Posted on 10/21/2009 10:43:22 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Black History Month should help break down homophobia by celebrating the sexuality of black heroes such as Malcolm
October is Black History Month in Britain – a wonderful celebration of the huge, important and valuable contribution that black people have made to humanity and to popular culture.
It is also worth celebrating that many leading black icons have been lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), most notably the US black liberation hero Malcolm X. Other prominent black LGBTs include jazz singer Billie Holiday, author and civil rights activist James Baldwin, soul singer-songwriter Luther Vandross, blues singer Bessie Smith, poet and short story writer Langston Hughes, singer Johnny Mathis, novelist Alice Walker, civil rights activist and organiser of the 1963 March on Washington Bayard Rustin, blues singer Ma Rainey, dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey, actress, singer and dancer Josephine Baker, Olympic diving gold medallist Greg Louganis, singer and songwriter Little Richard, political activist and philosopher Angela Davis, singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman and drag performer and singer RuPaul.
Few of these prominent black LGBT achievers are listed on the most comprehensive UK Black History Month website, which hosts biographies of notable black men and women. In the section on people, only Davis is mentioned and her lesbianism is not acknowledged. The website fails to identify the vast majority of black public and historical figures who are LGBT. The Official Guide to Black History Month UK is equally remiss. Why these omissions? Black people are not one homogenous heterosexual mass. Where is the recognition of sexual diversity within the black communities and black history?
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
What a mess
By any means necessary?
In all seriousness, though, I really don’t care what he did in private (and didn’t make an issue of during his lifetime).
RuPaul is a “leading black icon?”
I love his music, and he was present at Ronald Reagan’s graveside service, so I respect him. I just pretend he’s singing about holding a lady by the fire—not a guy. Heh.
getting off “by any means neccessary”.
According to Wikipedia: Louganis is of Samoan/Swedish descent. He was raised in California by his adoptive parents, a Greek-American couple. He attended Valhalla High School in El Cajon, California.
Uh, Greg Louganis was NOT "Black". He was Swedish and Samoan. Samoans would take great offense to being called "Black". Or so says my Samoan college roomate, who is already pissed off at this article.
No way.
Not in the last 5 generations, anyway.
I’m heard he was tri-sexual .
In that shot, I’d say he’s got a little “George Michael” thing going on there.
In more ways than 1. ;-)
That dog is bi.
Is this article even on the level?
He’s openly gay, of Somoan/Swedish ancestry, raised by a Greek-American couple.
I think hios son, Obama is bi-sexual too.
Not in the last 5 generations, anyway.
Dunno, looks pretty gay to me.
“What a coincidence... so’s his son Barack.”
You beat me to it. (What happened to Hussein’s boy toy; has he been offed yet?)
That sound you hear is 1,397,057 baseball hats with a big 'X' on the front, landing in the waste bin.
Blacks are being duped into thinking blackness = gayness, again.
Obama’s daddy a swinger?
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