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January 30, 2006
Black America's Gay Problem: Can Attitudes Change in the Black Church
by Jasmyne A. Cannick
After two years of public hatred toward gays from black ministers around the country, attitudes toward gays may finally be changing in the black church. But will cooler heads prevail as another contentious presidential election draws closer and dollars and pulpits are again up for grabs?
Fearing a repeat of the 2004 presidential election, and in an effort to counter the divisive messaging from the Republican Party and white Christian evangelicals, the National Black Justice Coalition, the nation's black gay civil rights group, hosted in Atlanta on Jan. 20-21 a summit of black ministers and black gay activists from around the country to discuss publicly the widespread prejudice against gay men and lesbians within black churches.
The first of its kind, the summit featured the Rev. Al Sharpton, who made good on his 2005 promise of fighting homophobia in the black church.
This meeting comes on the heels of a meeting between black lesbian and gay leaders and Nation of Islam Leader Minister Louis Farrakhan to discuss the inclusion of gays during last year's Million More Movement March.
Although there has been relatively little action on part of Congress or the president to move forward with a ban against same-sex marriage, many black gays are worried that conservative groups will attempt yet again to woo the black vote by using them as scapegoats.
Maryland Senate hopeful Kwesi Mfume recently came out in support of extending equal rights to gay and lesbian couples but stopped short of endorsing gay marriage. Before California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have provided his gay constituents with equal rights, five of the six members of the California Legislative Black Caucus and the California NAACP all voted in favor of the bill.
So perhaps attitudes are changing in a U.S. community that many believe to be the most homophobic of all the races.
In a November 2003, a Pew Research Poll found that blacks oppose gay marriage by roughly 2-to-1.
In the aftermath of Katrina, the war in Iraq, the Medicare nightmare and the issues with Social Security reform, maybe blacks have realized that they have bigger fish to fry than worrying about two men or two women wanting to provide for their families.
At the end of the day, the national crisis for blacks is not gays getting married. The real issue for blacks is how easily we allowed ourselves to be distracted and bamboozled into thinking that it was.
While I don't think the black church is going to do a 180 on gay marriage overnight, it is very possible that Sharpton and other progressive black ministers can lead by example.
However, for gays, this is going to continue to be an uphill battle. Even though most black gays and lesbians attend black churches, they are still outsiders. Many blacks still consider homosexuality the mother of all sins, though many have a family member who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. When you add to that the common misperception that the fight for gay rights is a "white thing," there's the very real potential for another nasty campaign season. And while gays may have Rev. Sharpton, Mfume and a few civil rights organizations on their side, they have relatively little clout in influencing policy compared to the voters. That's why white conservative groups are sparing no dollar in trying to entice support from black ministers.
More than a few mega-church pastors have already teamed up with powerful conservative groups to cajole and lobby black voters into supporting anti-gay initiatives and the Republican Party. Utilizing the media, these pulpit bullies are spreading their hate doctrine via television, radio and the Internet.
One thing is for sure: Silence is not going to be an opportunity afforded to black leaders and elected officials, including members of Congress this time around. We are going to have to talk about the black community's gay problem and deal with this issue head on. We've already seen the mayhem that can come from the wrong message at election time.
The message this time around needs to be one of common sense. Gay marriage is not going to put us in a costly war or solve our healthcare problems. However, if we let gay marriage take our eyes from the prize, we will ensure that blacks -- gay and straight alike -- will stay at the bottom of the totem pole for another four years.
Posted by Jasmyne at 09:48 AM | Permalink |
January 27, 2006
He's More of a Nut
"You look at the social impact of the countries that have engaged in homosexual marriage. You'll know 'em by their fruits."
— Republican Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), in a Rolling Stone profile
[hat-tip Malcontent]
Posted by TrailMix at 02:36 PM | Permalink |
January 24, 2006
Didn't Like "Donnie Darko" Either
President Bush has no intention of seeing Brokeback Mountain, content instead to continue netflixing the Left Behind series (and its hours of Kurt Cameron).
At a speech on Monday at Kansas State University, a student asked the President if he had, or intended to, see the movie. President Bush, who owns a vanity ranch in Texas, first offered an awkwardly garbled answer before saying "no" and jokingly suggesting the student "go back to the ranch." The student interjected, suggisting "You would love it. You should check it out."
Posted by John at 09:49 AM | Permalink |
January 18, 2006
A Slow Burn
Yes, we have been a bit slow in our posts lately. Individuals and organizations lead wonderfully complicated lives that often distract from wondefully not-so-complicated things like blogs. We resolve to pick up the pace shortly.
Posted by TrailMix at 04:53 PM | Permalink |
January 05, 2006
Stonewall Comes Out as the New Year Comes In
2006 is proving to be a rockin New Year for elected officials who happen to be Stonewall Democrats. Mariah Carey hadn't shimmied down from her performance on top of Times Square (out of her micro-mini) before LGBT Democrats began to take the helms of elected bodies across the country.
In New York, Councilmember Christine Quinn was elected on Wednesday as the Speaker of the 51-seat New York City Council. Quinn is an active member of one of our Manhattan chapters, the
On Monday, the Cambridge (MA) City Council elected Councilmember Ken Reeves as Mayor. Reeves is a member of the board of directors for the Bay State Stonewall Democrats, and is a founding member of the Stonewall Democrats Black Caucus. Also on Monday, the Oklahoma County Commission reelected openly-gay Democrat Jim Roth as Chair of the Commission. In 2005, Roth received the Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats Mary Lou Lemon Humanitarian Award.
On Tuesday, openly-gay Democrat Gina Genovese became the first gay mayor in New Jersey. Genovese was elected mayor by the Long Hill Township Committee. The committee is the municipal council in the Morris County community. Also on Tuesday in Arizona, the Pima County Board of Supervisors named openly-gay Democrat Paula Aboud as a State Senator to fill the vacant District 28 seat.
Posted by TrailMix at 09:53 AM | Permalink |
