RNS

We now recognize how important it should have been for the movement to understand how racism intersected with sexism and heterosexism. Although women were essential to the success of “the movement,” they too often were viewed as “assistants and helpers” rather than as leaders. And although the Rev. Martin Luther King resisted the efforts of some of his colleagues to dismiss Bayard Rustin, the brilliant organizer and justice thinker who was gay, they did not view heterosexism as an “ism” to be confronted.