So it seems that my earlier post on black people and homophobia sparked a good deal of discussion*. Adam Serwer at Tapped, and Ta-Nehisi Coates offer their thoughts on the matter, with both concluding that it is difficult to make such a sweeping claim as “African-Americans are the most homophobic ethnic community in the country” without a solid amount of data backing it up. Sullivan acknowledges that, and responds with data drawn from a recent Pew survey (I cited the same survey), showing that on average, blacks are opposed to gay marriage and civil unions by a greater margin than white Americans, and that African-Americans (young and old) are more likely than white Americans to express distaste for homosexuality. He finishes with this comment:
The rampant homophobia in urban black culture also cannot be denied, as well as the role of the black church in fomenting and entrenching homophobia, even as so many black men and women have died of HIV and AIDS. I’ve been following this issue since I first raised the issue of black indifference to HIV and the awful isolation of gay black men as far back as 1990. There are many black heroes in this, with John Lewis and Coretta Scott King standing out; and the Congressional Black Caucus has been very supportive, as has the black civil rights leadership. But it helps no one to deny that the leadership knows how deeply hostile to gay equality many in the African-American community are. I’m surprised that some would seek to deny this rather than confront it.
No one is denying that there is serious homophobia in the African-American community (it’s pretty easy to find). What we are saying, however, is that there isn’t any data to support the conclusion that African-Americans are more homophobic than any other ethnic community. Like I noted in my earlier post, the data Sullivan points to only shows that African-Americans are more resistant to gay rights than white Americans. If we included other ethnic groups – Southeast Asian and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, South Asians, Arabs, etc. – and disaggragated white Americans by ethnicity, then I’m absolutely positive that a different – and fuller – picture would emerge. Moreover, it’s still the case that African-Americans support anti-gay rights initatives at a lower rate than white Americans, making them relatively small obstacle (depending on the state) to passing pro-gay rights initatives.
Of course, the status quo in the African-American community is far from ideal. Too many black folks refuse to acknowledge the extent to which gay men and women are full and active participants in African-American life. To use the cliche’, without black gay men, there probably wouldn’t be very many church choir directors. Those of us within the community who support gay rights do have an obligation to act, no doubt, but let’s not pretend that the widespread homophobia in the black community is some kind of unique pathology; like most aspects of African-American life, it’s well-rooted in the culture at large.
* And a quick thanks to Serwer, Coates, and Sullivan; I really appreciate the exposure and traffic.
I came across your posts when I was reading The American Prospect’s website. Thanks for expressing what I was feeling so eloquently.
One writer (maybe Adam Serwer of The American Prospect) also made an excellent point. Andrew Sullivan is a conservative despite his Obama endorsement. He points fingers at African-Americans without hesitation, seemingly forgetful of the fact that he supported George Bush and the anti-gay Republican party until very recently. That was one of my initial reactions.