Time to Overcome Black Homophobia
Whilst marking their ballot boxes in favour of Barack Obama last Tuesday, 70% of African American voters in California -- just one of the states that have passed Proposition 8 -- also marked their ballot boxes against gay marriage.
With African-Americans turning out in record numbers last week to vote for Barack Obama -- California saw an increase of some 500,000 black voters -- many gay rights supporters are now angry at what they see as an apparent hypocrisy amongst African American voters, who they perceive as having used their numbers to help elect America's first black president whilst simultaneously voting to deny freedoms to another minority. (It's interesting to note Barack Obama's position on the matter -- he is against gay marriage, but supports civil unions and doesn't believe there should be a ban on same-sex marriage, a slightly contradictory position.)
Gay rights supporters are surprised that African Americans could have voted against gay marriage believing that they, more than anyone, should understand discrimination having suffered from it for so long. However, not only are African Americans traditionally conservative when it comes to homosexuality -- carrying strong, often negative and deeply religious feelings about the issue -- some are not convinced that that gay rights are, as many activists believe, on a par with the civil rights issues that black people have faced.
Naturally, many African Americans are pretty irritated at the blame that is being heaped at their doorstep. After all, they were not only ones to vote for a ban on gay marriage. As Raymond Leon Roker points out 49% of Asian Americans, 53% of Hispanics and nearly 50% of white voters -- who make up 63% of the voting population in California voted in favour of the proposition. Furthermore, in California, black voters make up a small proportion of the population and therefore could not have statistically have made the major difference.
Regardless of who is to blame, the African-American community (and black communities around the world) does have an issue -- a deep rooted and as yet very much unresolved one - with homosexuality that needs to be addressed.
Discussions about homosexuality within the black community still often revolve around homophobic attitudes, often couched in and absolved by references to religion and the Bible. We often hear, from young and old, about sin and Sodom and Gomorrah in conversations about homosexuality. Using religion is a good way for people uncomfortable with homosexuality to shut down discussion: after all, how do you argue with the Bible? Preaching the Bible is fine, but it does nothing to address the very pressing issues that our black lesbian and gay community members face.
Our issue with homosexuality is also partly about our own struggles and conflicts over black masculinity and femininity. Whilst black people often complain about the images of black men and women that have been forced upon us and perpetuated through the media, we also struggle with our own ideas about what it means to be a black man or woman. Unfortunately, there is little room for homosexuality within any such discussions.
"No homo," a phrase popularized by rappers is one example of the issues surrounding black masculinity. Expressions of emotion or intimacy (particularly between two men), according to the "no homo" rule, is gay and therefore bad and it should be made known that said expression carries no homosexual connotations, hence the use of the phrase "no homo."
When intimacy and expression are equated in black popular culture, with being gay which is openly and unequivocally equated with being bad, what message does that send not only to gay black men and women about how they are viewed but to heterosexual men and women about how they express themselves?
It's also about our unwillingness to adequately address sexual health issues within our community, with diseases like HIV and AIDS still remaining taboo subjects despite the fact that they disproportionately affect us. Recent research from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention shows that "there were more new HIV infections in young black [gay and bisexual] men aged 13-29 than any other age or racial group".
It's also about the role of the black church, its ability to influence and what it does with that influence.The church has historically blazed a positive trail on civil rights issues affecting the black community, yet on homosexuality they remain either silent of vehemently against it.
Similarly, it's about the black community's willingness - at times - to engage in a head-in-the-sand attitude about certain issues that we feel uncomfortable about. There are a multitude of rumours about black actors, musicians and entertainers who are gay, but there are very few -- if any -- openly gay high profile black people. Those people are not out because homosexuality is still not socially acceptable within the black community, but we all know they are there. With homosexuality, as with some other matters, many of us in the black community seem to operate a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Regardless of whether or not we agree with it -- I personally do not care who people sleep with or who they marry so long as they are consenting adults -- the fact is that we have brothers and sisters who are gay who require support: emotional, mental and sexual. And supporting them, by constructively engaging with and deconstructing our own prejudices and dealing with some of our own internal conflicts about the issues I've raised above helps the entire black community, in a myriad of ways.
It's not all bad though, apparently. A study by Gregory B Lewis of Georgia State University found that "despite their greater disapproval of homosexuality, blacks' opinions on sodomy laws, gay civil liberties, and employment discrimination are quite similar to whites' opinions, and African Americans are more likely to support laws prohibiting antigay discrimination. Once religious and educational differences are controlled, blacks remain more disapproving of homosexuality but are moderately more supportive of gay civil liberties and markedly more opposed to anti-gay employment discrimination than are whites."
That's all good to some extent. However, there's still plenty of work to be done surrounding the attitudes towards homosexuality within the black community.
