July 12, 2009 | 6:51 pm

SCLC’s man in LA in trouble again

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Remember the Rev. Eric P. Lee? He’s the local head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference who last year was accused by Jewish philanthropist Daphna Ziman of saying some anti-Semitic things at a dinner during which Ziman was honored for her work in the black community.

Ziman and Lee patched up that whole affair over challah last spring, and indirectly taught us some things about the true spirit of Passover.

But now Lee finds himself in hot water again. This time it’s with the national leadership of the SCLC, the civil rights organization founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. And it’s not over anything ethnic, but over Lee’s support of same-sex marriage. Last fall, Lee “was front and center at an opposition group’s large rally at City Hall and marched in the blazing sun for 15 miles in Fresno.”

The New York Times reports:

Mr. Lee said that his opposition to Proposition 8 had “created tension in my life I had never experienced with black clergy.”

“But it was clear to me,” he added, “that any time you deny one group of people the same right that other groups have, that is a clear violation of civil rights and I have to speak up on that.”

You can read the rest here. In short, the national board is looking to unseat Lee, but he still has the support of the LA chapter’s board of directors, and they’re the ones who hired him.

(Hat tip: LAObserved)

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