The latest Black Men’s Xchange-New York dialogue with hetero sisters drew into stark contrast the position of the burgeoning Gay Liberation Movement with the position of Black homosexuals in relationship to our Civil and Human Rights.
When he was asked about the difference between the terms gay and homosexual, facilitator, John-Martin Green explained that, "The term gay was founded on European symbols and iconography to launch a self-determination movement for white male homosexuals. Homosexual, on the other hand, is a clinical term, indicating biological wiring."
"The extraordinary success of the Gay Liberation (self-determination) Movement can be seen in that, a distinction needs to be made in the first place," Green added. "The triumph of the Movement is made clear in the current struggles being waged across the nation for dismantling of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ military policy, for recognition of same sex headed families in the census and, of course, for marriage equality."
"When watching news coverage of the hundreds and in some instances, thousands of protesters demonstrating around these issues," Green said, "with rare exception, we see a sea of White. For our part, homosexual Black men are still playing darting eye games on trains and in other public spaces where we cower in the face of our attraction to each other, for fear that the object of our attraction might reject, or worse yet, revile us publicly."
Green’s point is valid. Most of us don’t feel entitled to our sexuality even at this late date. By and large, Black people still lack a sense of entitlement to the rights and privileges of citizenship, as evidenced by our apathy in the face of countless instances of disrespect dealt to us. Among the few areas where heterosexual brothers may actually feel some entitlement is around their sexuality. To the extent that this is true, it’s ironic, since the sense of sexual agency came from stereotypes of Black men about our so-called sexual prowess.
If we, as Black people need an awareness of our entitlement in order to stand up for our citizenship rights, we Black homosexuals need such a sense of entitlement even more in order to pursue the rights which are still denied us. And these include the right to acknowledge our very existence in our communities.
During the forum, hetero and homosexual participants spoke of our urgent need for authenticity and honesty in all our affairs towards achieving ownership of ourselves, and of forging processes to learn to love ourselves. This last is most important of all. When I love myself, I am most likely to be true to myself, and risk honesty when I express my needs, including my admiration of and attraction to my brothers. The key is in recognizing who that self is. Another index of the success of the gay liberation movement is in the numbers of White gays who feel free to crusade for recognition of their right to love each other.
In fairness, many of us are overwhelmed by financial challenges. Most of us aren’t so well off as to be concerned about the joint property and inheritance rights that come with a marriage contract. We suffer disproportionate morbidities: Black men who have sex with men currently account for half of all HIV/AIDS cases, Black men are disproportionately incarcerated, and we are afraid of being further stigmatized. It’s small wonder that we tend to sit on the sidelines of the struggle for our human rights.
If we are really proud of being gay, that is, if we are empowered by gay as acknowledgement of at least some facet of our personhood, we should be out there like the throngs of protesters at the demonstrations across the country, proudly proclaiming our attraction to and love of each other in our communities. While there are undoubtedly things we share in common with White gays and homosexuals of other backgrounds, in order to achieve our freedom, we have to do what Jews and Japanese and countless other groups have done, and honor our own cultural uniqueness. When an artist, focuses on the specific, he renders the universal. Similarly, an identification of our sexuality that honors our Africanness may provide the pride in our sexuality that will allow us to fight for all the other aspects of our lives.
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