Yes. His name was Bayard Rustin.
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In 1994, Mrs. King supported the Employment Non Discrimination Act, a federal bill that would have outlawed employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. When Matthew Shepard was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in 1998, she sent a personal letter to console his mother. And while the 2004 election brought out anti-gay enemies, Mrs. King steadfastly supported marriage equality for gay men and lesbians, a position that put her at odds with some popular black ministers.
But Mrs. King was more concerned about doing the right thing than doing the popular thing. While some black leaders said they were offended by comparisons between the black struggle and the LGBT struggle, Coretta Scott King challenged them. "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood," she said.
Like her husband, she recognized the contributions that gays and lesbians had made to the civil rights struggle. "Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma . . . and many other campaigns of the civil rights movement," she said. "Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions."
