Update (February 5, 2020): Bayard Rustin, a Black man who was arrested in 1953 for having gay sex, is getting justice almost 70 years later.

According to HuffPost, California Gov. Gavin Newsom posthumously pardoned the gay civil rights leader Wednesday and created a new process to pardon others who have been unfairly punished for their sexual preference.

“In California and across the country, many laws have been used as legal tools of oppression, and to stigmatize and punish LGBTQ people and communities and warn others what harm could await them for living authentically,” Newsom said in a statement. “I thank those who advocated for Bayard Rustin’s pardon, and I want to encourage others in similar situations to seek a pardon to right this egregious wrong.”

The governor also made a statement on Twitter, saying "we are turning the page on historic wrongs and offering pardons to LGBTQ people."

California is taking on historic homophobia in the justice system. We are turning the page on historic wrongs and offering pardons to LGBTQ people who were targeted and prosecuted in California for being gay. #CaliforniaForAll

???? https://t.co/z1WdhTV5UN pic.twitter.com/wBnOCWkskY

— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) February 5, 2020

Newsom said his new clemency initiative "will allow pardons for people like Rustin who were subjected to discriminatory arrest and prosecution for engaging in consensual conduct with people of the same sex."

"Californians can apply for clemency for people they believe meet the criteria for consideration," he said. "The new clemency initiative will work to identify eligible pardon candidates, and diligently process applications with the express goal of pardoning eligible individuals."

Original story (January 23, 2020): Bayard Rustin may receive a posthumous pardon from California legislators for a charge of lewd vagrancy. Due to the "morals charge" which was used to target homosexuals, Rustin was forced to register as a sex offender. He died in 1987 while still bearing the label, reports the Washington Post.

In January 1953, Rustin was charged when he was caught having sex with two men in a parked car. He'd just completed a speech in Pasadena as part of a lecture tour centered on anti-colonialism advocacy in West Africa, according to HuffPost. He served 60 days in a Los Angeles County jail before returning back to his home base located in New York.

The anniversary of his arrest was marked on January 21. To highlight that day, State Sen. Scott Wiener, chair of California’s legislative LGBTQ caucus, and Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, chair of the state’s Legislative Black Caucus, formally asked Gov. Gavin Newsom during a news conference to pardon Rustin.

As a result of Rustin's arrest and charge, many publicly distanced themselves from the activist. Subsequently, he was removed as a member from the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interfaith peace organization. It didn't help matters when Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina read Rustin's Pasadena's arrest file into the Congressional Record.

The political climate in the 50s was filled with heavy tension and hate. Jim Crow laws were in full effect, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order halting the employment of LGBTQ individuals in the federal government. This resulted in members of the LGBTQ community facing constant violence and targeting.

"There’s a cloud hanging over him because of this unfair, discriminatory conviction, a conviction that never should have happened, a conviction that happened only because he was a gay man," Wiener said in a statement released after the news conference.

"Mr. Rustin's conviction and registered sex offender status haunted him for the rest of his life, and it continues to tarnish his name, despite his death 33 years ago. Indeed, California's treatment of Mr. Rustin tarnishes our entire state."

"He deserves to be remembered as one of the towering figures in the cause of justice and freedom, both as a black man and as a gay man, a pardon … would ensure his legacy and his place in history is unsullied by this event," Weber said.

"In California and across the country, sodomy laws were used as legal tools of oppression, they were used to stigmatize and punish LGBTQ individuals and communities and warn others what harm could await them for living authentically," said Newsom.

Newsom also added that he would strongly consider the request.

Walter Naegle, Rustin's former partner is also a supporter of the pardon request, reports Bay Area Reporter.

"Although Bayard passed away in 1987, such a pardon would be a symbolic gesture recognizing a violation of the concept of equal justice under the law, during the 1950s, gay men were victimized by laws that were not equally applied to heterosexuals. The rampart homophobia of our society led to stigmatization of gay men, often resulting in the loss of employment, damage to familial relationships and sometimes even suicides. I give my full support for the efforts of Senator Scott Weiner, the LGBTQ and Black Caucuses in asking Governor Newsom to pardon my late partner Bayard Rustin," Naegle wrote in a statement issued by Wiener on Tuesday.

According to the Bay Area Reporter, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey also backed the request.

"Mr. Bayard Rustin was one of the most significant civil rights leaders of our times, whose great accomplishments, unfortunately, were restricted by a 1953 conviction in Los Angeles County for activities between consenting adults that should never have been criminalized in the first place, I am joining with the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus and the California Legislative Black Caucus in asking Governor Newsom to right this terrible injustice and allow Mr. Rustin to take his rightful place in the history of our nation," Lacey said.

Rustin was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement, having been a confidant of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was a key organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He also spearheaded additional boycotts, protests and movements in attempts to end racial discrimination.

Rustin would later fight for LGBTQ rights and inclusion. He also alerted the NAACP about the budding AIDS crisis.

"I think the gay community has a moral obligation … to do whatever is possible to encourage more and more gays to come out of the closet," Rustin said in a 1987 interview with the Village Voice.

According to the New York Times, Rustin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on March 17, 1912. He attended Wilberforce University, Cheney State Teachers College and finally enrolled in City College in New York, NY. Later, he joined the Young Communist League. He later left when he was asked to stop protesting racial segregation in the U.S. armed forces.

Apart from fighting for civil rights, Rustin founded the A. Philip Randolph Institute in 1964 and served as the vice-chairman of the International Rescue Committee — an organization geared toward encouraging free elections in Central America and Africa and assisting refugees.

Rustin died on August 24, 1987. He was 75.

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