I've seen a lot of posts about Reggie White, re: homosexuality

[CatWoman]

and I must admit, I am extremely puzzled with the level of homophobia and gay bashing in the black community.

I've had several conversations with black coworkers who knocked me to my feet. They were all religious and rabidly anti-gay. Then the New Birth Church, along with Bernice King held a huge anti-gay rally here recently. Actually, they marched against gay marriage.

I just don't understand it.

I have enough problems dealing with my own household rather than worry about others.

I confronted a couple of people, demanding to know why they feel so threatened by gays. I couldn't get a rational answer. I must add that it's the so called "Christians" who are the biggest hypocrites.

Black men represent the largest group infected with AIDS. You can't tell me they all got it from needles and blood transfusions.

[Jack_Dawson]

1. I thought he was a racist, not a homophobe...

:freak:

[CatWoman]

2. He also made some very over the top comments about gays.

[jonnyblitz]

3. for a list of homophobic comments

read arwaldens post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=2288696&mesg_id=2288696

[tjdee]

4. I'd say some black people are a bit prejudiced as well.

I think Reggie said something like Hispanics are able to fit 20 people in a house or something, that they were "talented" in "organization" or something. :eyes:

I've hung with a white man or two and the most scathing looks and comments came from black people--maybe the white folks were just thinking nasty things, but black people WOOO.

That's why I can't wait to see the Bernie Mac/Ashton Kutcher film, but now I digress.

[CatWoman]

6. When I was in the Army, I worked with this black captain

and every time she saw a black man with a white woman, she went out of her way to voice her displeasure.

I was like, "get a grip, willya"?

[Malikshah]

11. Avenue Q!!!!!

Everyone's a little bit racist
Allright?
Allright!
Allright?
Allright!
Bigotry's never been exclusively white!

Sorry-- it's just a great song to point out the foibles of racism discourse :)

[Placebo]

13. My african american GIRL friend explained it to me this way...

In the "black community", it's assumed that when a black man gets successful or gets a job making a lot of money, that he always gets a white wife because, 1) black women aren't good enough, and 2) white women are pushovers and a trophy like symbol.

And if black men get a white wife, it keeps that "success and money" out of the hands of "his people" and the "struggling community", and so, it pisses them off.

[Placebo]

5. Because blacks tend to be REALLY religious...

and black males especially, at least the ones I've met, are "all about the p*ssy", and generally hate gays. A lot of African Americans come from poorer or more hostile backgrounds and neighborhods, where being macho and tough is valued extremely highly, and being a "fag" or a "sissy" isn't. Look at the type of music that the majority listen to as well, Rap/Hip-hop, even reggae. I don't see or hear many gay rappers, and there was an article I found couple months ago about the rise of gay-bashing in Jamaica and homophobic lyrics in a bunch of reggae songs, so, it's a cultural thing as well. A huge portion of successful and popular athletes are African American, and the sports world is notoriously anti-gay, so since a bunch of their role models are anti-gay, it's not surprising that many of them are. Sad but true.

[CatWoman]

8. I wholeheartedly agree about the macho image

or non-image, but what about the huge AIDS rate?

[Placebo]

10. Too many man on the "down low"...

I guess? :shrug:

[ikojo]

12. Yes, living life on the down-low is a reality

for many black men. See this article from salon.com. They New York Times Magazine also had an article about down-low men. In some cities there are down-low clubs that cater primarily to black and Latino men.

To read the whole article on salon.com you can register for a day pass by watching an ad.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2004/08/16/down_low/index_np.html

Aug. 13, 2004  |  On July 24, Chicago-based author, businessman, speaker and HIV/AIDS activist J.L. King joined other prominent African-American writers in New York for the weekend-long Harlem Book Fair. He'd been invited to sign copies of his controversial new book, "On the Down Low: A Journey into the Lives of 'Straight' Black Men who Sleep with Men," and to participate in a panel about fidelity in black relationships. The fair was a success -- King's book sold well, and the panel went smoothly -- until Saturday evening, when he attracted some unwanted attention.

"We're walking and taking in everything," King's manager, Marshall Douglas, told me over breakfast at King's Park Avenue hotel the next morning, "and this guy walks up and says to J.L., 'You're a homo!' And he stopped the people around him -- 'That guy right there is a homo! He's the one who wrote the book! Yo, why are you doing this to us? My wife is asking me if I'm doing that DL bullshit!'"

Confrontations like this aren't new to King, and he knew what to do: keep walking; don't look nervous. "If I'd stood there and argued with him, other brothers would've come around," said King, 49, who claims to have received death threats because of his work, and now requires his hosts to provide security for his speaking engagements. "Brothers are upset about my book -- I was scared. Very scared."

[Catherine Vincent]

7. I don't understand some of my black bretheren either.

They always say that it is stated in the bible that homosexuality is wrong. But what about everything else the bible says?

[CatWoman]

9. that's my first comeback

because Jesus teaches to love your neighbor, not torch his house because he or she is different from you.

[rasputin1952]

15. That is the core of it all...Love, Understanding. Tolerance...

Forgiveness...Too bad those are precisely the ideals so many CINO's conveniently forget...:(

When I hold out my hand to help someone in from the cold, the last thing I'm thinking about is their color, their religion or the language they speak. They are human, and nothing else matters. Kind of simple. The common bond is humanity; strange how we seem to forget that.

Sure, there are bad people out there....but the majority of humans on this earth are good people, they just don't get the Press coverage...:)

In any case, hatred is hatred, no matter how you dress it up; and all of us are capable of it. We have to actively supress the urge to go into the pit...:)

[Fenris]

14. In my humble honky opinion, this is really unfortunate.

I've encountered similar attitudes from black associates of mine. Civil rights should not be in reference to racial issues, but should extend to issues concerning sexual orientation. I personally have never understood any opposition to the rights of homosexuals. I've never suffered any insult because of two men or two women having sex. It's their business, not mine, just like as who I sleep with is none of theirs. We shouldn't have a second class of citizens in this country.

[CatWoman]

17. OMG!!! Fenris is a honky!!!!!

:wow:

:D

[jonnyblitz]

16. there was a concerted effort by white wingnut Lou Sheldon

and his "Traditional Values Coalition", in the 90's, to drive a wedge between and divide the gay community and the black community by telling the black community that gays were trying to hijack the civil rights movement and claim it as their own. The "TVC" distributed a video proclaiming this titled "Gay Rights/Special Rights" which, at the time, was widely distributed throughout the black religious community. It highlighted the 1993 March on Washington for Gay Rights and condemned it for trying to compare itself to the 1963 civil rights march led by Martin Luther King.

I gathered the above info from a google search of randoms articles on this topic. The articles were very long and the part discribing this video was usually brief so I didn't bother providing a link. If anybody wants to read further they can google "Gay Rights/Special Rights" video. I can remember when this issue was brought up in the '90s when I followed gay issues more closely.