Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches
On the Passing of "The Lion of the Senate,"
Senator Edward M. Kennedy {22 February 1932 -25 August 2009}
Remarks by
Rev. Nancy L. Wilson
Office of the Moderator
Today I join my voice to those of people around the globe who offer condolences to the family of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and express sorrow at the loss of a human rights advocate and U.S. legilative leader in the battle for LGBT equality.
Though born into a private life of privilege, he used his public life to advocate for the marginalized on many frontiers. From immigration rights to equal accomodations for Americans with disabilities; from ending discrimination against LGBT people in the work place to preserving funding for minority and women owned businesses, Senator Kennedy remained a tireless advocate for anyone who has ever found themselves on the outside looking in.
Long haunted by the irresponsible behavior that led to the death of a fellow human being, he labored to become one of the most responsible and consistent advocates for the equality of all life.
+Kennedy's life passion was universal health care. He believed access to health care to be
a basic human right.
+Ted Kennedy stood firm in his denunciation of the war, first in Viet Nam and later in Iraq,
condemning what he believed to be a senseless loss of life.
+Always an advocate for civil rights and human equality, he was an early supporter of hate
crimes legislation that would address violence against the LGBT community, and one of
the few United States Senators to courageously vote against the Defense of Marriage Act
in the fall of 1996.
+Kennedy's words framed the debate on and battle for marriage equality: "This Amendment
{DOMA} would make a minority of Americans permanent second class citizens of this
country....And it would write discrimination into a document that has served as a historic
guarantee of individual freedom."
Standing for the freedom of people everywhere, Ted Kennedy fought to end apartheid in South Africa and discrimination at voting polls in the United States. He worked for peace in Northern Ireland and to ban arms sales to dictators in South America.
MCC Board of Administration member, John Hassell, worked with Senator Kennedy and his staff on their 2003 commemoration of the life and work of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and later in reauthorizing the United States global AIDS initiative known as PEPFAR. "I worked with the Senator's staff in organizing an indepth committee hearing on the need for strong American leadership on AIDS," John recounted. "I have never encountered a politician as deeply committed to lifting those on the margins as Senator Kennedy. A champion for the least of these has now passed the torch to us and we should be steadfast in meeting the challenge."
In one of his last public speeches, he called for "closing the book on the old politics of race and gender, and group against group, and straight against gay." He called us, as human beings, "to rise to our best ideals."
Senator Edward Moore Kennedy was, like many of us, a person of contradiction --- large in his hopes and dreams; urged toward action by his own faults and failings.
As I mourn his passing today, I pray that we may all honor the call to rise to our best selves and offer that as a living tribute to his life, knowing that although we have lost a comrade in the earthly battle for equality, we have gained a heavenly advocate.
//signed//
The Rev. Nancy L. Wilson
Moderator
