Black Love - The Quest for Marriage Equality

In an earlier post, I mentioned that when it comes to marriage equality and the African-American community, there is a tendency to ignore the certain complexities of the issue and paint all blacks with a homophobic brush. One of those complexities is basically simple - those of us in the black community who benefit from marriage equality and support marriage equality can't get a word in edgewise in the discussion because of the loud bleating of the black folk who don't support the issue, the white-dominated religious right eager to exploit these voices, and the media too damn lazy to not allow themselves to be bamboozled by a false narrative.

The following video previews demonstrate my point. From youtube:

"Black Love: The Quest for Marriage Equality" follows four gay and lesbian couples on their quest to marry and demonstrates how their commitment to love impacted their lives. The film examines the special rewards and challenges of same-gender relationships, how marriage equality can be a part of the solution to the structural and economic issues faced by many Black families, and the strategies that are needed to bring full acceptance of gay and lesbian people to the Black community. In this video, Rev. Dr. Christine Wiley and her husband, Rev. Dr. Dennis Wiley, co-pastors of Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ, discuss the risks they took to become an inclusive and affirming church. They were among the first Black clergy in DC to support marriage equality.

And then there is this clip - Ivan Walker and Wymond Satterwhite were married on August 27, 2011. In this clip they discuss the joys of raising their kids and being a family.




There are a LOT of African-Americans who support marriage equality. We just have to elbow our way to the microphones.