The Gay Civil Rights Activist Nearly Erased From History

- [Woman] This Great Big Story was made possible by P&G, Love Over Bias. - [Man] Bayard Rustin was one of the most important figures in the African American struggle for civil rights and freedom. He organized the 1963 March on Washington. He helped Dr. King translate the philosophy of nonviolence into direct action. But a lot of people don't know his name, largely because he was a gay man. - My name is Walter Naegle, and Bayard Rustin was the love of my life. I met Bayard on a corner at 42nd Str

eet and 7th Avenue, Times Square in 1977. I was 27 years old, and he was 65. There was this tall, handsome, very attractive man standing next to me and we looked at each other, and I was pretty much toast. Bayard was open about his being gay, really, from his teenage years. He just believed in being his authentic self and speaking his own truth. Bayard always said that Dr. King didn't really have a personal problem with him being gay. Dr. King really needed Bayard at different times, because Bay

ard was a person of great creativity, great intellect, and he was doing things for the movement that really nobody else could do. After the March on Washington, he became a much more visible figure. He was really out there in the thick of the movement. - We're interested in making it possible for people to live like human beings. About the so-called destructive child. - [Walter] But as the movement took off, he needed to step back and get out of the limelight for a while so that people wouldn't

be distracted by the fact that hew as gay. That was really the piece that kept him from rising in the movement the way he could've had he not been. If you were to look at Bayard and me, on the surface, there were great differences. There was an age difference. There was a race difference. But we shared a deep bond and a deep love for each other. In 1982, Bayard adopted me so that we would have some legal protections under the law. We were legal, father and son. This was a time when gay couples h

ad no protections, no rights. Other people were maybe a little shocked. It didn't really matter to us. (serious music) Bayard died in August of 1987. We decided to organize a small, private foundation in his memory, the Bayard Rustin Fund. It was really designed to get Bayard into the history books. He didn't have the visibility of a Dr. King or of a Malcolm X. He would want to be remembered for being a person that played a great role in making social change in this country. (serious music)