As Pam points out, the revelations in CNN anchor Don Lemon’s new book Transparent aren’t significant just because a major news anchor is coming out — though that is huge in and of itself and has the potential to help a lot of people — but also because he’s a gay black man, because “it will generate conversations that have only recently been broached about the double minority status of being gay and a person of color.” From The New York Times:
“People are going to say: ‘Oh, he was molested as a kid and now he is coming out.’ I get it,” he said.
Few national television news anchors or hosts have publicly acknowledged being gay. Rachel Maddow is perhaps the best known. Her MSNBC colleague, Thomas Roberts, has also come out as gay.
Mr. Lemon has not made a secret of his sexual orientation in his work life; many of his CNN co-workers and managers have long been aware that he is gay. But he still acknowledged that going public in his book carries certain risks.
“I’m scared,” he said in a telephone interview. “I’m talking about something that people might shun me for, ostracize me for.”
[...]
Even beyond whatever effect his revelation might have on his television career, Mr. Lemon said he recognized this step carried special risk for him as a black man.
“It’s quite different for an African-American male,” he said. “It’s about the worst thing you can be in black culture. You’re taught you have to be a man; you have to be masculine. In the black community they think you can pray the gay away.” He said he believed the negative reaction to male homosexuality had to do with the history of discrimination that still affects many black Americans, as well as the attitudes of some black women.
That’s what it takes to break down those walls, though. The more that people like Don speak up and tell their stories, the more the “taboo” is broken, and ultimately, the more people it helps. Incidentally, Don is dedicating his book in honor of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers student who committed suicide last fall after being bullied. So congratulations and a big thank you go out to Don Lemon, that he may be an inspiration to gay kids who feel alone, and especially to African-American gay kids. Hell, living with courage and integrity is a lesson for everyone.
This of course broke just after news came out that high ranking NBA exec Phil Welts had come out, breaking another barrier in another world where too few have been broken up to this point.
I’m sure some wingnuts will react to this, so when they do, I’ll share them if they’re funny.
“Ex-gay” activist D.L. Foster’s anti-Christian web site “GCM Watch” strives to drive same-sex-attracted and sexually honest people away from Christianity, via stereotypes and ostracism wrapped in Scripture-lite godtalk.
A blog post last week spotlighted Brittany Ursery, Foster’s latest poster child for women seeking freedom from masculinity. And of course, profit is a factor — Ursery is selling her story for $15 a pop.
Foster’s interview with Ursery posits that there is a singular “homosexual subculture” and in that culture, the women are expected to be “studs.”
Ursery’s flimsy perspective on sexual attraction: “Based on what I’ve been told by quite a few youth I’ve talked to, they are preconditioned to accept homosexuality because of [name calling, hormones, distance from one's family]. Just the other day a young lady told me how she always thought her sisters were more pretty then her, and how she used to get teased. She figured since nobody accepted her she would just rebel and turn to homosexuality. So those factors can and do influence a young person’s choices about their sexuality.”
My girlfriend and I were taking the subway home one night when we saw an unexpected ad. Two African American men stood with their arms around each other under phrase “i love my boo.” Suddenly, we weren’t the only queer people on the subway — we had the support of an organization, and of one gay couple willing to stand up and publicly fight for LGBT recognition.
After the recent anti-gay hate crimes in the Bronx, Greenwich Village and Chelsea, some LGBT people might be feeling a bit isolated and perhaps even fearful in their own neighborhoods. A New York-based organization, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, launched the “I Love My Boo” subway campaign to combat homophobia — and hopefully to help make LGBT people feel more comfortable.
The campaign will put posters up in 1,000 subway cars and 150 subway stations. The posters depict gay relationships among black and Latino men, and each poster carries a message: “We’re about trust, respect and commitment. We’re proud of who we are and how we love.”
Sometimes little messages like that can go a long way in showing people that we’re everywhere, and that that’s okay.
Rev. Irene Monroe is a Ford Fellow and doctoral candidate at Harvard Divinity School.
In this interview, Irene will discuss her views on LGBT outreach to the African American community, “ex-gay” gospel singer Donnie McClurkin and the efforts of white evangelical politicians to lure black preachers.
One of Monroe’s outreach ministries is writing religion columns. She writes “The Religion Thang,” for In Newsweekly, the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender newspaper that circulates widely throughout New England, “Faith Matters” for The Advocate Magazine, a national gay & lesbian magazine, and “Queer Take,” for The Witness, a progressive Episcopalian journal.
Her writings have also appeared in the Boston Herald and in the Boston Globe. Her award-winning essay, “Louis Farrakhan’s Ministry of Misogyny and Homophobia”, was greeted with critical acclaim.
Monroe states that her “columns are an interdisciplinary approach drawing on critical race theory, African American , queer and religious studies.” As an religion columnist she try to inform the public of the role religion plays in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.
Opponents of antigay prejudice and arrogance gathered in south Florida two months ago at the Anti-Heterosexism Conference to expose the deceit of the ex-gay and antigay movements.
Dr. Sylvia Rhue, Ph.D., presented the first keynote. Dr. Rhue serves as Director of Religious Affairs with the National Black Justice Coalition and is a scholar, writer, educator and sought-after public speaker. The title of her presentation was “STRAIGHT” Rackets: Why the Religious Right Needs Reparative Therapy.
The conference organizers have now made video of this address available. Video length: about 58 minutes.
