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EmailSomebody forgot to tell gay people that race wars are no longer in vogue. While the rest of the country has spent the last week reveling in the afterglow of Grant Park, gay America has devolved into a Sarah Palin rally.
The issue is a particularly nasty California ballot initiative, Proposition 8, which passed last Tuesday with just over half the vote. Prop 8 repealed a historic state Supreme Court ruling that gave gays the right to wed—and it appears to have won massive black support. That's a fact that ought to shame black folks everywhere.
But it also ought to finally convince the white-led gay rights movement to take people of color seriously, a case black gay activists have been trying to make for the better part of the past 30 years. Addressing the destructive reactions of too many of my white gay compatriots in recent days would be a good place to begin.
It started when a CNN exit poll declared that 70 percent of black voters supported the initiative. That finding led many in Cali's white gay community to conclude they lost their rights because of black homophobia. Things went downhill fast from there. Much of the ensuing outcry has been nasty, even hateful. As one college student wrote to the black gay blog Rod 2.0 in describing a Los Angeles protest, "It was like being at a Klan rally, except the Klansmen were wearing Abercrombie Polos and Birkenstocks."
I wish his remark could be easily dismissed as hyperbole. The comment sections of blogs ranging from progressive standard-bearer DailyKos to black lesbian rabble rouser Jasmyne Cannick have been swarmed with racist rants and reports of slurs hurled at African Americans. Big-name gay scribes have piled on. By 10 a.m. the day after the election, popular columnist Dan Savage had shot off at the mouth, declaring himself "done pretending" that "the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans" aren't a bigger threat to gays than racist gays are to blacks. Whatever that means.
There is no question that homophobia runs deep in black America—or that it wreaks far more acute damage than denying marriage rights, frankly. Just ask the families of Sakia Gunn or Rashawn Brazell or any one of the scores of black queers whose murders have been met with a collective shrug in black communities. Or all the families destroyed by a raging AIDS epidemic we go on ignoring, in large part because of our uneasiness with sexuality of any sort, let alone the homo and bi and transgender kind. It's long past time black people have a conversation about this ugly reality.
Somebody forgot to tell gay people that race wars are no longer in vogue. While the rest of the country has spent the last week reveling in the afterglow of Grant Park
Somebody forgot to tell gay people that race wars are no longer in vogue. While the rest of the country has spent the last week reveling in the afterglow of Grant Park, gay America has devolved into a Sarah Palin rally.
The issue is a particularly nasty California ballot initiative, Proposition 8, which passed last Tuesday with just over half the vote. Prop 8 repealed a historic state Supreme Court ruling that gave gays the right to wed—and it appears to have won massive black support. That's a fact that ought to shame black folks everywhere.
But it also ought to finally convince the white-led gay rights movement to take people of color seriously, a case black gay activists have been trying to make for the better part of the past 30 years. Addressing the destructive reactions of too many of my white gay compatriots in recent days would be a good place to begin.
It started when a CNN exit poll declared that 70 percent of black voters supported the initiative. That finding led many in Cali's white gay community to conclude they lost their rights because of black homophobia. Things went downhill fast from there. Much of the ensuing outcry has been nasty, even hateful. As one college student wrote to the black gay blog Rod 2.0 in describing a Los Angeles protest, "It was like being at a Klan rally, except the Klansmen were wearing Abercrombie Polos and Birkenstocks."
I wish his remark could be easily dismissed as hyperbole. The comment sections of blogs ranging from progressive standard-bearer DailyKos to black lesbian rabble rouser Jasmyne Cannick have been swarmed with racist rants and reports of slurs hurled at African Americans. Big-name gay scribes have piled on. By 10 a.m. the day after the election, popular columnist Dan Savage had shot off at the mouth, declaring himself "done pretending" that "the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans" aren't a bigger threat to gays than racist gays are to blacks. Whatever that means.
There is no question that homophobia runs deep in black America—or that it wreaks far more acute damage than denying marriage rights, frankly. Just ask the families of Sakia Gunn or Rashawn Brazell or any one of the scores of black queers whose murders have been met with a collective shrug in black communities. Or all the families destroyed by a raging AIDS epidemic we go on ignoring, in large part because of our uneasiness with sexuality of any sort, let alone the homo and bi and transgender kind. It's long past time black people have a conversation about this ugly reality.
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That's a fact that ought to shame black folks everywhere. free games
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Hi Root.
I'm a little miffed at the lack of regular reporting on the topic of black views on the gay community - especially since you do it well. As a white gay guy who is trying to educate himself on all things black through the Root, I think it's something your communities, academics, and media ought to look at for a few reasons. Why am I singling out the US' black communities for a discussion of this type? In order of importance: 1. Health of whole community/Crime against black gays. 2. Experience, strength, and hope in matters of discrimination. 3. Higher rates of homophobia than the national average.
Some background: My belief is that a lot of black homophobia is a reaction to mainstream gay "CULTURE", a white-dominated, consumerist and segregationist subculture that has, alongside legal restrictions that prevent healthy family-building, hijacked the gay "community". You're either with em or against em. It is a culture that is reflected in Will and Grace, rainbow flags, pride parades, and a knack for getting the media's attention. I believe that black folks are not, in general, wildly in love with this culture of gayness. I am not surprised: I don't like it very much either.