It's hard enough being black without the added stress and turmoil that I can imagine comes from being gay within the black community. It's time for us to face up to our issues.
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For people who compare the struggle of Gays with Black struggle, WTF
I don't see gay people being taken from gay land to work here as slaves picking cotton
I don't see record number of people being lynched in the south for being gay
I don't see gays being denied the right to read, to vote because their gayness
I have no problem with gays and I am black, I would not vote to ban gay marriage my thing is it's their lives it has nothing to do with me, but comparing gay rights with black and civil rights it's not the same thing, not on the same level at all, You can hide your gayness, blacks can't hide their skin tone
http://www
"I don't see record number of people being lynched in the south for being gay"
That's because you're not looking. It's common throughout the history of the USA hate crimes.
It is indeed a civil rights issue.
And I, as a gay black man, can easily see that. You can because you don't walk in my shoes.
Part of the issue for mainstream America not seeing that gays are being killed or beaten is because gays are still an invisible minority.
The media does not want to talk about gays being assaulted.
An example I can give that is a reminder that gays are targets of being assaulted which all of mainstream America should recall is Matthew Shepard...
No two civil rights struggles are exactly alike, and each has its own particular history of suppression. Your unthinking dismissal of the civil rights of gays could just as easily be applied to women or Jews.
For gays, we were simply beaten, stoned or killed on the spot in countries all over the world pretty much throughout recorded time. Damn right gay people hid to protect themselves! If being gay were identifiable externally we would have suffered even more murder and death.
I don't mean to belittle the horrors of the slave trade, but you think that thousands of years of acceptable homicide against gay people has nothing to do with civil rights?
The current grudging tolerance of gays and lesbians in this country and others primarily in Europe is only a feature of history going back approximately 100 years or so. In many countries, its still acceptable to murder gay people and only get a slap on the wrist from local authorities or courts.
Yes, it is a part of civil rights.
And there will always be comparisons made between the various civil rights struggles even if the details of oppression between them differ in significant ways.
WHat have you done to fight homophobia in the black community - nothing probably.
If you cant see discrimination for what it is I am sorry for you.
The black community had the most successful civil rights movement in our country. Many movements have followed it's example. (like the women's movement etc)
I would question WHY it offends you - its homophobia.
Two things:
The sin of sodom and gomorrah was inhospitality - no homosexuality.
White gay men are the worst kind of racists towards black gay men.
WHere do you get your second points? how are white gay men the "Worst kind of racists"
When you study history lots of white gay men fought for the civil rights of black people becuase they understood being different. (David Mixner etc)
You can't be pro-gay rights and anti-gay marriage. Sorry, Obama. That's just not going to fly any more. Either support us fully or just come and say you think we should be treated as second class citizens. I might not agree, but I would at least respect your honesty. As it stands, you are just another double-talking politician that can't be trusted.
palin/mccain were not a better alternative here.
At least he was honest - he didn't promise one thing and deliver another. (the clintons)
He didn't say he was against gay adoption (Mccain)
He showed up for the gay debates on logo. (No Republican did)
He has mentioned gay people in all his important speeches including the one that made him famous at the DNC and his acceptance speech in grant park.
There is a NATIONAL PROP 8 PROTEST this Saturday, November 15.
A massive online grassroots movement is underway.
Every major city in the US protesting simultaneously!
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I wrote a scathing comment on this story and it was -- promptly deleted. (-:
I understand. I used language that mirrored my frustration level concerning the nonsensical tying of the African American mindset with the outcome of Proposition 8. I am probably not saying anything that has not already been said on this subject. I offer up my observations because many continue to miss what is a glaring point concerning homophobia and the African American worldview on the subject.
It is a peculiar phenomenon to observe those who suffer from memory lapses. It is always comical to view the mental gymnastics of those who talk about history with a certain nostalgic fondness or reverence for the days of old, yet they respond with fierce denial and defense against any indictment concerning a given plight or tendency of today that a person might link to the glorious past. Astounding is the person who thinks that something that occurred over four hundred years can be washed away through the petty and feeble legal maneuverings of mere men and women that occurred some forty years ago.
If blacks remain uneducated, blame hundreds of years of miseducation. If blacks are homophobic, blame the hypocritical religion that was fed to them to keep them docile and running in the same old place for white Jesus and heaven hereafter. If Prop 8 was defeated by black homophobia today, blame the white hate of yesterday. Hate does not occur in a vacuum, it has parents.
For you who would trash and blame Chrisianity when the homosexual does not get his way, I ask you to consider the religion that does not keep the black man docile but liberates him. Consider how the homsexual fares under Islamic theocracy and under sharia law. If Christianity is squelched in this country, as many have made it their life quest to see come about, they can rest assured that something will fill the vacuum. And even a rudimentary observation of world trends would show that it is Islam that will fill the void. So I caution the homsexual to beware what he wishes for. Unwittingly he just may get it.
