“To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true.” These words were spoken by Bayard Rustin (1912 – 1987), who was a prominent civil rights activist that was jailed in 1950 for being openly gay. In addition to being a close adviser to Martin Luther King Jr, Rustin helped coordinate the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Former President Barack Obama even recognized Rustin’s hard work and achievements by awarding him the presidential medal of honor in 2013.
As a result of his contributions to civil rights and his honoring of the LGBT community, Rockville parents seek to have a new MCPS elementary school named after him. MCPS has already dedicated schools to those who were gay, including astronaut Sally Ride and poet Walt Whitman, who was believed to have been gay. Unlike Ride and Whitman, however, Rustin was open about his orientation and still managed to become a remarkable and accomplished historical figure.
Those who believe Rustin should be honored feel that his bravery would send a subtle yet important message of acceptance to younger students. This rings especially true as many students discover their own identities during their grade school years.
Currently, no Montgomery County schools are named after LGBT figures. To many, this seems to present an unacceptable lack of representation in one of the nation’s most diverse counties. According to Bethesda Magazine, Mark Ekstein Bernardo, a gay MoCo father with twins, said at an MCPS meeting, “[Students] want to see themselves represented when they walk into their school and look up and see the name of the school on the front of the building.”
Rustin’s name is currently among a group of four possible names for the elementary school, which includes none other than Mary McLeod Bethune, Emily Catherine Edmonson, and Josiah Henson, who all advocated for civil rights. The MCPS school board is scheduled to consider the final list of options on April 12.
Article by MoCo Student staff writer Matthew Minton of Quince Orchard High School