5 Things You Are Not Supposed to Say About Race and Sexuality in America

From CNN: Black university passes “no-crossdressing” rules targeting targeting 5 gay students

We are by now conditioned for the usual “not targeted at any one in particular, just a revision of…” blah blah blah have-our-cake-and-eat-it-too spin cycle. Which is what makes this story so openly refreshing!

So just this once, I’m gonna gently touch on some stuff I’m Not Supposed To Talk About:

1. The Black Community is homophobic. Whether it’s rooted in class, religion, collective cultural memory of some of the ugly parts of Slavery you don’t see in movies or a lingering legacy of the Nation of Islam’s involvement in the civil rights movement I can’t say… but a black community that’s preached tolerance for 50 years isn’t big on practicing it themselves. The surprise defeat of Proposition 8 is the most public example, but the fact is that within Black circles expressing and even advocating for these kind of view is deemed is culturally acceptable, and no one wants to call them on it because… you know!
2. The Gay Community is extremely racist, or at least prejudiced. One of the “problems” with a cross-section of society defined by their preferred sexual partners is that this preference takes on a more prominent role in that culture; namely the ‘I’m not attracted to other races’ thing that exists across the board. It’s not that there aren’t black gays… (though on a per-capita basis there are fewer) it’s that a gay black man inherits a triple-burden of their own cultural baggage, stereotypical and/or degrading ideas of what it means to be black within gay culture, and in a society defined primarily by the dating scene black members can find themselves “separate but equal.”
3. I’m not black, so it’s hard for me to be sure on this… but I suspect a lot of this represents an “old guard” of leaders in the African American community, mostly the guys who were activists in the 1970’s; like Jesse Jackson, whose ouster in 2007 came because he couldn’t see the war they’d fought for 50 years had been won, and American could elect a black man President. That generation needs to learn how to be quietly gaycist like the Republicans! Sure, everyone knows what’s going on… buy you’d don’t go around giving interviews confirming that “yes, this is exactly what’s going on!” That whole “attitude” needs to be kept in the closet! You know… keep it on the down low!
4. The Gay community is changing, and it’s changing quickly! We threw out our irrelevant leadership 5 years ago and replaced then with younger, sexier spokespeople! Honored war veterans wrongly discharged, accomplished politicians, Sulu! The 90’s were a sea change… a whole generation of gays that (unlike their predecessors) didn’t grow up sucking off strangers in park bathrooms! And they’re a lot less screwed up as a result! Plus the ‘turnaround time’ on a gay “generation,” from emergent awareness of adolescent sexuality to joining the adult community… is only 10 years. That makes gay culture a lot lighter on its feet, able to adapt and respond to cultural changes faster than other groups. The de-institutionalization of racial identity we’ve been living through for the past few years is gonna hit big; 7 years from now the racial barriers in gay culture will be– if not gone– at least reduced to a knee-high fence that’s easily stepped over.
5. We know you’re pissed that it took Gays 15 years to go from persona-non-grata to #1 sitcom stars, episcopal conventions and the marriage rights you’re apparently still fighting for. (WTF?) Frankly, it caught us by surprise too, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to give it back. Tell you what… in 35 years when being Gay is considered about as significant as being Irish and our shared cultural identity has disintegrated, leaving nothing but a meaningless parade and “Queer 4 Beer” t-shirts… then you can laugh. You can remind us not to discriminate against the Trangendered, and we can keep our mouths shut instead of telling you that your insistence on a separate African-America culture is a big part of why your own progress is so glacial.

Deal?