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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCharles M. Blow @CharlesMBlow: Read my column, "The Anti-Gay Agenda
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(The exceptional, Charles Blow, as always.)
Sympthsical
(8,865 posts)Especially in the black community, where church is much more of a social adhesive than you'd find in other communities.
Just as white evangelicals give the LGBT community the hardest time, black churches haven't been so great either.
It seems like the author is at pains to pin it all on white supremacy. Doesn't bring up religion one iota.
Yeah, no. In my life experience as a gay man, the vast majority of problems I've seen for gay people, including myself, comes howling out of conservative religious communities.
Start there.
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)I doubt he feels he needs to start anywhere else.
Sympthsical
(8,865 posts)There's a germ of an idea somewhere in that article. I kept waiting for it to arrive. It's descriptive, but not dispositive. It's impossible to interrogate homophobia in black males and black communities without casting an eye at the church.
That he somehow arrives at the end with, "Well, white supremacy," is trite at best.
He somehow explores the issue without going anywhere.
It was a strange article. And, as I said, I didn't catch what he was trying to do with it. The article read like, "Today we will talk about the ocean. However, we will not be discussing water."
Just my perspective as a gay man.
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)From Baldwin, which Charles Blow links to:
Did you ever hear antigay rhetoric in church?
Not in the church I grew up in. Im sure thats still true. Everyone is a child of God, according to us.
Didnt people ever call you faggot uptown?
Of course. But theres a difference in the way its used. Its got less venom, at least in my experience. I dont know of anyone who has ever denied his brother or his sister because they were gay. No doubt it happens. It must happen. But in the generality, a black person has got quite a lot to get through the day without getting entangled in all the American fantasies.
https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/06/22/james-baldwin-on-being-gay-in-america/