This video, courtesy of a good friend of mine, Wayne Besen, is in response to another ignorant piece I read this weekend. The piece was about the lgbt and African-American communities and, like all pieces written about that sort of thing, chose to divide the two communities.
I've read ignorance like that before and it exasperates the hell out of me. And then more mentally defeating are the responses by wannabe gay activists who are so quick to either brand the entire black community as racist or play the game of "ignore lgbts of color" with as much finesse as the original column they were responding to.
My take on the entire thing is this - both communities are selfish in that there are elements in the black and lgbt community who need to stop boggarting the situation.
My advice to those in both communities is stop screaming so loud that you refuse to acknowledge those in your community who don't have the resources like Ebony or Jet magazine or BET or whose issues won't be on the front burner of discussions in the Advocate or on Michelangelo Signorile's show.
Your issues are important but not the only ones which should be given some degree of attention.
African-Americans should support lgbt issues because it is a black issue. African-Americans lgbts exist.
The problem is getting not only the black community but also lgbt community at large to acknowledge it.
I agree, Alvin but also.
ReplyDeleteBlack LGBT's have to stop being apathetic as well. Not all of us are, of course, but far too many of us are content to simply lay in between the cracks in the two communities simply to survive.