A short but interesting story on being black and gay in America

I suspect that the issue of being black and gay in America will be receiving more attention as the months go by.

We have seen certain incidents (i.e. the arrest of T.D. Jakes's son, the Morehouse column, the Proposition 8 vote that led to the absolutely ridiculous question "Is Gay the New Black") that points to the fact that this could be THE issue to discuss.

But let me tell you a short story from my perspective.

A couple of years ago (I think 2004), I read an issue of Ebony magazine featuring an article that asked the question "Is Gay Rights Civil Rights."

This article polled responses from six prominent African-Americans from poet Nikki Giovanni to civil rights legends Revs. Fred Shuttlesworth and Walter Fauntroy.

It was an interesting piece and all involved gave thorough and very intelligent answers on whether or not they considered gay rights the same as "civil rights" (meaning a comparison between gay rights and the Civil Rights Movement).

To me though, it wasn't what was said, but what wasn't present.

Not one of those six people were self-identified lgbts of color. This was something that I found difficult to fathom - the fact that Ebony magazine could not or chose not to find any lgbts of color to participate in this article.

It's not as if they weren't out there. I'm sure that Keith Boykin, Mandy Carter, Nadine Smith, Alex Robinson, or any prominent lgbts of color would have participated if asked to.

But Ebony magazine chose not to go that route. In a conversation where the voices of lgbts of color was vital and necessary, the magazine chose to send the connotation that somehow gay rights have nothing to do with the black community.

And that lgbts of color do not exist.

This short incident may not mean much to you but as an lgbt of color, it says volumes to me.

In all of these discussions about gay rights and black civil rights, that incident of forced invisibility always stays with me.

Even though sometimes I wish it didn't.