KarMel Scholarship - This is Me

KarMel Scholarship 2007

“Homophobia and Heterosexism in Black Communities: A critical look at black masculinities and sexulaties”

By Louis Graham

Desciption of Submission: Gregory Love, a black male student at Morehouse College, was severely beaten with a base-ball bat by another black male student, Aaron Price, on November 2, 2002. It is reported that prior to the beating Love viewed Price nude in the school showers, mistaking Price for his roommate. While Love’s sexual orientation is not confirmed, he is an alleged heterosexual . After reading this report in the Philadelphia Tribune, two questions came to mind: Why was this young boy beaten? And what was it that caused Price to react so violently to a seemingly honest misunderstanding? Unfortunately this is not the first time a beating has occurred under such circumstances and sadly it probably will not be the last. To begin to understand the implications of this vicious act and why it occurred, it is necessary to take a critical look at homophobia and heterosexism embedded in black masculinities and sexualities.

The Morehouse Beating: A case study

Gregory Love, a black male student at Morehouse College, was severely beaten with a base-ball bat by another black male student, Aaron Price, on November 2, 2002. It is reported that prior to the beating Love viewed Price nude in the school showers, mistaking Price for his roommate. While Love’s sexual orientation is not confirmed, he is an alleged heterosexual[i]. After reading this report in the Philadelphia Tribune, two questions came to mind: Why was this young boy beaten? And what was it that caused Price to react so violently to a seemingly honest misunderstanding? Unfortunately this is not the first time a beating has occurred under such circumstances and sadly it probably will not be the last. To begin to understand the implications of this vicious act and why it occurred, it is necessary to take a critical look at homophobia and heterosexism embedded in black masculinities and sexualities.

Irene Monroe reports in A Globe of Witnesses, that “many on Morehouse’s campus feel that peering in a student’s shower is an act that not only transgresses Price’s privacy as a man, but also warrants some form of brute retaliation as an indication of his manhood.” The homosexual overture of viewing another man’s naked body is incorrectly translated into a loss of masculinity that must be regained, in this case, by displaying acts of violence. In other cases it may be regained by having sex with women or debasing homosexuals. The president of the college himself stated that Morehouse cannot label the attack a hate crime when obviously that is exactly what it is. The leaders of this institution, which is celebrated as the citadel of black male leadership, to some degree sympathize with Price. Monroe points out that Morehouse is “the nation’s largest liberal arts college for men, [and] continues to confer degrees on more men of African descent than any institution of higher education in this country”; and it continues to perpetuate the homophobia and heterosexism that is inherent in masculinities that support this kind of violent retaliation for an act that is received as a gay overture. I am concerned to say the least, knowing that this is the pot many of our future black leaders are being prepared in. No wonder the contributions and achievements of lesbigay people of color are made invisible during black history month by being excluded from celebrations and acknowledgements. Morehouse however, is not the only black college lagging in gay student support.

Jonathan Perry, a student at Johnson C. Smith University, was verbally threatened because he is gay; and at Howard University there were allegations that the school marching band assaulted a gay student, Darryl Payton, and one of his instructors, Luqman Selim, while shouting anti-gay names at the two in the basement of the school’s fine arts building[ii]. As long as black colleges continue to react to incidents such as these instead of taking a proactive stance of prevention, these travesties will continue to poison black college campuses. Until black communities make a conscious and committed effort to become socially aware of the injustices it commits against their own people and realize the parallels between various social justice struggles, such as the civil rights movement, feminist movement, gay rights movement, and others, it will never be a completely welcoming and inclusive community. This is not to say that all black people are homophobic and heterosexist or that homophobia and heterosexism do not exist in other communities and on predominately white campuses. In fact, there was a report in the Los Angeles Sentinel that flyers inviting people to a “gay bashing and clubbing night” was distributed on a predominately white California pubic college campus[iii]; but it was also reported in the New York Beacon that a former Vassar College (a PWI) student filed a lawsuit alleging the school favors homosexuals over heterosexuals[iv]. The lawsuit attacked the school for purportedly “creating a double standard whereby homosexual students were given more funding and allowed privileges not given to heterosexual students.” A lawsuit such as this could never be filed against a black college. With the high levels of homophobia and heterosexism on black campuses it would be laughable for anyone to so much as suggest that these schools favor homosexuals.

Rhonda Smith reported in the Washington Blade, that “some predominantly white colleges and universities have begun advertising that they offer a supportive atmosphere for gay students, ranging from gay student centers to academic programs in gay and lesbian studies.” She goes on to quote a member of the Human Rights Campaign as saying “very few HBCUs have formed gay student groups on their campuses.” Some HBCU administrators responded by claiming that there does not appear to be many gay students on their campuses and therefore they have not had to deal with these issues. I charge that ignoring gay issues is to make homosexuality invisible, which creates a milieu for homophobia and heterosexism that causes students to fear “coming-out” and ultimately causes delayed psychosexual identity development. I attest that it is the perpetuation of the aforementioned traditional masculinities that instigates this hyper-homophobia we find on black college campuses and in black communities. What then should a newly, reconstructed black masculinity embody as it relates to sexuality?

