Rustin's pardon comes with a new path for others criminalized by discriminatory laws to seek clemency, in the state's attempt to right the wrongs of the past
that will take a step toward undoing decades of wrongful prosecution targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people in the state.
The request for Rustin’s pardon came from lawmakers in the LGBTQ and Black caucuses who petitioned the governor on Jan. 21, the anniversary of his arrest. The 50 days he spent in jail after being arrested for engaging in consensual sex with a man in a car nearly derailed his activist career and added new obstacles to his advocacy efforts.
“The Arc of Justice is long, but it took nearly 70 years for Bayard Rustin to have his legacy in the Civil Rights movement uncompromised by this incident,” Assemblymember Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus said in a statement. “Rustin was a great American who was both gay and black at a time when the sheer fact of being either or both could land you in jail.
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