Your comment suggests two things to me -- why I embrace spirituality over religion and that I need to express myself more clearly. I grew up Christian. My grandmother was a preacher. I was constantly in the bible and in church growing up. The words written in the bible are to be studied and reflected upon for there is wisdom there. I imagine the same is true for the Koran and all other works of spiritual thought that have lasted through the ages and haves masses of adherents. The problem with religion often times is not the words (unless you get into the obvious places where the hand of man presumes to be the hand of God). The problem tends to reside with the practitioners. I cannot tell you how many times I heard women in churches put down another woman because her Sunday finery was not as fine as theirs was, in their schoolgirl opinions. I cannot tell you how many god-fearing men I have known who cheat on their wife and do not live up to the espoused tenets in other ways. I am not for banning any religion. My education can be said to be religious. However, I found in the corporate world that religion could be applied to many things. Thus, I surmised it better to be spiritual, which has more to do with being in tune with your childlike nature, free of the indoctrination of humankind that distorts and corrupts high ideas of existence.
So the prejudices of Islam cover the prejudices of Christianity? Get the logjam out of your own life.
Word. Until communities of color deal homophobia, we will suffer from it in the most devasting ways: AIDS to hate crimes. Gay men and women of color get the worst of it. I've always thought that white gay activists need to help nurture younger activists of color. And young gay activists need to realize that they have a voice and SHOULD be speaking up to their own communities.
well said
The gay experience is turning out to be a lot like the black experience.
Religion being used to justify things like support of prop 8 in Cali (for example), the exact same way it was used to support slavery.
Except for that hundreds of years and generations of slavery thingy.
If you can't see the parallels its because you dont want to
Great Post!! Thank you!
Disheartening that the church was the pillar of the black community, and necessary for survival, for so many years through so many struggles, and now, by railing against gays and driving AIDS underground, the black church is contributing to the underground crisis of AIDS in the black population.
I attend a church of 4000 & have attended churches all of my life. I have never heard my pastor "rally" against homosexuality. Although I can agree with the author that many times the subject remains unaddressed in some of our churches, I think that it is unfair as many comments on other blogs have (as well as your own) to assume that "The Black Church" is one entity that "railies against gays and drives AIDS underground"
Even if that's not what you mean, I think that it's important for us as Black people not to necessarily generalize our churches as "The Black Church" because it gives some of the bloggers on here who are not familiar with our churches the illusion that all Black churches are the same. There are many denominations and traditions of Black churches all around the country and some of them are accepting to gay relationships and marriages.
That's rich. You've been all over the Prop. 8 articles here writing about "the gays," as if they were a monoculture. Now you plead for an understanding of the complexities of black religion? The issue the author was trying to address is not AA churches that actually deal with gays and lesbians in a healthy way; the issue is the pervasiveness of unhealthy attitudes towards being gay. How else do you explain the disproportionate HIV rate amonf African Americans?
We've spent a lot of time in a confrontational debate on African-American attitudes toward homosexuality; it is refreshing to hear you tackling the need for the African American community to have an internal examination. The gay community also need to do much more on facing the disturbing amount of racism within our community.
I had a long conversation with my best friend, who is an out, gay, African American actor, about what the gay community can do to open a dialogue with the African American community. He had some interesting and intriguing observations. He believes that underlying much of the attitudes towards gays is a deep fear; but not the fear that we would suspect. It is a fear that drives African-Americans toward preservation of their race. He believes the same fear that underlies resistance to homosexuality also underlies the anger within some in the African American community when one of their members marries outside of the race.
Since I am not African-American, I don't feel it appropriate to argue for or against the merits of this theory. I do believe that it certainly points out that our assumptions in the gay community about what led to the overwhelming vote in favor of proposition 8 are not necessarily accurate. The picture may be far more complex and nuanced than we give it credit for. I also believe that it points out that more can be gained by engaging in respectful dialogue than by engaging in confrontational debate.
Chuck, your friend has articulated more than a theory: It's a fact of history that the taboo against same-sex marriage, which has held sway among peoples in every region of the world since the dawn of civilization, had its beginning in the tribal impulse to preserve and propagate the race, no matter what that race happens to be. (The always-practical Romans, for instance, dealt with it by looking the other way if a leading citizen kept a boy or two on the side, as long as he also had a wife and children to carry on the family name.)
The question before us now is, Does the taboo still serve any practical purpose?
For those who think of themselves as members of a beleaguered tribe --including many Jews, African-Americans, American Anglo-Saxons (who always feel that they're under siege from someone)--the answer is usually yes, the taboo is still a necessary instrument in maintaining strength in numbers. For those of us who have a more cosmopolitan, post-tribal view of life, the answer is usually no, the taboo is a bar to equality in a pluralistic society.