A revised black masculinity should include acceptance of all sexual lifestyle choices of black men. This involves viewing homosexuality as a credible option, and men sleeping with men as a valid form of sexual expression. The false perception that masculinity is exclusively tied to heterosexuality must be done away with. A good starting point would be the acknowledgement that black gay men do exist. They love each other, they live together, they kiss and hold hands, and relate to each other in a variety of ways. None of these behaviors change the fact that they are men who deserve to have their multiple identities validated. The notion that black male sexuality is a monolith of heterosexuality and that homosexuality is one dimensional – concerning only sex, must be abolished. Janice Cools, in “The (Re) Construction of African-American Masculinity – Homosexuality,”[v] quotes Walter Rico Burrell in The Scarlet Letter Revisited:

I want my children, all children to know and understand that manhood, womanhood, humanhood are not determined by the person with whom one chooses to sleep. A man is no less a man because he chooses to sleep with another man instead of (or in addition to) a woman. And neither is one’s manhood increased of decreased by what one does in bed, or by who does what to whom. (133)”

Black men must begin to understand that homosexuality is not contradictory to or the antithesis of masculinity. Eldridge Cleaver stated in 1968, “homosexuality is a sickness, just as are baby-rape or wanting to become head of General Motors. More recently, Louis Farrakhan, in his “State of America” address of 1995, likened homosexuality to drug addition and prostitution. These are the erroneous perceptions of homosexuality that must be rejected. It is self-destructive for leaders of black communities to edify these negative and fallacious attitudes generation after generation. The consequences are tragic for black gay males.

The Black Gay Male Experience in America

Many black gay males in America share a common experience of being rejected and isolated by members of black communities – sometimes by family members, friends, classmates, co-workers, community leaders and even institutions. It is not always as blatant as the Morehouse beating though; sometimes it is as mild as unspoken tensions or as simple as structuring agendas in a way that excludes them. When this happens, the black homosexual comes to “embody a condition of aggravated psychic unease.” The intersectionality of his race, gender, and sexual orientation form a complex identity that is negatively affected by the marginalization of his double minority status. Janice Cools explains that, “his skin color exposes him to racism and his gender exacerbated the anxiety he causes the white community,” while his sexuality subjects him to hyper-homophobia and heterosexism in black communities. She goes on to say that, “his situation is [further] aggravated because a higher premium is placed on his masculinity than on the femininity of his female counterpart.” Keith Boykin, in “One More River to Cross,” echoes Cools: “For black…gays, unlike straight blacks, our sexual orientation does not insulate us from the oppression of homophobia, and unlike white…gays, our skin color does not insulate us from oppression of racism.” Without a community to turn to for support from the burden of racism and likewise from homophobia, the black homosexual sometimes finds it easier to repress his sexuality than to confront the isms in their respective communities. This is the root of closeted black homosexuals and sometimes even worse, homosexuals that have internalized homophobia, heterosexism, and even racism. Unfortunately, this may in turn cause them to assume and lead a completely heterosexual or bisexual life – denying their homosexuality completely, even to themselves. Fear of being viewed, in the eyes of his own community, as inadequate or disgusting makes it extremely difficult for the black homosexual to stand up and say, I am….

Michael J. Dumas, author of “Coming Out/Coming Home: Black Gay Men on Campus,” interviewed a black gay student attending a large public university in the Midwestern United States who grew up as an only child in a single parent home[vi]. He lived in a black neighborhood, attended black schools, and a black church. When asked about reservations he had concerning “coming out” on campus, he “expressed an interest in how the two black guys next door might respond if they were to find out.” He continued to clarify:

Well, I don’t care if white people know, but I don’t know why I don’t care. Maybe it’s because the black guys are my people. I mentioned them because I would probably be more hurt if I was condemned by them than the other guys. Also, even though the black community is so big here, I’m worried that it will get around, and then my people will turn against me. I wouldn’t want to be alienated from the black community. Then you really are alone.

Unfortunately, this is reality for many black homosexuals.

Throughout slavery blacks were denied their manhood and womanhood by being stripped of control over their bodies. They were regarded in the eyes of their oppressors as less than men and women without any real power to insight their own identity development. Homosexual acts were used by whites to demean and subvert black males, and as a result many blacks view homosexuality as a degrading sign of weakness and as a “white thing” – not something characteristic of being black. Now, nearly 140 years after slavery, black men are still trying to regain a sense of their lost masculinity by subscribing to a John Wayne version of manliness and attempting to live up to, as Irene Monroe put it, “the dominant cultures iconography of black male sexuality ranging from sexual predator to pornographic object”[vii]. Much too often the black male is simply reduced to his sex and penis size.

Recently I conducted a search on excite.com using the key term “black gay male” only to have the website reply: “You have entered a search term that is likely to return adult content. Click here for search results on ‘black gay male’ at sextracker.com… the largest independent adult search service on the web.” I then proceeded to search using the key term “white gay male.” The website did not display the same warning as it did for the “black gay male” search; instead, it displayed the first 20 of 90 hits. Among the first 10 websites found were “Issues in Asian and White Gay Male Relationships, AUTHOR-POET EXPLORES GAY WHITE MALE ISSUES,” and many other non-pornographic sites. With a history of its black women and men being raped and lynched, black sexuality has never had a chance to develop in an environment free of exploitation and stereotypes.

Today many men subscribe to American society’s prevailing ideals of masculinity and gender roles, instead of defining maleness for themselves and critiquing gender roles before adhering to them. This is true of many black men especially, because they have never been given the opportunity to develop their own masculinity and sexuality. As a result, so called hyper-homophobia is very prevalent in black communities.

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