY HOME
SISTER SOLDIER
AND
TAKE YOUR ETERNAL REST

gb evans 2007

[Laurence]

She was an inspiration. Thanks Jas for a wonderful tribute.

[tyreseus]

A wonderful woman who always inspired.

Also, as the person who took that photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyreseus/244916583/), I wonder if you might supply a photo credit to Out & Equal Workplace Advocates?

[GAYTWOGETHER]

Speaking last January in Atlanta at Ebenezer Baptist Church — where her father preached for many years — Yolanda exhorted those observing the national holiday that bears his name to remember that America has not yet achieved peace and racial equality.

"We must keep reaching across the table and, in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, feed each other," said Yolanda, urging those who honor the Kings' work to question their own beliefs on prejudice and be a personal force for peace and love.

Yolanda at that same ceremony used her craft as an actress to deliver a tribute to her parents, performing a series of skits telling stories including a girl's first ride on a desegregated bus and a college student's recollection of the 1963 desegregation of Birmingham, Ala. (CBS News)

------------------------

We were very fortunate this year to have the opportunity to meet Yolanda. She was a remarkable woman, who's love, passion for life and remarkable human kindness will never be forgotten.

Jasmyne, thank you for your post.

Michael & David
Atlanta, GA

[teka]

I think the in regards to the NAACP that there just needs to be more than one organization. The NAACP is fine for what it is, but there needs to be the b side, that's what needs to be done. Asking the NAACP to change would be like asking academia to change or the Catholic Church.

I think there just needs to be another organization that addressses different issues and hopefully that organization can work in conjunction with the NAACP.

Teka

[Marla R. Stevens]

Thank you for the informative and thereby moving obituary. May she find peace and justice at her next stop on her soul's journey.