"Tribing up" never seems to lead to anything good.
hmmm..... maybe with the Earth's burgeoning overpopulation mother nature will kick in a healthy pro-gay instinct, and taboos against taboos against birth control. But seriously, since African-Americans do see themselves as a beleaguered tribe, all the more reason for the gay community and African-American community to be brothers in arms
GREAT POST!! Black gays and lesbians need to get back down into their community and let their neighbors and their churches KNOW that they definitely exist! And--that they are NOT going to go away! GAY PEOPLE marched alongside King in Alabama and in Illinois-and everywhere else the Civil Rights Movement had an impact. Seems to me that too MUCH history has been TOO WHITE and TOO STRAIGHT!
Jacqmac, you need to get out into our communities to. It is your fight too, not just Black LGBTs. Part of garnering Black support for your issue is trust by the Black community. If we never see you in the trenches with us, many of us don't identify you as an ally.
And your problem is that you keep referring to this important social question as "your" issue. You plead for a broader understanding of black churches, but all of your posts talk about "the gays" as if that were some kind of mono-culture.
If you don't want it enough to go to communities of color and fight for your rights, just waiting for someone else to do what you are too much of a coward to do, then the right to marry must not be all that important to you.
Thank you for this piece. White gays will get over their feelings of betrayal but black homophobia is of even greater importance ot the black community as a whole than it is t the gay community. The statistics about the higher spread of hiv among blacks is not new and I can't help but wonder how many unsuspecting women whose health may have been put in jeopardy by men on the "down low", an expression, by the way, which is another example of not being able to admit being bi or closeted.
If black male masculinity is so under siege that it has to police itself to the point where ANY emotional self-expression can be misconstrued as "gay" then there is a MASSIVE and pressing need to address issues of gender and sexuality within the community.
Policing your own actions to scrupulously rid yourself of any taint of femininity (whatsoever) is a pathology. It's absurd and dangerous.
I don't claim to have all the answers. But an honest debate about sex and sexuality minus the bizarre gay panic would be a good start.
Well adjusted straight men don't freak out at the idea that some men are gay - why should they? What's it got to do with them?
You make good points and one error of judgment. Black male masculinity, what it is, how it is expressed, and the thoughts of one to whom such phrasing applies, are wide and varied, just as they are in all of the other fictitious and damaging demographic groups or categorizations of humankind.
It is simple, this problem of society, but the complex web of psychosis and neurosis in being makes for problems that will not die. Look at that stranger and see yourself and all problems will be solved, or more formally -- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is not a concept of color but of courage. Many are coming up short on courage and long on paradigms of explanation concerning color, gender, and creed.
Should a man be able to marry a man and a woman a woman? If the people involved truly understand, that they undertake, when they seek to spend a lifetime together in love, respect, and partnership that is worthy and virtuous, who can rightly claim that they have legitimate purpose and reason to block such relationships? Though I may covet a woman as a man in such a relationship, I cannot deny another the joy and legal benefit that comes from such relationships simply because their genetic predisposition is homo versus hetero. My only role concerning another’s healthy relationship is acceptance and the respect that comes from heartfelt acceptance. Judgment is left to God and God is not human.
Thanks for your post. It should be said, also, that gay activists need to do more to reach out to the African-American community. Why is the face of gay America so white all the time? Why is the stereotypical gay person young, white, male, and well-to-do? LGBT activists can and should do more to portray and promote diversity within the gay community.
You answered your own question with the word 'stereotypical' there. The face you see is the face that the dominant culture WANTS you to see. Actually, there are just as many 'working stiffs' who are gay--check out the GAY Caucuses of SEVERAL major UNIONS.
Gay people who are working class are not likely to be "out" unless they live in a socially liberal area Im thinking.
Thw White gay community needs to give our Black LGBT a prominent platform and a voice. I think that in addition to more understanding coming from the Black community, a voice in the White Gay community can give them more confidence to speak out to their own communities. This is also important because Black LGBT's can put forth issues that are important to them. Often times those are the same issues that are important to the Black community as a whole, not just gay marriage. If there is going to be an alliance, it has to be on many issues concerning both communities.
Thank you! As a straight African American woman who feels that everyone should have equal rights, I was mildly annoyed by the outcome of Prop8. Who are we to judge? I wonder why these Bible beaters are so quick to yell and curse the idea of gay marriage but dont uphold the sanctity of their own marriages. Divorce rates are the highest in decades. And yet we sit idly by and wave a Bible and thumb through a few passages that we barely know and tell someone "no you cant have equal rights". Hmph, where have I heard that before?
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