Book blows the lid off of gay link to black gospel music

Clara Ward

THIS promises to be interesting.

 According to a recent article in The New York Times, Anthony Heilbut - "producer, reviewer and historian of black gospel music for nearly a half-century,"- is coming out with a new book which promises to blow the lid off of how the black church embraces gays and lesbians in gospel music while at the same time denying their existence and espousing about how homosexuality is a sin:

Rosetta Tharpe

 . . . amid the volatile national debate about same-sex marriage, Mr. Heilbut has thrown the doors open to what he calls the “secret closet” of gays in gospel. In a lengthy chapter of his forthcoming book, “The Fan Who Knew Too Much,” he not only pays homage to the artistic role of gays and bisexuals, but also accuses black Christians, clergy and laity alike, of hypocrisy in opposing same-sex marriage while relying on gay people for much of the sacred music of the black church.

James Cleveland

The timing of Mr. Heilbut’s book, and the intensity of his argument, has thrust it from the dusty corners of arts criticism into the heat and light of the political arena in a presidential election year. Same-sex marriage, more than any other issue, has forced the black church as an institution to try to reconcile its dueling strains of ideological liberalism and theological conservatism. At the congregational level, it has meant the awkward coexistence of gay musicians and antigay preaching and casual ridicule.

“The family secret has become public knowledge,” Mr. Heilbut writes in his book, “and the black church, once the very model of civil rights, has acquired a new image, as the citadel of intolerance.” Left unchecked, he continues, the trend “would introduce an ugly but not uninformed term, ‘black redneck.’ ”

As the article points out, it would seem that there is more of an emphasis on what this situation has to do with the argument of marriage equality than lgbtqs of color in the Black church in general.

While this is unfortunate, the good thing is that this book will no doubt continue a discussion of the hypocrisy of some vestiges of the Black church as it pertains to the lgbtq community:

Mr. Heilbut, 71, discovered gospel while exploring Harlem as a teenage member of the N.A.A.C.P. As he went on to write “The Gospel Sound” and to produce award-winning gospel records, he was also immersed in the everyday homophobia of the black church. “I heard it forever,” he said in a recent interview. “ ‘He’s a great singer, but he’s a sissy.’ Or, ‘He did a terrible thing, but at least he’s not a sissy.’ ”

His reasons for breaking his silence are partly practical. Many of the musicians he identifies as gay or bisexual — James Cleveland, Alex Bradford, Clara Ward, Sister Rosetta Tharpe — are now dead, and in Mr. Cleveland’s case, dead from AIDS.

In the book, Mr. Heilbut recounts a conversation with another gay musician, Charles Campbell, shortly before his death. When Mr. Heilbut asked if he could “tell his story and quote him,” Mr. Campbell replied: “Sure, baby, I think it needs to be told. It all needs to be told.”

Read more of this article here

Related post:  

NPR exposes the complex relationship between the Black Church and gays

Know Your LGBT History - A brief history of gay relationships

No one famous today. Just a reminder that we and our relationships have existed long before Stonewall:



Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

'NOM pouring money into Maryland anti-marriage equality fight' and other Friday midday news briefs

Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2012: Contributed Posts - It’s Blogging for LGBT Families Day!

Illinois School Board Bans Family Diversity Book - Because gay folks don't have families (sarcasm alert).

 How NOM's seemingly limitless cash well is shaping Maryland - NOM literally pouring money into Maryland's anti-marriage equality fight.

  Writer James Robinson Shines a Light on DC Entertainment's Latest Gay Superhero, Earth-Two's Green Lantern - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Green Lantern of Earth Two is gay. Now about NOM and Maryland . . .

  Report: anti-LGBT murders jumped 11 percent in 2011 - And this too. 

Anti-gay groups ignoring researcher's call to stop using his work

From Truth Wins Out:

In 1973, Dr. Robert Spitzer led the charge to successfully have homosexuality removed from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), which is its list of mental disorders. This was a major victory and remains one the gay movement’s signature achievements.

Given his stature and key role in declassifying gay people as sick, it was quite a surprise when Dr. Spitzer published a non-peer reviewed 2001 study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior that claimed some “highly motivated” gay people could reach their “heterosexual potential” through prayer and therapy. When he announced his work at the 2001 APA meeting in New Orleans, it created a media sensation. An Associated Press story called his findings “explosive.”

In 2012, Dr. Spitzer recanted in the American Prospect magazine and in a letter to the Archives of Sexual Behavior, obtained by Truth Wins Out, Dr. Spitzer asked that his study be withdrawn. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show and the New York Times covered his apology.

During an interview with  Lisa Darden and Truth Wins Out's Wayne Besen (see above video), Spitzer said the following:

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) is still misusing your study and a video featuring you remains prominently placed on the group’s website. Would you like to address PFOX?

