Reverend Eric P. Lee is one of L.A.'s most vocal and visible civil and human rights activists. His support of full equality for gays and lesbians has put him at the center of one of California's most contested civil rights debates and put him occasionally at odds with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which he serves as President/CEO of the Greater Los Angeles chapter.

In the fall of 2008, Rev. Lee took a principled stand against Proposition 8 in support of marriage equality and LGBT rights, underscoring that - in Dr. King's words -- "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." In 2010, Rev. Lee will continue to advance his civil rights work on behalf of lesbian and gay communities and engage in the vital public education work necessary to win majority support for marriage equality in California.

With Liberty Hill support, Rev. Lee is conducting focus groups and town halls in the African-American community to dialogue about issues of justice in general, including LGBT rights and marriage equality.

Rev. Eric Lee Bio

Civil Rights activist Rev. Eric P. Lee is President and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference—Los Angeles (SCLC).

As a child, Rev. Lee was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his guiding principle: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” He has committed himself to fighting injustice in all its forms, striving for equality, freedom and justice for all people.

Rev. Lee, who supports marriage equality and LGBT rights, opposed the California Ballot Initiative Proposition 8. He is author of the book “Marriage Equality: Proposition 8, the California Divide.”

Rev. Lee has stated that education may be the primary civil rights issue of our generation and written extensively about this concern. He is co-producer of “Who Is Accountable?,” a 90-minute documentary on the failure of public education for both African-American and Latino children.

Rev. Eric Lee is a founding member of the Stand For Security Coalition, which fought to organize African-American security officers into an SEIU union; a member of Diversity Task Force, working to reintegrate African-Americans into the hotel and restaurant industries through the union UNITE HERE; founding member of the Alliance for Equal Opportunity in Education; founding member of the Knowledge Transfer Summit, an African-American leadership forum; and founding member and Chair of the Black Education Task Force, a collaboration of organizations striving to improve the quality of education for Black students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and a life member of the New Frontier Democratic Club.

Rev. Lee has a bachelor’s degree from U.C. Berkeley and a master’s degree in Pastoral Studies from Azusa Pacific University and is a candidate for a master’s degree in divinity, also from Azusa Pacific University. Rev. Lee is affiliated with the Black Business Association,

Recycling Black Dollars, 100 Black Men of Los Angeles, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. Rev. Lee has been married 17 years and has three children.

 

Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles

The roots of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, a chapter of the national organization, are in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of December 1955, one of history’s most dramatic and massive nonviolent protests. The boycott led to the desegregation of the Montgomery bus system and catapulted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. into the national limelight.

The mission of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles is to promote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s philosophy of non-violent progressive social change. SCLC’s origins extend deeply into the African-American religious experience with its biblical vision of liberation of all humankind. The goal of both the national organization and its Greater Los Angeles chapter is to realize the dream of freedom, justice, peace and equality for all by recognizing the inalienable dignity and worth of every human being. This is accomplished through the continued advocacy of justice for all people, regardless of social status, religious belief, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. SCLC affirms nonviolence as the only reasonable basis for social change and interpersonal living.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles struggles against employment and housing discrimination, substandard health and human services, and police abuse. SCLC works for quality integrated education, full political participation, the economic rights of workers, equal pay for equal work, and the redress and reconciliation of all international human conflicts and violations. The SCLC mission and mandate remain unchanged: To organize and mobilize the strength of America’s moral consciousness.

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