EDGE San Francisco

In November 2008, black support of California’s Prop. 8 shocked gay activists. Since then, in spite of the rhetoric of some black pastors, progress has been made at bridging a tragic gap in understanding.

CNN anchor Don Lemon questioned civil rights icon Julian Bond, comedian Wanda Sykes, transgender activist Ashley Love and others at the NAACP’s first-ever LGBT town hall during the organization’s annual convention in Los Angeles on Monday, July 25.

The NAACP’s newly revived Worcester chapter elected a 28-year-old openly gay black man as its president this month.

NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous spoke at New York City’s LGBT Community Center on Wednesday, Sept. 22, about the importance of an upcoming march on Washington that seeks to spur lawmakers to tackle unemployment, education and social justice.

President Barack Obama addressed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on the occasion of the group’s 100th anniversary, noting that prejudice is still alive, though diminished, in America--and citing the country’s GLBT citizens as an example.