Gays and the black church - show some honesty or at least some dignity
In light of what has happened regarding the son of Pastor T.D. Jakes, I think it may be time for the lid to be taken off of something.
Not that I am outing anyone but there is a paradox that must be addressed.
We have seen how the religious right plays the black and lgbt communities against one another. And sometimes their ally has been the black church.
Well to me, that is the height of irony because of one thing.
So many "mainstream" (i.e. white) lgbts say that they cannot find any gays and lesbians of color who will be open.
The reason is that many of them are in the church. Many of them are prominent in the black gospel music scene (Yes that includes BET and the Stellar Awards).
As an lgbt of color, I am privy to many things and I can honestly tell you that the main ones hooping and hollering in church and on the gospel records tend to do so for more than reasons of salvation.
A lot of it is guilt. But I really don't blame them as much as I blame the black community at large for its intentional inability to address the needs of lgbts of color.
So let me throw out a few suggestions:
Stop giving speeches about the evils of homosexuality when you know that you are on the dl or know of someone on the dl.
Stop making comments about not comparing blacks to gays when you are engaging in the same behavior that white racists did to African-Americans - i.e. the stigmatization of an entire group of people based on stereotypes and Biblical interpretations of God's words.
Stop puffing out your chests because you support endeavors to end AIDS/HIV when it isyour lack of support of lgbts of color that is the very thing which can lead to new cases of the disease.
What happened to T.D. Jakes's son may be the subject of juicy gossip amongst "upstanding church folks," but we all know that it is part of a larger problem - the intentional dehumanization of the lgbts of color in the black community.
When is the black community going to get off of its collective asses and work on solving it?
4 comments:
Best of wishes on this endeavor. There was a time, not too long ago, that the white community had the same problem .... and, really still has it. I am twenty years older than you. I vividly remember the Civil Rights movement and the time when no one and I mean no one, admitted that he or she was GLBT.
I don't know if you heard the news today, but Kenny Chesley denied that he was gay and has bedded over 100 women ......... and, the Girls Gone Wild video crew is in Columbia.
Thanks ;p
I hadn't heard of those two items.
I am waiting for a couple of Chesney's conquests to stand up and confirm his manhood. As for the Girls Gone Wild, I wonder if sheriff Leon Lott was there taking video trying to enforce all the laws of Richland County. God forbid that Michael Phelps will get away with his indiscretion in Leon's Richland County.
People are giving Lott grief but I can see his point.
If there was a party where people were smoking weed and a picture was taken but that person in the pic was not famous, folks would be demanding action.
Lott is trying to be fair here. There were possible laws broken and they need to be enforced.
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