NCLR unanimously supports civil rights for same sex couples.
 NCLR President Janet Murguia |
Just after announcement of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s support of marriage equality, the National Council of La Raza has unanimously endorsed marriage equality. The NCLR is the largest national civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States for Hispanic Americans. The announcement is expected to be made at the NCLR’s annual conference July 6-9 in Las Vegas, according to the Washington Blade.
“NCLR has taken a strong stand on marriage equality and our Board of Directors wanted to affirm and support that decision, which I very much appreciate. That unanimous vote recognizes that marriage equality and LGBT issues are, and need to be, part of NCLR’s core civil rights agenda,” said NCLR President Janet Murguia to the Blade.
A survey funded by the Arcus Foundation and released by the NCLR and Social Science Research Solutions, found that 54 percent of Latinos support marriage equality. Sixty-four percent support civil unions. Seventy-eight percent support the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and 83 percent support LGBT-specific employment protections.
An NCLR board member Catherine Pino said that she thinks many people in the organization will be supportive of this action.
“Our community is really evolving,” she told the Blade. “We’re coming to a place where we’ve realized that marriage equality is basically a civil rights issue. It doesn’t mean that Latinos want to get married in any of the churches. It’s about equality. And I think that a lot of our Latino brothers and sisters realize that and don’t think that we should be denied that opportunity.”
Photo: nclr.org
