Flawed Premise – There is No Unity of Interest between Blacks and Gays

A cluster of Black Baptist pastors are advancing the claim that the struggle for democracy and justice for black Americans is not identical with the similar quest for gays. He notes that gays could always vote, use public water fountains-accommodations and gays escaped lynching’s and mob violence.

This pronouncement occurred about the same time that a mysterious gay baiting letter from an unknown black minister started appearing in the mailbox with black voters regarding the sinister nature of the Mayor's Human rights amendment. Black Baptist ministers have historically constituted an endorsing class during elections and often money changes hands. Congregants know that there is frequently a marriage between market driven religion and racist- homophobic ideologues. Veteran operatives note that often the same persons that oppose affirmative action also promote the anti-gay agenda.

During my high school years in Southwest Bible Belt Louisiana, I served as junior superintendent of a local Baptist church. There was a great toleration for closet gays, especially among the musician’ class. No one had a dry eye when our musician sang “Lord, you have brought me a mighty long way and If you don’t do anything else for me, you have done enough”. This politeness and civility exists throughout the national black religious community as evidenced by the lack of rancor about closet gays in the pulpit, choir and pew.

The courage to love truth is one of the preconditions of thinking critically and practicing values of dignity and respect for all human beings.

In January of 1979, Tennessee Williams was a victim of assault as a result of a spate of anti-gay violence inspired by an anti-gay newspaper advertisement run by a local Baptist ministers. Yes, Ideas have consequences. In March of 1970, Howard Efland was beaten to death by the Los Angeles Police Department. This is the same police department that tried to beat Rodney King to death.

Much of the black existence in the United States has been about “existential absurdity.” In the land of your birth, constantly confronting an unsafe, unprotected environment- subject to random violence and being hated because of who you are.’ The deadly random violence perpetrated against Emmet Till in 1955 does not show a moral difference with the violence perpetrated against James Byrd in Texas and Matthew Shepherd in Wyoming. Congress was courageous in passing the James Byrd- Matthew Shepherd Hate Crime Act in 1975.Perhaps these members of the clergy did not know that Matthew Shepherd (1998) was a white student that was tortured and murdered because of his sexual orientation. Perhaps there is a significant moral difference in the torture murder death of heterosexual James Byrd, a black man at the hands of white supremacist (1998).

During the 1998 Dr. MLK Stop the Violence Rally and Workshop, the keynote speaker was Ms. Renee Mullins, one of the daughters of James Byrd. She supported the Byrd-Shepherd Hate Crimes Act that was signed into law in 2009 by President Barack Obama.

Recently (2014), it appears that two black girls in Galveston were allegedly murdered by the father of one of the girls for being gay. A few years ago, a 32 year old black man, Mark Carson was called vile names and murdered as he walked down a New York street, because he was gay. Often these gross violations are the result of religious biases preached and taught by heterosexual pastors.

I don’t expect black fundamentalist pastors to be politically savvy but I do expect them to consider the human cost of their pronouncements and to be morally magnanimous. My friend, Cornel says that Any God worthy of worship condemns injustice anywhere.

*Written by Omowale Luthuli-Allen*

Kinkaid School Recognized Nationally for Intolerance

On one hand, I'm sorry to see my alma mater's dirty laundry being aired in clear view of the nation via mainstream media outlets like the Houston Chronicle, Gawker and Texas Monthly; but on the other hand, I'm hoping this spotlight will prompt the school to make some changes that are long overdue. Since this topic hits so close to home for me, I'll go ahead and go old school by making the personal political in this post. As a Kinkaid School alum who attended from 1991-1998, I'll say that I was not at all surprised to read that a wealthy Kinkaid parent wrote a letter expressing concern that the school was beginning to welcome LGBT teachers and students into the community. Likewise, I wasn't shocked to learn that this parent was powerful enough to draw national attention to this matter.

In 2008 against the advice of many close friends, I attended my 10 year reunion only to experience the same ostracism that characterized the seven academic years I spent at Kinkaid. Although I tried to be social with the crowd of my classmates, only three of them were bold enough to engage in conversation with me and one was the kid-now-man who called me a n*gger in the 7^th grade. (Perhaps he felt remorse for his comments as a child and wanted to make amends.) Although the discrimination I felt in this instance was mostly related to my race, I remember experiencing similar acts of discrimination based on my sexual orientation throughout high school. Ten of my friends and I were listed on a "lesbian list" that a bully placed in all of our lockers in order to humiliate us in the 11^th grade. Formal dances had an unwritten hetero-only policy and gay slurs were not even viewed as inappropriate.

My experience was back in the 90's, but there have been some efforts made in recent years to make the school's environment more accepting for all people in the Kinkaid community. A diversity initiative and club to fight hate were begun under Principal Mickey Saltman's leadership. And more importantly, gay friendly teachers were permitted to place rainbow stickers outside their classrooms to indicate safe spaces for LGBT students as long as the sponsor's name, "Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network", was removed.

Sadly, it appears that a lot of this progress has been lost as a result of one parent's crusade to stop the school from following a so-called "liberal agenda" that accepts all people. Principal Saltman has been forced out and so have a dozen great faculty and staff who not only excelled in their professions, but who also gave a beacon of hope to severely marginalized students like me.

The Kids are All Right

Last night, I had the pleasure of viewing the film, The Kids are All Right, which tells the story of a family of four as they face life's challenges. Interestingly, the two teenage kids in this family have two moms instead of a mom and a dad. They were conceived through an alternative insemination process with the assistance of a sperm donor. The movie begins with the teens becoming curious about their donor, seeking him out and ultimately bringing him into the family.

I must say that it was refreshing to see a realistic representation of a family with two moms given the scarcity of these types of on-screen depictions. However, I worry that the storyline was compromised in an effort to reach a larger audience. In the plot, the more feminine of the two moms immediately begins a steamy affair with the sperm donor only to be caught and cause a tremendous disruption to her whole family. While I do agree that gender and sexuality are very complex aspects of human identity that are often oversimplified by society, it still irks me that most of the sex scenes in The Kids are All Right were heterosexual. I just wonder if the script would have been able to attract such great actors and if the movie would have been released so widely had it been gayer.

All and all, this was a really good movie -- and I rarely say that about films these days.