A
queer year in the black community
By
Irene Monroe
In looking back over the past year of major
events and issues confronting the lives of African-American
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people, I realize
that we have accomplished quite a lot. In crossing over into 2006, while standing on
the shoulders of our LGBTQ foremothers and forefathers, here’s
a glimpse back at our creative genius and collective strength
that got us through the raging culture wars of 2005.
Building an African-American civil rights
organization
In coming up with the idea of building an
organization that addresses the social justice issues of
African-American LGBTQ people, founder and president Keith
Boykin created the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) in
2004. As a civil rights organization of black LGBTQ people and
our allies, the NBJC is dedicated to fostering equality by
fighting racism and homophobia. The group advocates for social
justice by educating and mobilizing opinion leaders, including
elected officials, clergy, and media, with a focus on
African-American communities.
In October 2005, the NBJC became official
when the organization was approved for 501(c)(3) status. And in
November 2005, NYANSAPO, the magazine of the NBJC, premiered.
The magazine is a first-time comprehensive look at how
African-American LGBTQ people live out the intersectionality of
their multiple identities.
Standing in need of prayer
On the church front, our community heard the
usual cacophonies of hollering homophobes confusing hallow
homilies with hate filled messages. The shock and awe, however,
came from our allies.
In July 2005, one of Washington, D.C.’s
prominent African-American ministers, the Rev. Willie F. Wilson,
pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church in Southeast Washington
who in 1999 opened his church for a forum on discrimination
against same-gender loving (SGL) people, set off a firestorm
with his now-notorious sermon denouncing gays and lesbians.
With graphic language, Wilson told an
approving audience punctuated with Amens, “Lesbianism is about
to take over our community. Women falling down on another woman,
strapping yourself up with something, it ain’t real. That
thing ain’t got no feeling in it. It ain’t natural. Anytime
somebody got to slap some grease on your behind and stick
something in you, it’s something wrong with that. Your butt
ain’t made for that. No wonder your behind is bleeding. You
can’t make no correction with a screw and another screw. The
Bible says God made them male and female.”
In August 2005, the well-loved and lauded
liberal African-American pastor, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright of
Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, who has a
same-gender loving ministry in the church, wrote in the
church’s magazine The Trumpet his real views about this
segment of his congregation, causing many parishioners to leave
the church.
In his article “Maybe I Missed
Something!” many of us who admire him got to see how our
issues are not a priority in his present-day prophetic social
gospel intended to ameliorate the social conditions of all
God’s African-American children. “While our denomination
grappled with how to address that human problem, the
denomination also, at that Synod, voted to ordain a homosexual.
Guess which item made the newspapers? Maybe I missed
something!”
And in his closing tirades on SGL issues,
Wright stated this: “Are 44 million Americans with no health
care insurance less important than ‘gay marriage?’ Why
aren’t Black Christians in an uproar about that? Maybe I am
missing something!”
When the article came out in light of the
United Church of Christ’s stance on ordaining and marrying SGL
people, it was disheartening for many of us to know that Pastor
Wright broke rank with his liberal denomination to stand in
solidarity with a more conservative Black Church position.
Campaign against homophobia
While our connections and contributions to
the larger black religious cosmos are desecrated every time
homophobic pronouncements go unchecked in these holy places of
worship, there are, unbeknownst to many, African-American
ministers who support the ethos and expression of our
spirituality. These ministers understand that in standing within
the Black Church tradition of a prophetic social gospel, one can
be unabashedly Christian, unapologetically black, and also
uncompromisingly SGL- friendly.
In August 2005, the Rev. James A. Forbes,
senior minister at the Riverside Church in New York City, held a
conference to address anti-gay rhetoric spewing from pulpits in
conservatives churches.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, along with his National
Action Network, has become a leader in the fight to stamp out
homophobia in the Black Church. Why the personal stake in the
issue? His sister is a lesbian. In the October issue of The
Advocate, Sharpton stated, “I understood the pain of
having to lead a double life in the system [since] we grew up in
the church.”
And while misogynistic and homophobic lyrics
are a mainstay in hip-hop music, hip-hop artist Kanye West is on
a campaign against homophobia by challenging his fellow rappers
to eschew those rhymes. During an interview for an MTV special,
West disclosed that he changed his views when he found out his
cousin is gay. “It was kind of like a turning point when I was
like, ‘Yo, this is my cousin. I love him and I’ve been
discriminating against gays.’”
