By: Mel White
[posted June 28, 1999]
On June 26, the Huntington Library in Pasadena, California, announced the first public exhibition of the Nuremberg papers. Signed by Adolf Hitler himself, the original documents have been on file since they were donated by General George Patton in 1945. Hitler decreed these brief laws to guarantee the "racial purity" of his Third Reich. They redefined the role of Jews in Germany and opened the doors to holocaust.
"I felt like I was viewing the first draft of the death warrant that led to the demise of one-third of world Jewry," said Dr. Uri Herscher. "Once deportation began" added UCLA professor Saul Friedlander, "these laws determined who would live and who would die."
The four primary paragraphs were published in the Los Angeles Times. I was stunned by their familiarity. The minute they are on display, Gary and I will be there to see them. I hope I won't embarrass him with involuntary tears. We should publish them in every GLBT paper in the country with the warning: It could happen again!
Paragraph 1: Ended the right of Jews to marry freely. Sounds like a reason to work even harder to defeat the "Antigay Marriage" laws.
Paragraph 2: Ended the right of Jews to have sexual intercourse freely. Sounds like a reason to continue our efforts to rescind the "Sodomy" laws.
Paragraph 3. Ended the right of Jews to employee or be employed freely. Sounds like a reason to support ENDA, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act.
Paragraph 4. Ended the right of Jews to display/serve the nation's flag freely. Sounds like a reason to seek that promised executive order from President Clinton to end the ban on gays in the military at last.
While we're celebrating all our hard-earned victories (and we deserve the time to celebrate), we need to remember that Berlin in the 1930s was the most gay-friendly city in the world. How quickly life as cabaret became a nightmare of suffering and death.
Too many of us believe our adversaries are fools who are only using us to raise funds and mobilize volunteers. In fact they are sincere believers, determined to end our rights.
Too many of us think that it is NOT important for us to contribute time and money to help continue our struggle for equal rights. In fact any one of our primary adversaries raises more money every month in part to end those rights than our entire community raises in a year to preserve and protect them.
Too many of us think the danger is passed and that time is on the side of justice. In fact Dr. King made it very clear. "Time is on the side of injustice."
Even if Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson and the others look to you like fools who are losing power, their anti-homosexual rhetoric is reaching critical mass in the homes and churches of our childhood. Let these documents remind us that it could happen again. Our "Nuremberg Laws" are in place or on the ballot. All it would take is for you or for me to do nothing.
In 1997, the Rev. Dr. Mel White received the ACLU's National Civil Liberties Award for applying the 'soul force' principles of Gandhi and King to the liberation of sexual minorities. He is a co-founder of Soulforce, Inc.and the author of Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America. Mel invites you to take a complimentary, 8-week, 17-email Journey into Soulforce to learn the principles of nonviolent resistance as taught by Gandhi and King.
Home | Welcome | Our Mission | What We Believe | FAQ | Issues | Prayer Requests | Devotional Journal | Reverent Responses | Next Issue | Resources | Mail | News | Verses of Hope | Editorial | Action Alert | Reader Survey | Bookstore |