“I ask that PFOX stop showing this video. This is quite misleading. I had no way, really, of knowing when I examined any particular subject whether they really had changed or whether they were deceiving themselves or even outright lying when they claimed that they had changed. So, please don’t show this [video] to anyone.”

The retraction of your study must be very upsetting to anti-gay organizations.

“I’m curious as to whether they have said anything or how they live with the fact that the one study that they have always been citing has now been taken away from them. I would think that’s a pretty rough place to be in.”

Is the “Ex-Gay” Industry capable of unbiased research on homosexuality?

“The people who are pushing the ‘ex-gay’ idea are so full of hatred for homosexuality, really, that I don’t think they can respond in an ethical way.”

They are responding by ignoring Spitzer. The Family Research Council continues to link to his work (the following comes up on FRC's webpage when I google Spitzer's full name) and PFOX hasn't removed any citation of his work from its webpage.

While we shouldn't be surprised, the big question is what are we going to do about it?

Come on religious right, own your disease!

I am disappointed in the religious right.

With all of this free-flowing homophobia going around, one would think that Tony Perkins, Maggie Gallagher or their organizations would be making comments.

At the very least, listening to pastors say that gays should be put to death and three-year-olds singing songs about "homos not getting to Heaven" should be sending the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer into some type of orgasm.

I personally think that they are avoiding these controversies like it's a big pile of dog dirt that they are too lazy to clean up from their front lawn. And why shouldn't they be? In this case, the dog belongs solely to them.

All of that talk about gays harming children, trying to destroy marriage, and creating general mayhem doesn't just go down a rabbit hole. It attaches itself somewhere, festers, and grows like a disease. Case in point:

'DOMA smacked down again! Thank Maggie Gallagher and Paul Cameron' and other Thursday midday news briefs

BREAKING: Two Republican Judges Declare DOMA Unconstitutional - There are sooooo many sweet things involved in this victory. For one, it was a unanimous decision by the three judge panel, two which are Republican appointees. 

 And then there are two especially sweet things you need to know: 

A. Boehner's attempted defense of DOMA has been doomed to fail from the beginning, which was something I predicted in August of last year when I broke the story about how Paul Clement, the lawyer defending DOMA, was citing junk science in his defense, including that of the discredited Paul Cameron. - Boehner's DOMA defense contains junk science, bad sources 

  B. And something to make the pot even sweeter is the fact that Clement attempted to cite the National Organization's Maggie Gallagher as an expert in a manner which would have allowed her to avoid cross-examination by the lawyers seeking to strike down DOMA. To this day, I don't think anyone has ever asked why and that is a shame. - Boehner’s DOMA lawyers want to cite Maggie Gallagher, but avoid cross-examination  

In other news:

 California state Senate approves bill to ban ‘ex-gay’ therapy - We are almost there in California!

 In Milwaukee Post, Cardinal Authorized Paying Abusers - Cardinal Timothy Dolan implies that marriage equality is an attack on religious freedom. But apparently paying off pedophiles and lying about it is okay? 

Mormon group to march in Utah Pride Parade - Good for them!  

Tony Perkins Lashes Out at US Tourism Ad for Featuring Gay Couple - Give it a rest, Tony! 

Church has no regrets with child singing anti-gay song

The story about the toddler being applauded in church for singing a homophobic song gets worse.

Apparently I was wrong when I guessed the child's age. He is actually three and not four. And now, the celebrity site, TMZ is reporting several sad developments:

Members of an Indiana church say they've been flooded with death threats since video of a 3-year-old proudly singing, "Ain't no homos gonna make it to heaven" ... was posted on the Internet.

Multiple members of the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle Church in Greensburg, Indiana tell TMZ the church office has been getting harassing calls and the pastor has received death threats at his home. They also say a prayer meeting scheduled for this evening at church had to be moved to a secret location.

We're told they are looking into increasing security, but for now the congregation is handling it ... taking turns watching over the church.

One member says Pastor Jeff Sangl is extremely worried about his safety -- and this morning he and his wife left for vacation without telling anyone where they were going.

I am not for death threats. But I am for public humiliation when such warrants it and based upon what TMZ says next, the church deserves all of the public humiliation it receives:

 Despite the threats, all the members we spoke to have no regrets about the song getting posted online -- in fact one said, "The people who are upset just don't read the word of God. If we don't teach the children the truth early they will never learn."

As for the thunderous applause after the hate-filled song -- we're told, "Of course we applauded a child who is singing a song about God."

When one thinks about a child singing a song about God, "Yes Jesus Loves Me" comes to mind, not some homophobic tripe which puts a child in a position to judge - something the Bible has said we should not do (Matthew 7:1).

What's next? A song about how David (who killed Goliath) paid a dowry of 200 foreskins to King Saul of Israel? After all, that's in the Bible.

I wonder how much of an ovation would the child receive for that? It always amazes and saddens me that people pull the "Biblical truth" card when it comes to criticizing other people but yet will pay no attention to how that truth requires introspection before passing judgement.