Tied in a knot
Today the topic of marriage equality is still
debated with African-American ministers leading the campaign
against it. Ironically, however, most of the African-American
LGBTQ community is not too wedded to the idea, either.
With continued silence and no action from the
communities on the topic of same-sex marriage, the issue
nonetheless will not be disappearing anytime soon.
Social research, moreover, shows that
African-American same-gender households have everything to gain
in the struggle for marriage equality and more to lose when
states pass amendments banning marriage equality and other forms
of partner recognition.
In November 2005, Equality Maryland and the
NBJC published “Jumping the Broom: a Black Perspective on
Same-Gender Marriage.” The publication was produced to
initiate dialogue in churches, fraternal organizations, media
outlets, and NAACP chapters.
The statistics revealed the following:
Forty-five percent of black same-sex couples reported stable
relationships of five years or longer. Even if marriage becomes
a legal option, clergy will decide whom they wish to marry. And
20 percent of black men and 24 percent of black women in
same-sex households are denied health care benefits for their
partners by the government.
Million more steps for an inclusive march
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the
historic October 1995 Million Man March, the Minister Louis
Farrakhan announced on May 2, 2005, the plans for the October
2005 Millions More Movement March.
Not surprisingly, however, Farrakhan’s
invitation to an “all-inclusive” and broad coalition of
African-American civil rights leaders and organization once
again excluded LGBTQ activists and organizations.
With a promise that there would be an LGBTQ
speaker at the event, Keith Boykin was dropped on the day of the
event, but Cleo Manago, founder of Black Men’s Xchange (BMX),
an Afrocentric support system for the empowerment of black men
of diverse sexualities, was not. Why? Manago mirrors the
fundamental sentiment of Farrakhan’s theology — a conscious
separation from the dominant white heterosexual and queer
cultures.
Having their say
Bestsellers in the writers’ corner came
from books discussing the topic of African-American men “on
the down low.” And J.L. King became the country’s poster boy
by exposing the behavior in his 2004 bestseller, On The Down
Low: A Journey into the Lives of ‘Straight’ Black Men Who
Sleep with Men.
Keith Boykin’s 2005 bestseller, Beyond
the Down Low, dispelled the hype that men on the DL are the
root cause of the AIDS epidemic by exposing how the Black Church
and its sexual politics contribute to this subculture
“Ex-gay” activist and minister K. Godfrey
Easter depicts his recent and dramatic transformation from being
gay to now being straight in his memoir Love Lifted Me
Because of the Church: Why One Can Not Be Gay & Christian.
When asked what brought about the turn around, Easter replied,
“God did it! All I can say is that inside me, the instant love
cataclysmically collided with wisdom, a great separation took
place — me from homosexuality.”
And best-selling author of How Stella Got
Her Grove Back,” Terry McMillan, is “waiting to
exhale” from the news that her once boyfriend turned husband,
Jonathan Plummer, who inspired the blockbuster hit of the same
title, is gay.
Coming out moments
With October celebrated as “coming out
month,” the fields of sports and entertainment had their
moments.
Three-time WNBA MVP and Olympic gold medalist
Sheryl Swoopes came out in an interview with ESPN’S The
Magazine.
And after a dearth of black actors in
“Queer as Folk,” “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and
“The L Word,” a deluge of applause was heard throughout the
nation’s LGBTQ community when the black cast of “Noah’s
Arc” premiered on Logo, a gay and lesbian cable channel.
Final farewells
Within the African-American community, we
have lost many of our great heroes with Rosa Parks, the mother
of the 1960s civil rights movement, leaving us in November.
When we lost R&B crooner Luther Vandross,
the queries about his orientation still surfaced. Vandross
finally came out before his death to set the record straight. He
was “bi” — not sexually but coastally. He had homes in
both California and New York.
posted 11 January 2005
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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Sister Grief: Defined and Conquered in Jesus
By Yvonne Terry-Lewis
"Sister Grief: Defined and Conquered in Jesus" is an engaging book that confronts the universal experience of living with death and dying. The author personifies the personal loss of loved ones as "Sister Grief." The book, partly autobiographical, provides a holistic plan for conquering grief through faith, through a special relationship with Jesus. This plan is designed to help navigate one through the grieving process.
The book includes personal stories, poetry, testimonials, letters, practical suggestions, and strategies based on a love for the divinity in one's life. Although the circumstances that cause grief may be sad, this book is filled with love, encouragement, and hope that lead one towards spiritual health and wholeness.
What Consolation Is Christ to Suffering
The Michael D Terry Scholarship Board |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
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George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
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Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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