Two days ago, Andrew Sullivan made a completely unsubstantiated claim that black people are the most “homophobic ethnic group in America.” Since then, a number of black bloggers, including myself, Jamelle at The United States of Jamerica, and Ta-Nehisi Coates have contested this claim using empirical data that show black views on homosexuality are far more complex than Sullivan’s remark implied.
Today, Sullivan is celebrating the increased traffic his blog has been attracting, which makes it all the more important that he explain exactly why he made the above statement without providing any empirical data to support it. Sullivan showed a great deal of respect toward black bloggers during the primaries when the black blogosphere was calling out the Clintons on the racial undertones of their campaign. Now that black bloggers are pointing out his own mistakes and unsubstantiated generalizations, he is ignoring them. This is extremely frustrating, and it flies in the face of the accountability Sullivan rightly demands from the media covering the campaign.
More important, Sullivan’s unqualified statement about homophobia in the black community is simply incorrect. While it is not my intention to minimize the presence and persistence of homophobia among African Americans, Sullivan’s remarks are not supported by empirical data. Given his popularity, Sullivan has a responsibility to either defend his original statement or correct the record.
–A. Serwer
