BISHOP Eddie Long, the controversial evangelist who preached in Bermuda at the First Church of God's "Nation Changing" revival two weeks ago, led a march last Saturday in Atlanta which has caused dissension among African-Americans, including the family of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The march, opposing same-sex marriage as part of a larger, church-centred empowerment movement, and shown here on CNN, brought thousands of members of Bishop Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and other supporters to the King Centre, but the march was denounced by critics as a blow to the spirit of equality promoted by the slain civil rights leader.

The "Reigniting the Legacy" march began at the the graveside of Dr. King when the Rev. Bernice King, his youngest daughter, lit a torch at the eternal flame and handed it to Bishop Long, who carried it on the two-mile march through the city.

In what may be seen as an effort to assume the mantle of Dr. King, shot dead by James Earl Ray in Memphis in 1968, Bishop Long said: "There has not been a unified voice out of our community since the assassination of Dr. King."

Bernice King is an elder in Bishop Long's predominantly black 25,000-member church.

The first goal of the march, according to the church's web site, is to promote a constitutional amendment to protect marriage "between one man and one woman", but King's widow, Coretta Scott King, has called same-sex marriage a civil rights issue and denounced proposed amendments to ban it, as have civil rights leaders who marched and worked with King, including Congressman John Lewis, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, and Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People.

Rosalind McGinnis, managing director of the King Centre, said the site was public property and that the organisation was "not endorsing, nor are we affiliated with, Bishop Eddie Long in any way".

Bishop Long's church organised the march, but he said he and his followers "did not come in a march of hatred. We are not marching against folk, we are marching for folk. Many people in society," he said, "want to go back to basic, fundamental moral beliefs."

He said in a statement that the march aimed not "to protest same-sex marriage but to present a unified version of righteousness and justice".

New Birth spokesman Erik Burton said at least 15,000 people attended the march, but CNN estimated "several thousand". About 50 protestors gathered at the event carrying signs that read "Don't Hijack Dr. King's Dream", and "All Forms of Bigotry are Equally Wrong".

"(Bishop Long) has built this march on the legacy of Dr. King, and those of us who understand Dr. King's legacy also understand Dr. King would never support any type of activity that would prohibit the rights of any people," said the Rev. Antonio Jones of Atlanta's Unity Fellowship Church.

Other goals of New Birth's march included the promotion of education reform, affordable health care, and programmes to create wealth for minorities, but Keith Boykin, board president of the National Black Justice Coalition, a gay and lesbian advocacy group, said the use of the King Centre as the starting point for the march was "a slap in the face to the legacy of Dr. King.

"I think they were using that (gay marriage) issue to get people out," said Mr. Boykin, adding: "The other goals of the march are things everyone could be supportive of, but they made the same-sex marriage issue the number one issue on their web site.

"If Long's church doesn't support same-sex marriage, that's fine," said Boykin, "but when the church tries to tell the government it should discriminate in its laws, that's wrong."

He added that one of King's top advisers, Bayard Rustin, who organised the 1963 march on Washington, was openly gay.

The Mid-Ocean News reported, just prior to Bishop Long's arrival in Bermuda for the December 2-5 revival, a series of extracts from the Bishop's televised sermons, mostly given on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, cable channel 13 in Bermuda.

They contained commentary on homosexuality, sexuality, and the role of women in society that could be considered intolerant, bizarre, misogynistic and flagrantly politically incorrect in any context other than that found on the fringes of religious fundamentalism. BlackAmericaWebNews reported on Monday that the same-sex marriage issue had been divisive among blacks, especially those in the church.

"Some argue that the struggle for inclusion of gays is comparable to the civil rights movement," wrote Patricia Newman. "Others say there is no comparison, since people don't choose to be black, but they do choose to be gay."

"The black church has missed the bigger picture," said Narlisha Jenkins, 42, an openly gay woman living in Covington, Georgia, who said she didn't choose to be gay. "I'm a saved Christian," she said. "For them to use the King Centre is sacrilegious. Dr. King stood for the rights of all people. We are all God's people." Daphne Lane, a New Birth member since 1992, said she participated in the march because it was the right thing to do, but she seemed perplexed by the same-sex marriage issue. "Spiritually, I feel same-sex marriage is wrong," she said. "But it's hard to say because I have gay friends. It's up to them to reclaim their lives to God."

In November, Georgia voters, like voters in ten other US states, approved a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The Miami Herald's Ellen Barry reported that in the run-up to the election, the issue split Georgia's black leadership, sometimes setting pastors at odds with the political caucus forged in the civil rights era.

A Pew Research Centre poll taken in October showed that 60 per cent of black Americans opposed legalising gay marriage, a position similar to that of white Americans. However, similar majorities were against a constitutional amendment to ban it.