Via Bejata.
Alternet has a great article on what may be behind rapper 50 cent's anti-gay comments, and the rabid opposition to gay marriage among African Americans.
From cradle to grave, much of America has drilled into black men the notion that they are less than men. This has made many black men believe and accept the gender propaganda that the only real men in American society are white men.In a vain attempt to recapture their denied masculinity, many black men, mirror America's traditional fear and hatred of homosexuality. They swallow whole the phony and perverse John Wayne definition of manhood, that real men talk and act tough, shed no tears, and never show their emotions.
... When men break the prescribed male code of conduct and show their feelings they are harangued as weaklings, and their manhood questioned. Many blacks in an attempt to distance themselves from gays and avoid confronting their own biases dismiss homosexuality as "Their thing." Translated: Homosexuality is a perverse contrivance of white males and females that reflected the decadence of white America. They make no distinction between white gays and other whites. To them whites are whites are whites. That's evident in the vehement opposition of many black ministers and black conservatives to any comparison of the fight for gay marriage to the civil rights movement.
Makes sense to me so far. I can recall several times in the last few years when I've been out with my partner, who is white, being harangued by more than a few black men who saw us and put two and two together (holding hands made it pretty easy for them to do the math). What I always found interesting is that their anger was always directed at me. Not at my partner. I've been told I'm "brainwashed" and that my "white lover" has "polluted" my mind, etc. I think the explanation above might point to a reason why our existance as a couple causes strong reactions from some black men. (I wonder, now, what thoughts lurked unspoken in the minds of my father and my brother, when I brought my partner and son home for the holidays.)
While many Americans have made gays their gender bogeymen, many blacks have made gay men their bogeymen and waged open warfare against them. Black gay men are the pariahs among pariahs, and wherever possible every attempt is made to drum them out of black life. They carry the triple burden of being black, male and gay. They tell woeful tales of spending sleepless nights and endless days trying to figure out ways to repress, hide and deny their sexual preference from family members, friends, and society. [emphasis mine]
Again, it rings true. Myself, I opted not to repress or hide that part of who I am. The price has been a greater distance between me and my family, and a virtual divorce from any real closeness to a black community. I exist in a kind of limbo between communities. Still, the price of repressing part of who I am seems more costly on a psychological, emotional, and spiritual level.
To be honest, I don't know what can possibly change the feelings many black men and women have towards gays and lesbians. I suppose coming out — with all the difficulties and drama that come with the decision — is a first stepl. In my case, I think it made the difference for my brother and sister, and their feelings about me, if not about gays in general. And even that is a first step.
But I guess it will take more than that. I think it will take deeper engagement in the institutions at the heart of black communities, and the biggest of them: the church. For those who still have existing ties to black communities, I guess that's the first step. For me, it would require a long journey back — a long, difficult, and probably painful journey back. It's not one that I'm sure I'm capable of making right now, for a lot of reasons.
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