In 2004, African-American author J.L. King published On the Down Low: A Journey Into the Lives of Straight Black Men Who Sleep with Men and ignited a controversy.
The book basically talked about how some married men were having gay relationships on the side. Now for those of us familiar with people like Jim McGreevey and Ted Haggard, this wasn't anything new. A lot of us call it "being in the closet."
However, in the African-American community, which rarely addresses gay issues as it should, the book was a virtual firebomb.
To say folks went crazy was an understatement. King's book was an instant success, was the subject of a multitude of discussions, seminars, and television programs.
And unfortunately, a lot of the information was wrong. For a long time, men on the supposed "down low" was blamed for the HIV rate in the African-American community, particularly amongst black women. However, in 2009, the Centers for Disease Control debunked this belief.
In the meanwhile, so many folks were cashing in with their own plays, screenplays, and even new books about the supposed "down low" phenomena. The most ludicrous without question had to be that of Nation of Islam member Shahrazad Ali.
Ali, in her book How To Tell if Your Man is Gay or Bisexual, gave a few "tips" on spotting "down low men," including:
How does he sleep at night, what position does he sleep in? Does
he sleep like a woman, or like a man? What does he talk about in his
sleep?
You can touch his rectum to see if he has those tell-tale humps
on his anus from having it stretched open with a penis. Then later on
ask him if he's ever had hemorrhoids really bad.
If he asks you to "toss his salad" and you agree, and his legs go
up too quickly, he's probably used to doing it.
Looking back at it, my guess is that the "down low" nonsense became hysteria in the black community because it challenged some notions that you can "spot" a gay man. Some folks were expecting the limp wristed, swishy stereotype and it never occurred to them that gay men come in all forms.
The saddest thing to me is that almost throughout the entire hysteria (which has abated at least a little), while sexual health education of the black woman became a big part of the discussion, very few people talked about the needs of the black gay man, i.e. why some gay men felt the need to be in the closet in the first place.
Except for this excellent documentary shown above (which I have included clips of), the mindset behind the "down low" hysteria seemed to be "how dare those men infect and lie to our women."
It was a seriously missed opportunity to educate members of the African-American community on the visibility and issues of black gay men.
Past Know Your LGBT History posts:
Know Your LGBT History - The Stonewall Riots of 1969
Know Your LGBT History - Trevor
Know Your LGBT History - Christine Jorgensen
Know Your LGBT History - Stephen Stucker
Know Your LGBT History - Coming Out
Know Your LGBT History - Prayers for Bobby
Know Your LGBT History - Roy Cohn
Know Your LGBT History - Gladys Bentley
Know Your LGBT History - Wanda Sykes
Know Your LGBT History - William 'Billy' Haines and Jimmy Shields
Know Your LGBT History - The Dynamic Superiors
Know Your LGBT History - Jack Fertig (Sister Boom Boom)
Know Your LGBT History - Bugs Bunny
Know Your LGBT History - The Jeffersons (a repeat)
Know Your LGBT History - Homoeroticism in Fright Night
Know Your LGBT History - New York passes marriage equality law
Know Your LGBT History - Leonard Matlovich
Know Your LGBT History - Liberace
Know Your LGBT History - A brief history of gay relationships
Know Your LGBT History - Bessie Smith
Know Your LGBT History - Josephine Baker
Know Your LGBT History - Clara Ward and Willie 'Little Axe' Broadnax
Know Your LGBT History - Venus Xtravaganza
Know Your LGBT History - LGBTs who are changing the world for the better
Know Your LGBT History - Danitra Vance
Know Your LGBT History - Oliver Sipple
Know Your LGBT History - Gay Rights, Special Rights
Know Your LGBT History - Alan Turing
Know Your LGBT History - Bayard Rustin
Know Your LGBT History - Billy Preston
Know Your LGBT History - Sylvester
Know Your LGBT History - Billy Tipton
Know Your LGBT History - Nell Carter
Know Your LGBT History - James Baldwin
Know Your LBGT History - Paul Winfield
Know Your LGBT History - Barbara Jordan
Know Your LGBT History - Michael Jeter
Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family and Beverly LaSalle
Know Your LGBT History - The Lion in Winter
Know Your LGBT History - Saturday Night Live and 'Schmitts Gay'
Know Your LGBT History - Brother to Brother
Know Your LGBT History - Shameless
Know Your LGBT History - Car Wash
Know Your LGBT History - The 37th anniversary of 'Flowers of Evil'
Know Your LGBT History - The Best Way To Walk
Know Your LGBT History - The Jackal
Know Your LGBT History - A Cage Without A Key
Know Your LGBT History - In & Out
Know Your LGBT History - 'The Fabulous Gays' of Steambath
Know Your LGBT History - Bound
Know Your LGBT History - Gay characters from children's television show and movies
Know Your LGBT History - Gay documentaries, past and present
Know Your LGBT History - The Hotel New Hampshire
Know Your LGBT History - The Crying Game
