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Black and gay in America
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BLACK AND GAY IN AMERICA
by
Tamara Maxine Jones
A Professional Project Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
BROADCAST JOURNALISM
August 2002
Copyright 2002 Tamara Jones
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UMI Number: 1414903
UMI
UMI Microform 1414903
Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.
ProQuest Information and Learning Company
300 North Zeeb Road
P.O. Box 1346
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
The Graduate School
University Park
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90089-1695
This thesis, w ritten b y
Under th e direction o f h&.R. Thesis
Com m ittee, and approved b y a ll its members,
has been p resen ted to and accepted b y The
Graduate School, in p a rtia l fulfillm ent o f
requirem ents fo r th e degree o f
1 H /sS-lug y ]
VDaIcA s I ; J d\AVV\ a i
< ean o f Graduate Studies
.12-18-2.0.02
THESIS COMMITTEE
Chairperson
..........
MaHaM hA
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
i. Abstract............................................................................iii
ii. Thesis.............................................................................. 1-14
iii. Bibliography.................................................................. 15
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iii
ABSTRACT
African American lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals face a double
blast of bias. First, because of their race, and when it’s revealed, because of their
sexuality.
Many African American gays and lesbians say that while the black
community, has often been willing to tolerate their presence, it has also demanded
that they keep quiet about their sexuality. The influence of religion and the church,
which has a history of being intolerant of homosexuality, is strong in many African
American families.
But after many years in the closet due to the violence-ridden
homophobia of the majority, and shunned into denial by what some black
homosexuals describe as a “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” ethos in their own community,
African American lesbians and gays, prodded largely by the AIDS epidemic, are
now charting an increasingly public course out of their long silence.
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1
BLACK AND GAY IN AM ERICA
Describing Michael Hinson, Jr. as a gay, African-American male is accurate.
But that doesn’t mean he’ll like it.
“A white person might say, ‘I am a gay, white male,’ but homosexuals of
color will generally define themselves by their race first,” says Hinson, executive
director of Colors, a support and educational agency for black, Hispanic, and Asian
homosexuals. “It would be African American gay male.”
African American lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals face a double
blast of bias, says Hinson, first, because of their race, and when it’s revealed,
because of their sexuality. Defining themselves in their own terms — including their
racial heritage first — is more than linguistic hairsplitting. It is part of a sometimes
painful effort to forcefully assert their right to full acceptance by both African
Americans and white gays.
Many African American gays and lesbians say that while the black
community, has often been willing to tolerate their presence, it has also demanded
that they keep quiet about their sexuality. The influence of religion and the church,
which has a history of being intolerant of homosexuality, is strong in many African
American families.
But after many years in the closet due to the violence-ridden
homophobia of the majority, and shunned into denial by what some black
homosexuals describe as a “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” ethos in their own community,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
2
African American lesbians and gays, prodded largely by the AIDS epidemic,
are now charting an increasingly public course out of their long silence.
“Most heterosexuals assume that when you say ‘gay’ that means one big
happy family,” says Tyrone Smith, executive director of Unity Inc., organized in
1989 to assist African American gay men infected by HIV. “There is racism, sexism
and classism that permeates the gay community as well.”
The feeling of being pushed into the closet by one’s own race and alienated
by other gays and lesbians on the basis of ethnicity propels several gay African
Americans to lead potentially dangerous double lives. Many black gay and bisexual
men learn early not to talk about their sexuality, not to seek care, get tested for HIV
or tell each other if they test positive for the virus. Some are shamed into silence and
so stay in marriages, putting their wives, children and male sex partners at risk.
But the underneath the silence looms a devastating disease that is infecting
African Americans at a disproportionate rate.
Nothing has changed the uneasy relationship between the black community
and its gay sons and daughters more dramatically than the AIDS epidemic. Since
AIDS emerged as the leading cause of death for African Americans under the age of
55, most institutions in the black community have been forced to re-examine its
views of homosexuality. And while there is virtually universal support within the
African American lesbian and gay community for better education and funding to
address the epidemic, there is also a strong conviction that one of the best ways to
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3
attack the spread of the disease is by promoting and supporting stable,
monogamous relationships.
