It is Martin Luther King Day. Yesterday, Rev. Briere of the Unitarian Church addressed the topic. He did a fine job, and I would just like to echo a couple of sentiments from him. I confess I was one of those who got confused and sidetracked upon learning of Dr. King's plagiarism in his doctoral thesis. Yesterday's message helped me put that in perspective:

King was not a saint. Rumors and innuendo about his affairs have been around for years and you can find some lurid tales about him on the internet. It was recently shown that some of the work he submitted for his doctorate was plagiarized. And some in the academic world, citing the lack of rigor in his dissertation, have suggested that King didn’t deserve his doctorate, that he was passed along because of who he was.

Well, digging up dirt about famous people is an American obsession. Kitty Kelley made a career of it with books about the foibles of Nancy Reagan, Frank Sinatra and Jackie Onassis. Then there is the Whitewater investigation. Which led to a national soap opera starring the President and Monica and Paula and Linda and Ken. Our fascination with the personal lives of the rich and famous is insatiable. I understand there’s a new book out now which purports to show that Abraham Lincoln was gay.

No one is immune to personal investigation. And no one will ever be found spotless. Actually, if investigators ever dig and dig and find nothing that besmirches the reputation of someone, they will probably conclude that such a clean record shows a lack of character.

If King fooled around, if he copied someone’s work, so what? He’s not being honored for his failings. I’m not saying the ends justify the means, but his peccadillos are dwarfed by his accomplishments. I’m not saying that it ought to be this way, but being passed along because you are who you are happens every day, as our president has proven at Yale.

So I think King Day is an appropriate holiday and I’m happy to celebrate it.

And if there was a lesson in that service for me, there was also a lesson there for someone else who, unfortunately, did not live to learn it. You don't need me to tell you who Reggie White was, especially if you are from this little hamlet of Chattanooga, where I make my own abode. Briefly, for the out-of-towner who was never interested in the NFL, Reggie White was an African American star football player and evangelist who was well known for his work on behalf of both his religious and his racial community, especially the youth. He was universally known as a "good person", and a citizen of whom we were all very proud. But he, too, was no saint; he, too had his flaws. Among his chief flaws was that he was a vicious homophobe. The media loves its heroes, and they rarely mention White's great evil side. But after a person's death is the time for charity, and I like to believe that he would have had the humanity to learn from the children's sermon yesterday (same link as above), if he had ever had the opportunity to witness it. It was a simple sermon, but it was exactly what Reggie White, and Alan Keyes, and a few others need to understand: it is impossible to bring yourself and your people up while you are trying to keep someone else down. I hope the next generation of iconic community symbols like White will be able to embrace this lesson and work toward bringing everyone up together. Coretta Scott King certainly understood. She said:

I say “common struggle” because I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right-thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination.

My husband, Martin Luther King Jr., once said, “We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny…an inescapable network of mutuality.… I can never be what I ought to be until you are allowed to be what you ought to be.” Therefore, I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.

To those who celebrate MLK day: may his legacy endure, and his dream be realized. To those who don't: isn't it time you did?