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.

(Crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters)

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’s 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.

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.

Truth Wins Out condemns this scapegoating.

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.

One such organization is the National Black Justice Coalition. (Facebookers, visit the NBJC Cause.) The NBJC eagerly welcomes new supporters.

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.