This is my peace offering in the racist diary issue. I am an older out gay man who was totally offended by Obama's hiring of McClukin. After being told that 'you people aren't popular' and that there are 'many more African American voters than gay voters', after reading all the homophobic comments, I feel moved to do something. Nolalily and geekesque have called for healing of this divide. This is my small effort to help.
What struck me was that so many of the black commentators appeared not to have first hand knowledge of gay people. While all the gay posters appeared to have some knowledge of black people. The common assumption was that gays are a group of white people who were dumping on a black man. Actually, there are lots of people who are publically both black and gay/lesbian. After the jump, I will present a few of them. Two are no longer with us; Bayard Rustin and James Baldwin. Three are very active in both black and glbt areas. Reading about Mary F Morten, who is a leading Obama lesbian supporter, I kept wondering why he did not have some one of her stature and standing speaking for him regarding McCulkin. Keith Boykin and Pam Spaulding are blacks who have widely read blogs.
Bayard Rustin was an out black gay man who began
In 1947, under the auspices of the FOR and CORE, Bayard Rustin helped plan the first "freedom ride" in the South, challenging Jim Crow practices that had been made illegal by a 1946 Supreme Court decision outlawing discrimination in interstate travel. Known as the Journey of Reconciliation, riders engaged in direct protest by intentionally violating the segregated seating patterns on Southern buses and trains. Along the way, they were beaten, arrested and fined. Arrested in North Carolina, Rustin served 22 days on a chain gang.
He helped found the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI), named for his mentor. Even in the 50's he was out:
As a gay man, relatively open for his time, Bayard Rustin experienced anti-gay prejudice in addition to racial discrimination. Because of his sexual orientation as well as his controversial political positions, he was often relegated to a behind-the-scenes role in various campaigns.
Rustinwas remarkably open for a pre-Stonewall gay man. A lover from his youth told D'Emilio: ''I never had any sense at all that Bayard felt any shame or guilt about his homosexuality. And that was rare in those days. Rare.'' The shame came in Pasadena in 1953, when Rustin was convicted on a morals charge, the result of improvident cruising. The incident was devastating personally, caused a rupture with his mentor, Muste, and left Rustin vulnerable to scandal. Always publicity-conscious, the heads of the major civil rights organizations (Randolph always excepted) camouflaged their turf jealousy with a veiled prejudice. However, it does not minimize recognition of the venomous bigotry directed at gay people to note that Rustin's civil rights activism was virtually unimpaired by his homosexuality or (remarkably) by his arrest record -- no small matter in a movement predicated on moralism.
Indeed, D'Emilio documents that the major civil rights leaders, as well as the establishment press, rallied in support of Rustin when the Southern demagogue Strom Thurmond attempted to smear him as a pervert (and a Commie) on the eve of the March on Washington. And though it is King's ''I Have a Dream'' speech that has become the emblem of the march, when Life magazine published its report, the cover bore a photograph of Bayard Rustin. D'Emilio, whose scholarly conscientiousness coexists with his tendentiousness, points out that after the march, Rustin was ''always in the papers. . . . Reporters sought his views on any and all civil rights matters.'' (The New York Herald Tribune called him the ''Socrates of the Civil Rights Movement.'')
His essays on various topics including his problems with the African American Church are collected in this volume.
James Baldwin was another gay black man. Meaning no offense, here is a direct quote from him:
Before I was seven years old there were so many labels on my back beginning with n****r. By the time I was 14 I went through a kind of nervous breakdown, which happened when I was a preacher. And by the time I was 17 1 had survived all the labels, including the label of faggot. It wasn't and it isn't easy.
BlackLight was a publication for African American lesbians and gays, from 1979 to 1985.
Mary F Morten, documentary film maker and Chicago activist:
IN the broadest sense of the words, gay rights is a civil rights issue. But in terms of what I personally know as an African-American, there is a difference. For I have experienced much more discrimination based on my race than on my sexual orientation, and I feel it is inappropriate to liken the struggles of gay and lesbian folks to the struggles of African-American folks.
A major problem is that gay and lesbian life is associated with privilege because it is depicted far too often from a White perspective. We have few positive images of African-American gays and lesbians, and we rarely see African-American gays and lesbians on TV. So for many people being gay is associated with being White. However, gay rights is absolutely a civil rights issue in terms of civil rights and how they apply to everyone and how everyone should have access to the same kind of legal protections and civil benefits. We have learned from past experience that separate is not equal.
Keith Boykin has dealt with being black and gay at length.
Pam Spaulding runs one of the premier lesbian/gay blogs.
This diary is getting to be too long for easy reading. So, I shall end it here and continue in other diaries. Please accept this peace offering.