I sympathize with those who say that comparing the current gay efforts at increasing their civil rights is nothing like the centuries that blacks have fought for theirs. I make gay people angry when I say stuff like this. After all, gay history also involves having been burned at the stake, tortured, lynched, imprisoned, institutionalized - and we are still regularly discriminated against.
Our struggle is only similar to that of blacks in that we have experienced discrimination, both overt and subtle, ever since we decided to stop lying about who we are.
It seems that I've heard "but you can lie about it" or "no one can tell from looking at you" as the major reasoning some blacks use in claiming that their civil rights movement is in no was similar to current gay activism. Both of these claims are true, but only up to a point. How long can you work somewhere before the conversation among men turns to sex? What do people think of 41 year old bachelors who aren't looking for a girlfriend? We're Americans: we're curious and nosy. I hate the idea of lying to people I have friendly working relations with. I hate lying about who I am. I am a gay white guy. Few people would know I'm gay by hanging out with me or looking at me. But for a lot of gays, this isn't the case. People can tell, and they can't hide it. I don't why that is, and I don't know if it's a choice or not. But I decided a long while ago to not get caught up in the lying game, so if the topic comes up, it's my moral choice to not lie about who I sleep with. This choice has consequences.
I believe that gays make up a MAXIMUM of 5% of the population, but I'd say it's more like 3 or 4%. There are nowhere near as many gays as there are blacks, we are a smaller minority.
I mentioned gay CULTURE - and that I am not a great fan of this minority culture. Why? We have evolved into a segregationist consumer clique that builds its own ghettos. It seems as if this culture has given rise to a belief that we are a separate tribe, bordering on a different race. This makes me crazy. We are 3% of the population, and we come from every race, class, religion, and political orientation. But gay CULTURE and its vocal POLITICIANS do seem hell-bent on turning us into a new race that is supposed to be proud of the fact that we are a sexual minority. That's where I disconnect: I can't see any reason to base my pride on who I like to sleep with. It has nothing to do with my identity, culture, or career. I am proud of accomplishments, not things that I can't (and don't want) to change. Gay pride should come from gay accomplishment: helping kids not commit suicide, fund raising for those in need, that kind of thing. Having sex, in the US, is not really an accomplishment: in case no one noticed, it's pretty easy. I'm left handed: that also makes me a minority. Should I get my self-pride from that? No. So, as I said, I get in a lot of trouble with the mainstream gay CULTURE. I don't think I need a new culture, especially one that has deep problems with diversity of opinion.
So in what ways can gays learn from the black civil rights movement? We could learn the value of a little patience. We could learn the value of personal integrity. We could learn to be better listeners. We could learn that voluntarily segregating ourselves hurts in the long run - though I admit, we don't always have the option of integrating (many gays in hostile communities are injured or die each year when they try). We could learn some cultural sensitivity. We could learn that there's a way forward from here.
That is why I would say that the black civil rights experience is the natural place for all minorities need to begin their research. I would not say that our past experience has been similar; only that gays in the US have faced and still face discrimination. The fact is that few social justice movements that have provided America with moral and effective strategies to chip away at legal discrimination. That is what the black civil rights movement gave to the US, and that is what gays need to learn from. But we shouldn't really say that we've had it just as bad as black Americans... because it's just not so.
Gay black Americans? They've had the roughest time of us all, but I can't speak for them, even if I'm familiar with the basic issues they have to deal with. But if we're talking mainstream gay CULTURE, that's pretty much still a white thing. And that's what gets under my skin: we're sinking as low as our enemies when it comes to finger pointing and exclusion. That indeed is something the black civil rights movement's history would teach us to avoid.
For Americans like me, MLK and Rosa Parks are heroes - not "only" black heroes, but made-in-the-USA global miracles that shine like Gandhi, Buddha, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Mandela. While they fought for black civil rights in their homeland, they became role models that still inspire the whole world. It should come as no surprise that gay people are awed and inspired by these activists: every one else on the planet is. Who wouldn't crave the genius and fortitude they embodied? Who could possibly be better teachers? No one. Period.
I have obviously avoided religion in my comments. I don't follow one, and I believe that equal rights and responsibilities should be granted to gay relationships. I don't care what it's called - "Legally registered dignity contract for couples" is fine with me, but many gay activists insist on the term 'marriage'. I don't see the necessity. In this economy, gay couples need some form of stability because couples can't live off of one person's salary anymore. More of us have kids. We own property together. We have supportive families. We get fat. We are boring. But we don't like paying higher taxes, and we need to be able to get into the hospital rooms of our loved ones. We need access to the same rights and responsibilities other couples are afforded - all of them. And we can call it anything that the Government Office of Silly Names wants. If there are religious reasons behind denying this to stable, happy couples, I don't believe they should apply to people who do not follow that religion. I believe our laws have to accommodate the non-religious. To me, this all comes down to taxes, fairness, and dignity. Not a hidden agenda, not destroying the traditional family (as if it needed our help!), not promoting homosexuality. Issues of death and taxes. As American as apple pie.