And then there’s the obvious detriment of homophobia–the appalling HIV stats in our community. I always thought the absolute worse part of the Rev. Wright fiasco wasn’t his quasi-damning of America, but the pushing of conspiracy theories in regards to HIV. It didn’t make it better that it came from a guy who’s been doing exactly the sort of outreach we need more of from the black church. Talk to black health professionals out in the field–they understand where the notion comes from, but they hate it all the same. Our unwillingness to talk pushes serious issues under the table. This shit will kill us. It’s not a game.
Over the weekend, I hung out with some friends I’ve had since high school. We started talking about Prop 8, and their attitude was “let the faggots wait their turn.” Now what struck me about that wasn’t the blatant homophobia, that is sadly as common among young men as the phrase “no homo.” What struck me is the degree to which black and gay have been defined as exclusive categories, a tacit handshake between both some black folks and  some in the LGBT community to agree that gay black folks essentially don’t matter or don’t exist. Like the white protesters in Westwood hurling racial slurs at gay blacks who showed up in solidarity, reconciling the two perspectives requires an act of understanding that undermines the simple and simplistic one already in place. It’s unlikely that either whites scapegoating blacks in the LGBT community or black folks saying “faggots need to wait their turn” really understand how fundamentally they are crippling themselves.So yeah, our bigotry is killing us, because that’s what bigotry does. Tell me we wouldn’t be in Iraq if we didn’t blame the Arab world as a whole for 9/11.
But this didn’t begin with Prop 8. Andrew Sullivan pleading for outreach and understanding was precluded by his blaming black folks for Prop 8’s passing even before it was up to a vote. I don’t doubt he was merely saying what many other whites in the LGBT community were thinking, which is why there wasn’t as much effort on behalf of No On Prop 8 to argue their point to minorities. The questionable exit poll from CNN, which didn’t even include enough black men to give a viable sample, were merely the last cog in a machine that was already built. The anger was already there. And some of the people who are regretting what’s happened were feeding it beforehand.
–A. Serwer