And so the question must be asked: after two decades of sunken faces on the
evening news, political protests, Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington in
Philadelphia, AIDS quilts, and free condoms, how can anyone fail to grasp that
certain sexual practices can lead to a fatal disease?
Those reasons, which have eluded health care workers year after year, appear
to be as complex as they are numerous. Many stem from how a man perceives his
homosexuality and how that plays out in where and how he chooses to have sex. A
survey by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta found that nearly a quarter of
black HIV-positive men who had sex with other men consider themselves
heterosexual. Experts say words like “gay” and “bisexual” turn off black men,
conjuring up images “of swishy white guys wearing pink triangles on their chests.”
“W hat’s more, in the black community such labels rob a man of his most
valuable stock, his masculinity,” says Phill Wilson, founder of the Los Angeles-
based African American AIDS Policy and Training Institute. Wilson says negative
attitudes in the African American community can be traced to slavery and racism,
which defined black sexuality in negative terms.
“One component of making racism work is to ensure that the image of black
sexuality is a threat or is inferior in some way,” he said. “W e’ve been painted as
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4
these overly sexualized, overly sensuous, promiscuous beings, and we’ve
internalized a lot of that.”
“With a long history of black men being stripped of their masculinity
through oppression and fear came an insatiable desire to hold on to it, and deny any
sexual urges towards other men. Shame and stigma lead these men to carry elaborate
double lives. They have sex with other men, often without a condom or a
conversation about an AIDS test, and go home to their wives. Unfortunately, this is
emerging as the leading method of transmission for black heterosexual women. ”
said Wilson.
This issue among African Americans has become such a concern that health
care workers are now using the phrase “men who have sex with men” (MSM),
hoping it will make these men more open to information about safe sex and HIV
testing.
Silence is not a new concept for gay black men. A pivotal figure in the
history of the African American gay community was Bayard Rustin, the architect of
the 1963 civil rights march on Washington. Rustin, a former communist and
conscientious objector, yielded his position as the march’s primary organizer to his
mentor, A. Philip Randolph. Rustin was convinced that his own homosexuality, an
open secret to the black community, might be used to damage the reputation of other
march leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr.
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5
“I think today you would have a larger discussion of how to deal with a
situation like that,” says Wilson.
In fact, certain that negative attitudes toward gay people have worsened and
prolonged the AIDS crisis in their community, Wilson and other black leaders are
pressing for more open dialogue on gay issues— in historically black
churches through political, business and social organizations.
The role of traditional black institutes like churches is shaped by their
inability over the years to face homosexuality in their midst. The direction of money
and resources to fight AIDS is also a factor; as, in some cases are poverty, drug use
and sexual abuse. So, undeniably, is youth.
“There are some black church groups that are better at dealing with the gay
community and others that are horrible,” said Wilson. “But I don’t think the larger
AIDS groups give the voice to the black community. A lot of these men don’t have
a grip on what they are feeling sexually, and I don’t think many of the organizations
have a grasp on how to communicate with them.”
“It’s pretty well known that half of the cases of AIDS among African
American men have been among men who have sex with men,” said Dr. John
Peterson, psychology professor at Georgia State University, who is conducting a
study of gay and bisexual men of all races ages 15-25.
Peterson’s research, based on interviews with 75 men in Atlanta and Chicago
and published in the 1998 AIDS Education and Prevention Journal, shows that black
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6
gay and bisexual men believe they face greater homophobia than whites. In addition,
African American men who have sex with men respond differently to homophobia
than whites, Peterson said, basing his conclusions on a further study of 250 black gay
and bisexual men in Atlanta.
