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Lesbian activist Jasmyne Cannick believes mainstream gay groups ‘coerce [black gay men and lesbians] into doing their work’ while ignoring other issues important to this demographic. (File photo)
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Black Gay Consciousness in Atlanta
Feb. 23, 7 p.m.
Purple Door Salon
321 Edgewood Ave., $5
404-524-5441
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: RYAN LEE
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When about 100 black gay and lesbian leaders gathered in Los Angeles last month for a first-of-its-kind presidential forum entitled “It’s a Black Thang: The Black LGBT Vote ’08,” the disconnect between the crowd and mainstream gay rights organizations was almost instantly obvious.
“Same-sex marriage, as far as I’m concerned, isn’t in the top five concerns for me as a black gay man,” said panelist Jeffery King, founder of In the Meantime, a Los Angeles group for black gay men. “And I believe that also speaks for a lot of other people as well.”
King’s comment drew applause from the audience and unanimous agreement from his fellow panelists. The consensus denunciation of what for years has been a top focus of gay rights organizations and the media illustrates the profound detachment many black gay Americans feel toward the so-called “gay agenda.”
Prior to the forum, the event’s organizer, black lesbian journalist and activist Jasmyne Cannick, rebuffed a request from members of the Human Rights Campaign who wanted to register voters and recruit black gay attendees to canvass black neighborhoods in favor of same-sex marriage.
“The folks leading the gay rights movement have traditionally never cared about anything other than that,” Cannick said. “They are nowhere to be found on bread-and-butter issues which same-gender loving people who happen to be minorities are often dealing with.”
But it’s a mistake to assume that black gay men and lesbians don’t support marriage equality, or that they are the only gay Americans who disagree with the major priorities of mainstream gay rights organizations, said H. Alexander Robinson, CEO of the gay National Black Justice coalition.
“You can find as many non-black gay folks who would not put marriage equality at the top of their list of priorities,” said Robinson, noting that NBJC formed in late 2003 primarily to respond to the increasingly hostile rhetoric coming from black ministers about same-sex marriage.
“What I hear from my folks is we didn’t choose it as a priority, no one asked us if this was our priority, so there is some resistance,” said Robinson, who added that millions of dollars have been spent fighting the “worthy cause” of legalizing same-sex marriage. “But there are many other issues that rise to the top of the list as things that need attention.”
NBJC has hosted numerous town hall meetings across the country to gauge the concerns of black gay men and lesbians, and is in the process of preparing “America’s Black LGBT Political Agenda.” An early draft of the agenda ranks improving access to health care and eliminating economic racial disparities as the top two objectives, followed by ending homophobia in black neighborhoods and institutions, and “realizing all civil rights as LGBT citizens.”
Ronald Moore agrees that class plays as much a factor as ethnicity in gay people feeling ambivalent about the issues on which gay rights organizations focus. But the former diversity manager for Hewlett Packard, who is now diversity and inclusion director for Kimberly-Clark, also knows that even financially successful African-Americans have a difficult time breaking into the country club culture of many gay rights groups.
“At some point, I’m always sort of reminded that I am on the outside,” said Moore, a longtime activist who is currently the political board chair for Georgia Equality. “When you’re willing to write checks, a lot of homes get open to you, but you’re rarely invited to these places without it being a fundraiser.”
The most urgent issues Moore would place at the top of a black gay agenda would be fighting racism within white gay organizations, and eliminating homophobia among black families.
“Coming out [as black gay men and lesbians] is the most potent weapon we have, but that’s still the hardest step to take,” Moore said. “We need more people of color to come out and we need more of the white GLBT organizations to understand we can’t and will not leave our blackness at the door.
“I’ve found that the mainstream gay organizations, unless they do the work, are coming from a majority white background,” Moore added. “I think there’s still a strong feeling of we’re all for diversity, as long as you’re just like us.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights group, recognizes that it has “a longstanding reputation of not being good on issues dealing with race and gender identity,” said Cuc Vu, chief diversity officer at HRC. ...
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