Know Your LGBT History - Set It Off
Know Your LGBT History - The Wedding Banquet
Know Your LGBT History - Bachelor Party
Know Your LGBT History - Starsky and Hutch
Know Your LGBT History - The Naked Civil Servant
Know your LGBT History - Partners
Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family: Cousin Liz
Know Your LGBT History - Rebecca
Know Your LGBT History - urban African-American movies
Know Your LGBT History - Charles Pierce
Know Your LGBT History - Torch Song Trilogy
The Best of Know Your LGBT History
Know Your LGBT History - Masters of Horror - Sick Girl
Know Your LGBT History - MadTV
Know Your LGBT History - Gimme A Break
Know Your LGBT History - Not Another Gay Movie
Know Your LGBT History - My Beautiful Laundrette
Know Your LGBT History - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Know Your LGBT History - I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
Know Your LGBT History - The Gay Deceivers
Know Your LGBT History - Reflections in a Golden Eye
Know Your LGBT History - Dynasty
Know Your LGBT History - Milk
Know Your LGBT History - Black Shampoo
Know Your LGBT History - Never Too Young To Die
Know Your LGBT History - All About Eve
Know Your LGBT History - Hotel
Know Your LGBT History - The Streets of San Francisco
Know Your LGBT History - Two looks at transgender characters in films
Know Your LGBT History - Flawless
Know Your LGBT History - Mahogany
Know Your LGBT History - Beverly Hills Cop
Know Your LGBT History - Some Like It Hot
Know Your LGBT History - Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia
Know Your LGBT History - Dirty Laundry
Know Your LGBT History - The Willie Witch Project
Know Your LGBT History - Spartacus
Know Your LGBT History - Caged
Know Your LGBT History - The Birdcage
Know Your LGBT History - Maude
Know Your LGBT History - That Certain Summer
Know Your LGBT History - Boat Trip
Know Your LGBT History - Staircase
Know Your LGBT History - Beautiful Thing
Know Your LGBT History - Armed and Dangerous
Know Your LGBT History - The Proud Family
Know Your LGBT History - Suddenly Last Summer
Know Your LGBT History - Gay TV Now
Know Your LGBT History - Stewardess School
Know Your LGBT History - Up the Academy
Know Your LGBT History - Don't be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
Know Your LGBT History - A Different Story
Know Your LGBT History - Victim
Know Your LGBT History - The Color Purple
Know Your LGBT History - Making Love
Know Your LGBT History - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge
Know Your LGBT History - Noah's Arc
Know Your LGBT History - Adorable Adrian Adonis
Know Your LGBT History - The Night Strangler
Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family
Know Your LGBT History - Tongues Untied
Know Your LGBT History - The Celluloid Closet
Know Your LGBT History - Querelle
Know Your LGBT History - Theatre of Blood
Know Your LGBT History - Strange Fruit
Know Your LGBT History - Designing Women
Know Your LGBT History - The Children's Hour
Know Your LGBT History - Sylvester
Know Your LGBT History - Once Bitten
Know Your LGBT History - The Boys in the Band
Know Your LGBT History - Christopher Morley, the crossdressing assassin
Know Your LGBT History - Midnight Cowboy
Know Your LGBT History - Dracula's Daughter
Know Your LGBT History - Blacula
Know Your LGBT History - 3 Strikes
Know Your LGBT History - Paris Is Burning
Know Your LGBT History - The Women
Know your LGBT History - Soul Plane
Know Your LGBT History - The Player's Club
Special Know Your LGBT History - Fame
Know Your LGBT History - Welcome Home, Bobby
Know Your LGBT History - Barney Miller
Know your lgbt history - The Jerry Springer Show
Know your lgbt history - Martin Lawrence and that 'gay guy' on his show
Know your lgbt history - The Ricki Lake Show
Know your lgbt history - Which Way Is Up
Know your lgbt history - Gays in Primetime Soaps
Know your lgbt history - Boys Beware
Know your lgbt history - The Boondocks
Know your lgbt history - Mannequin
Know your lgbt history - The Warriors
Know Your LGBT History - New York Undercover
Know Your LGBT History - Low Down Dirty Shame
Know Your LGBT History - Fortune and Men's Eyes
Know your lgbt history - California Suite
Know your lgbt history - Taxi (Elaine's Strange Triangle)
Know your lgbt history - Come Back Charleston Blue
Know your lgbt history - James Bond goes gay
Know your lgbt history - Windows
Know your lgbt history - To Wong Foo and Priscilla
Know your lgbt history - Blazing Saddles
Know your lgbt history - Sanford and Son
Know your lgbt history - In Living Color
Know your lgbt history - Cleopatra Jones and her lesbian drug lords
Know your lgbt history - Norman, Is That You?
Know your lgbt history - The 'Exotic' Adrian Street
Know your lgbt history - The Choirboys
Know your lgbt history - Eddie Murphy
Know your lgbt history - The Killing of Sister George
Know your lgbt history - Hanna-Barbera cartoons pushes the 'gay agenda
'Know your lgbt history - Cruising
Know your lgbt history - Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones
Know your lgbt history - I Got Da Hook Up
Know your lgbt history - Fright Night
Know your lgbt history - Flowers of Evil
The Jeffersons and the transgender community
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