His research found that white men who have sex with men are more likely
than blacks to leave their families and communities, particularly small towns or rural
areas, and move to gay enclaves in major cities, which provide a safe haven. In
Atlanta, Midtown neighborhoods are home to many white gay men. In New York,
its Chelsea or Greenwich Village; in San Francisco, the Castro district. There is no
such community, however, for African American men who may be less willing to
live outside black neighborhoods.
“The African American community provides them with support to deal with
racism they experience in the general population and in the white mainstream gay
community,” said Peterson. “The communities that black gays and lesbians look to
for security, however, push gay men in particular to lead double lives. This may
explain some of the spread of the disease in black females.”
Project Azuka is a community based non-profit organization in Los Angeles
that provides AIDS education and research. Of the nearly 2,000 women Azuka
serves each year, about 250 are HIV-positive. Of those, about 80 percent were
infected by the men they loved and trusted—husbands, boyfriends, and lovers.
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7
Now, in part because of the impact of AIDS on the black community, there is
a nationwide push for black churches to begin talking about sexuality.
In black churches, however, the approach regarding homosexuality often
mirrors the military’s policy of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” While not monolithic, black
churches by and large consider homosexuality a sin. Gay members occupy an
ambiguous position in their congregations. They often are the leading musicians and
soloists, yet acknowledgment of their sexuality is taboo.
“It’s a cultural thing for us,” said Wilson. “The issue is so complex for us,
because our sexuality has always been degraded. It’s a sensitive subject.”
“I’m a Catholic, and my relationship with God is personal. I really don’t care
what anyone else thinks. I know what I feel and what God thinks and that’s all that
matters for me,” said Carolyn Weaver, a black lesbian who has been with her partner
for 37 years.
An increasing number of black gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered
people who previously sought spiritual refuge in predominantly white denominations
or alternative religions are demanding to be more than silent presences in churches
that reflect their heritage. Those involved in the struggle call the issue “explosive”
and “dangerous.” After all, much of the black church and some of its followers have
branded homosexuality as “abomination” and a threat to the black family— often
using the Bible to reinforce their positions.
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8
“The scripture is explicitly clear that homosexuality is contrary to the will of
God,” said the Rev. Stanley Rhone, pastor at Church of God in Omaha. “It is a sin
identified by scripture, and we treat it as a sin. We do not advocate it, and we do not
promote it.”
One lesbian, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, criticized the use of
Scripture to condemn homosexuality.
“People have used the Bible for centuries to justify a whole lot of things,
including war and slavery,” said the woman, who asked to be called Wanda. “And I
think we get into the same kind of issues when we talk about issues of religion and
sexuality. Biblical scripture is based on interpretation, and a verse can say whatever
you need for it to say.”
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, senior pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ
in Chicago, in a widely circulated sermon titled “Good News for Homosexuals,”
cautioned black ministers against the misuse of scripture.
“Racists tried to use or misuse certain texts taken out of context to justify
holding black folks in chattel slavery,” he said. “Just as we study those scriptures
carefully and put them up against the whole counsel of God, we need to do the same
with the Scriptures on homosexuality. Whether they are in Leviticus, Corinthians,
Romans or Genesis, we need to study the texts in context.”
“This issue has caused as much of a firestorm as race and women’s
ordination,” says Kelly Brown Douglas, author of Sexuality and the Black Church:
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9
A Womanist Perspective. “Once again we are being called to look into the real
meaning of our faith. W e’re being challenged, and all too often the church fails the
test.”
A small number of black pastors are now perusing their Bibles and deciding
that the Good Book doesn’t prohibit the acceptance of alternative lifestyles.
Historically black houses of worship such as Trinity United Church of Christ in
Chicago and National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C. are now beckoning
gays and lesbians into their pews. Programs such as the annual National Black
Religious Summit on Sexuality in Washington educates pastors about homosexuality
at a grass-roots level.
“We recognize that there’s a great resistance in the church because of
ignorance and what they have been taught,” says Carlton Veazey, president of the
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, organizer of the Black Religious
Summit. “But we see ministers, younger ones especially, dealing with this issue in a
very honest and straightforward way. So I think that the perception of the black
church is changing as it relates to homosexuality.”
Of course homophobia isn’t unique to the black church. Many white Baptist,
Catholic, and fundamentalist Christian churches scathingly condemn gays and
lesbians. A recent Gallop poll revealed that 43 percent of Americans still think
homosexuality is not an acceptable lifestyle. In the black church, the subject remains
a dirty-laundry topic that people don’t want aired. It’s so sensitive that those
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10
working for acceptance speak carefully, reluctant to erase the progress by joining
what Douglas calls the “beat down the black church bandwagon.”
The black church’s disapproval of homosexuality is a sign of its discomfort
with sexuality, “because white culture racialized sex and ‘sexuated’ race by equating
blackness with sexual deviance, the black community has been diligent in its efforts
to sever the link between such deviance and blackness,” says Douglas.
There may be no greater challenge than to speak against prevailing unjust
attitudes of one’s blood family, church family, and primary social community.
“This is a major reason why African American lesbians and gays have not
been more forthright in their opposition to African American anti-gay rhetoric.
Such a challenge usually results in scourge and ridicule from other African
Americans for ‘airing dirty laundry’ in public,” Horace Griffin writes in his essay
Their Own Received Them Not: African American Lesbians and Gays in Black
Churches.
For example, in Ofra Bikel’s 1992 Frontline documentary “Public
Hearing, Private Pain: The Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill Hearings,” African
American feminist Paula Giddings argues that Hill committed the black
community’s unpardonable sin by exposing the wrongdoing of a fellow African
American. Those who dare to speak out often face negative labeling as “Uncle
Tom,” “sellout,” or “traitor to the race.” This labeling is a powerful weapon used
to silence any African American who criticizes, in this respect, a black church
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11
system that has historically subordinated heterosexual women, lesbians, and gay
men.
So, the circus-like hype over the ABC/Disney show Ellen has passed. But
the problem of homophobia hasn’t. It is still deeply entrenched in many
Americans. And that includes many African Americans, especially African
American men. Discussion and education have been missing from the equation.
Phill Wilson states: “The national gay and lesbian publication BLK might as well
gather dust in the Smithsonian for all that most Blacks know about it. It’s
possible to read thoroughly two or three consecutive issues of The Advocate, the
national biweekly gay newsmagazine, and never encounter in words or images,
black gay men. They continue to feel like men without a people. They carry the
burden of being Black, male, and gay.”
This conflict exists for several reasons. One is that, for the most part,
cultural, social and political institutions specifically for black lesbians and gays
are rare. Major cities such as Washington D.C., Atlanta, and Chicago contain a
handful of predominantly black lesbian and gay bars, churches, and social and
political organizations. There is a growing black lesbian and gay press, with
magazines such as SBC getting national distribution. But most of these efforts are
short-lived or their publications come out irregularly. Institutions specifically for
bisexuals are nearly nonexistent. Many African American gays and lesbians also
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12
experience conflict between their two identities because they perceive racism
among the white gay mainstream and heterosexism among straight blacks.
However, some African Americans say comparing the black and gay civil
rights straggles somehow taints or belittles the black straggle. But Mark Johnson,
communications director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, believes
blacks should feel honored if gays want to pattern their movement after the
1960’s civil rights movement.
“[The black] community has written the book,” says Johnson, who is
black. “Why wouldn’t that get to be a textbook for others? For people to say
‘This is ours; it’s demeaning our straggle to adapt it’ is a little shortsighted.
W hat’s really being said there, whether they are saying it or not, is a tribute to the
black community. It’s more a fraternal issue than a fractious issue.”
Nevertheless, some gay African Americans have already written off
the larger gay community. “One of the cutting edge issues is about separatism
and identity,” says Keith Boykin, executive director of the National Black Gay
and Lesbian Leadership Forum. “Gay is considered a white, Eurocentric,
culturally imperialistic term that doesn’t represent the values of African
Americans.” Other black gays, while not going quite so far, feel their connections
to the larger gay community to be tenuous, citing poor representation not just in
gay leadership but also in the gay press.
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13
At the heart of the debate that parallels the gay liberation movement to
the civil rights movement lies the belief of many white gays that homophobia in
the black community flies in the face of that community’s own history. “There’s
a sense in the white community that the black community is somehow more
homophobic,” says Boykin, “a sense that ‘How could it be homophobic because it
had to face its own discrimination?”’
However, some black organizations and leaders, such as the NAACP,
bell hooks, Jesse Jackson, and most members of the Black Congressional Caucus
have come out in favor of gay rights. But there is still a long way to go,
especially in regards to white gays and lesbians building coalitions with African
American leaders on political issues that affect gays and lesbians of color. This
rift forces many African American lesbians and gays to choose a primary
affiliation with one culture or the other, or to go back and forth between both.
They have also made strides to break out of the silence imposed on them, as well
as create their own spaces, usually in the context of the larger cultures within
which they are marginalized. For example, many black gay and lesbian churches
founded by the late Dr. James Tinney are rooted in traditional African American
ways of worship.
Social movements for equality based on race, gender, and sexuality
have greatly affected the ability of black gays and lesbians to choose or move
back and forth between communities. The resulting antidiscrimination
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14
legislation, greater social visibility, awareness of issues relating to these
movements, the exorbitant number of African American AIDS cases, the black
church’s recent emergence from silence, and a (slow) decline in the acceptability
of prejudice and discrimination have had several effects. They have lead to
greater access to public accommodations, greater social and economic
independence, and a growing number of businesses and organizations geared to
gays and lesbians.
Barriers remain for black gays, however, when they try to negotiate
their marginalized identities into community spaces. But African American gays
and lesbians now live in a social context in which their concerns must be given
consideration.
It’s like being at a crossroad,” says Wilson. “You may not be quite
good enough to get into the traditional black community, because you’re too gay.
But the other side of that is that you’ll never really be 100 percent accepted in the
gay world, because you are too black or you have these other things that you bring
with you, your cultural beliefs and spiritual beliefs. We are at a place where we
are trying to craft our own community, our own traditions, our own rituals.”
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15
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bull, Chris, ed. Witness to Revolution: The Advocate Reports on Gay and Lesbian
Politics. 1967-1999. Los Angeles: Alyson, 1999.
Byrd, Rudolph P., and Beverly Guy-Sheftall, eds. Traps: African American Men on
Gender and Sexuality. Bloomington: Indiana University, 2001.
Constantine-Simms, Delroy, ed. The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black
Communities. Los Angeles: Alyson, 2000.
Dews, Carlos L., and Carolyn Leste Law, eds. Out in the South. Philadelphia:
Temple University, 2001.
Hinson, Michael. Telephone interview. 10 Apr. 2002.
Johnson, Mark. Telephone interview. 5 May 2002.
Peterson, John. Telephone interview. 24 May 2002.
Rhone, Stanley. Telephone interview. 14 Mar. 2002.
Veazy, Carlton. Telephone interview. 28 Jan. 2002
Weaver, Carolyn. Personal interview. 6 Apr. 2002
Wilson, Phill. Personal interview. 13 Apr. 2002.
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Jones, Tamara Maxine
(author)
Core Title
Black and gay in America
School
Graduate School
Degree
Master of Arts
Degree Program
Broadcast Journalism
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
American studies,Black studies,OAI-PMH Harvest,sociology, ethnic and racial studies
Language
English
Contributor
Digitized by ProQuest
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Advisor
[illegible] (
committee chair
), [illegible] (
committee member
), Castaneda, Laura (
committee member
)
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-302761
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Jones, Tamara Maxine
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(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...
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Black studies
sociology, ethnic and racial studies