Posted on 03/13/2004 7:23:35 PM PST by mhking
Black America's casual homophobia hardly speaks well for a people who have experienced so much discrimination themselves. But this bit of knee-jerk bigotry is no longer a mere social failing. It is now also a killer, keeping black gays in the closet and contributing to the rise of HIV.
From the black church to the barbershop, a gay-bashing ethos is so prevalent that black men who have sex with other men refuse to admit that they're gay. Indeed, according to Dr. Helene Gayle, one of the nation's top African-American experts on AIDS, some black parents prefer to falsely accuse their HIV-infected sons of drug abuse rather than admit that the son is gay.
Just last week, a black Atlanta radio talk show host, Coz Carson, was on the air denouncing the push for gay marriage, claiming that support for same-sex unions promotes the increase in HIV among black men -- as if homosexuality, not HIV, were contagious. Carson has it backward. It is homophobia, such as that which he so proudly displayed, that promotes the spread of HIV.
Given the hostility they face, black gays and lesbians are less likely than whites to come out of the closet, to form support groups or to seek counseling about safe sex. Can it be any wonder, then, that black Americans -- men and women -- constitute a disproportionate share of HIV and AIDS cases?
While black Americans account for only about 12 percent of the population, they account for about 54 percent of all new HIV infections. And black women are 23 times more likely to have AIDS than white women. Just a few years ago, researchers discovered a primary reason for that alarming statistic: black men who engage in homosexual activity secretly -- or "on the down low" -- while continuing to sleep with their wives or girlfriends, who are then vulnerable to infection.
Now comes news that risky sexual activity -- usually homosexual encounters on the down low -- have brought about a high rate of HIV infection in black male college students in North Carolina. And there is no reason to believe those statistics represent some anomaly limited to that state. If the same test were used in Georgia, a similar rate of infection could well appear among Atlanta's black college men.
Atlanta has a well-developed network of down low clubs and organizations, according to writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis, who profiled that milieu in several cities last year for The New York Times. "For young black men, Atlanta is the hub of the South, a city with unlimited possibilities, including a place in its vibrant DL scene," Denizet-Lewis wrote, describing "clubs, Web sites, Internet chat rooms, private parties and special nights at clubs" -- all of which are designed to allow closeted gay black men to meet each other. He also describes several of the young black men he met, including 31-year-old Rakeem:
" 'We know there are black gay rappers, black gay athletes, but they're all on the DL,' Rakeem says. 'If you're white, you can come out as any openly gay skier or actor or whatever. It might hurt you some, but it's not like if you're black and gay, because then it's like you've let down the whole black community, black women, black history, black pride.' "
Dr. Walter Massey, president of Atlanta's all-male, historically black Morehouse College, says he has encountered young men struggling with their sexual identities as they try to fit traditional roles. "Above all, black men are taught and raised to be . . . men, to raise families, to be fathers . . . be a leader in his community and in his home. Any black male who is seen not to fit that kind of role probably suffers a lot of identity problems," he said.
After an incident in 2002 in which a Morehouse student assaulted another for allegedly looking at him too long in a communal shower, Morehouse started reaching out to its openly gay students, as well as teaching tolerance to its larger student body, Massey said. But the school still struggles to develop programs for "that other group of students" who have sex with men but don't wish to be called gay. "This is a new area for us," he said.
But no support group or safe-sex counseling would do those young men as much good as broad acceptance of homosexuality. If black America doesn't let go its bigotry, it may end up sacrificing what W.E.B. DuBois called its talented tenth.
Please elablorate and explain. What "cultural loathing?"
I have seen no such "loathing."
I stand by what I originally said. Promiscuity will kill you. Gay or switchhitter men are more promiscuous and more likely to engage in "risky" sex but if you have a hetro population that engages in the same type of behaviors then their chances of getting the disease rises as well.
To their credit the hetro population does not engage in these types of behaviors as a general rule. If you compare the average number of partners gay men have 42.8 sexual partners with a much smaller pool of potential partners to select from. Hetro men have an average of 16.5 sexual partners with a much larger pool from which to select. Just on sheer numbers AIDS is going to be more likely in the gay population. Add in other risky sexually behaviors and the likelihood just shot through the roof.
Not to mention that AIDS is not the only deadly STD out there. The others have kill rates of less then 100% but they can still kill you. And then there are the lovely ones that won't kill you but you will definitely die with them. And getting one of those increases your chances of getting AIDS.
So, no qualifiers are needed. Don't sleep around. Don't do drugs. Don't get AIDS.
| What We Can Do To Help Defeat the "Gay" Agenda |
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| Homosexual Agenda: Categorical Index of Links (Version 1.1) |
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| The Stamp of Normality |
um... sorry, I don't see any evidence suggesting that this ideal is the single or chief predominant male model in American Black subculture.
Lots of evidence to the contrary, that I DO see.
While there are plenty of black men who do fit this bill to a T, there are a hella many who do not - evidenced by the rampant criminality, extramarital breeding, absenteeism from their parental duty, slothfulness, etc... unavoidably evident to even the most casual of honest observers.
Ugly, but so far as I can see: truth.
Building a pleasing fantasy about black culture does not aid any honest effort to come to terms with the problems hindering that culture.
You missed the entire point.
It isn't a question of accepting homosexuality as good or right, it's about accepting the fact that it exists and is quite widespread in the black community.
Their leaders need to drop their denials and start addressing the risks and perhaps save a few lives.
You don't get it.
It's not acceptance of homosexuality as OK, it is acceptance that homosexuality exists, and in fact is fairly widespread among black males. And that they need to take measures to protect themselves and women in the black community who have no idea their men are living a double life, against the spread of AIDS.
No, you don't get it, and neither does she. Her own words contradict her claim that she is talking about homosexuality.
"And black women are 23 times more likely to have AIDS than white women. Just a few years ago, researchers discovered a primary reason for that alarming statistic: black men who engage in homosexual activity secretly -- or 'on the down low' -- while continuing to sleep with their wives or girlfriends, who are then vulnerable to infection."
If you're a switch-hitter, by definition, you're not a homosexual. After all, haven't gays told us a million times, that if you're gay, you feel no attraction to women? Oops -- but at other times, they count bisexuals as gay -- the "gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community." Since Tucker is a political ally of gays, she plays similar rhetorical games.
I can just see a black man telling his lady, "I also sleep with men, so I'm going to use a condom whenever we have sex, because I want to protect you." She'd have the police ushering him out of the apartment before you could say, "Cynthia!"
A central aspect that Tucker refuses to face, that involves both black men BECOMING bisexual, and often their contracting HIV, is their experiences getting raped in prison.
Now that you mention it, I think she believes just that. The parallel is just too powerful to be an accident. The lady apparently hates Christianity, though she'd never admit it. You nailed her.
Who CARES about the "rhetorical games" or this convoluted nonsense over who is or isn't a "real" homosexual by definition?
It makes NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever when it comes to spreading AIDS.
The simple fact is that men having sex with men is defined as homosexual activity. PERIOD.
I assume that this includes the prison population. We sometimes joke about Bubba wanting to wed a newbie in prison, but it's more likely that it's a Tyrone.
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