Homophobia in the black church is an artifact of archaeology, and not an artifact of faith.
Authoritarian religious movements, filled with fear and loathing, wage an ongoing war against love.
Ten years ago, the ex-gay movement patterned a national ad campaign in a fashion some found starkly reminiscent of past campaigns against Negroes. In those times, southern Americans, largely Baptist, would conduct castrations and lynchings on Saturday nights and worship on Sundays without a hint of schizophrenia or guilt.
Jesus is not in the orientation-changing business, because sexual orientation is God-given and morally neutral
From Fred Phelps to Harry Jackson, numerous Christian Rightists demonstrate a basic lack of understanding of human sexuality and a lack of empathy for the harm they do.
The need of some Christian Rightists to be at war with some segment of the population highlights a lack of integrity and confidence in their theology.
The word “homosexuality” was invented in 1869, didn’t arrive in states until the turn of century, and did not appear in the Bible until c. 1940 as a mistranslation.
Most evangelical youth leave their church, never to return: They want faith, but not their parents’ faith.
The Anti-Heterosexism Conference was co-sponsored by Soulforce, the National Black Justice Coalition, Truth Wins Out, Box Turtle Bulletin, Equality Florida, and Beyond Ex-Gay.
Pam Spaulding breaks the situation down with her usual excellence and candor:
A black teen-ager who was verbally assaulted and “exorcised” by his pentecostal church earlier this year tells a skeptical Tyra that he is cured of his sexual orientation.
Basically my feelings are this: Unless the black community comes to grips with the fact that lgbts of color exist and talk with us instead of looking at us as outsiders, expect more nonsense like this.
The National Black Justice Coalition is a civil rights organization dedicated to empowering black LGBT Americans.
In a Nov. 19 article for The Advocate, NBJC CEO H. Alexander Robinson offers insights about the black-white divide and how to mend it going forward.
Excerpt:
…We can draw some lessons from an analysis of turnout and its correlation to racial demographics that are obvious on their face. For one, we know that too few resources were dedicated to influencing African-Americans’ perceptions (and votes) on LGBT issues during this election. Of the approximately $40 million raised to fight the propositions, scant resources were directed toward the black vote in California, no attention was paid in any meaningful way in Florida, and we were hardly considered as a group to influence in other states with anti-LGBT propositions.
President-elect Obama was against Proposition 8 because he did not feel that states should put discrimination into their constitutions. Although he has said that he believes marriage should be between a man and a woman, he also believes our families should have all the rights, benefits, and responsibilities afforded to him and his wife. A serious consideration of his nuanced position would have been a good place to start a discussion about full equality in the African-American community.
As we go forward, we need to be mindful that our foes will continue to attempt to use President-elect Obama, the black church, and campaigns of deception and fear to foster their own agenda in manipulative and devious ways. President-elect Obama’ opposition to same-sex marriage is grounded in his view of marriage as a religious institution. We must be steadfast in not allowing public officials to use religion to determine their positions on matters of justice. We know as a community all too well that this reasoning can be harmful to blacks as well as LGBT people.
On Election Day, 70-percent of African Americans voted to take away a gay person’ right to marry primarily based on a book — the Bible – that calls on slaves to obey their masters. Mormons funded the measure — even though religious discrimination drove them from Missouri and Illinois in the 1830′
The defeat of Proposition 8 can’t be blamed exclusively on African Americans and Mormons. There were plenty of white Catholic and protestant religious leaders — such as pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church — that share responsibility. And, there are legitimate questions about how the No On 8 campaign was run, which will be endlessly debated. For example, did the campaign’ decision to closet gay people in its ads lead to defeat?
Still, there is something particularly galling and repugnant about people who have felt the sting of discrimination, turn around and step on another minority. What happened at the ballot box feels like a personal betrayal and the hijacking of history. (Read More)
While most protesters have been peaceful, some protests against the passage of antigay constitutional amendments in Arizona, California, and Florida — but especially California — have been marred by attendees who shouted racist epithets.
Antigay African-Americans, in particular, are not solely nor even primarily responsible for the passage of special-rights amendments for heterosexuals. Furthermore, many African-American and Hispanic LGBT Americans worked hard for marriage equality.
Now, having achieved special-rights amendments in three key states, Focus on the Family, Exodus International, and other intolerant religious-right organizations have vowed to swiftly take their special-rights amendments for heterosexuals to the U.S. states that have not yet constitutionally excluded gay Americans and gay-affirming religious institutions from equality under the law.
The heterosexual special-rights amendment in California, Proposition 8, might have been defeated if adequate support had been provided to African American and Latino organizations that support gay equality not only in marriage, but also in health care, education, and employment.
Please don’t forget to support Truth Wins Out as well. The unethical and illegal tactics of the amendment supporters remind us that Focus on the Family, Exodus International, and their political allies will tell any lie and exploit any parent’s child if it helps to divide and separate American minorities from their constitutional freedoms.
Whatever you do — don’t just do it online. Become engaged with others in your community that support freedom and equal opportunity for all.
As Pam points out, the revelations in CNN anchor Don Lemon’s new book Transparent aren’t significant just because a major news anchor is coming out — though that is huge in and of itself and has the potential to help a lot of people — but also because he’s a gay black man, because “it will generate conversations that have only recently been broached about the double minority status of being gay and a person of color.” From The New York Times:
