Sep 23, 2005  |  By: KATHERINE VOLIN  | COMMENTS     

Gay marriage, HIV/AIDS, isolationism, loneliness and faith are all matters local and national black gay and lesbian leaders have cited as areas they wish to target at the first leaders summit sponsored by the National Black Justice Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based African-American gay civil rights organization.

Keith Boykin, president of the National Black Justice Coalition board, was scheduled to speak at the summit on Thursday.

“There’s so many challenges these days we face in our community,” Boykin told the Blade this week. “Everything from the Millions More March to Rev. Willie Wilson’s comments, Hurricane Katrina, HIV/AIDS. I just have to figure out what it all means.”

The summit will include a gospel choir performance, workshops and roundtable discussions on civil rights, faith and unity. National guests include Ron Oden, gay mayor of Palm Springs, Calif., lesbian comedian Karen Williams and gay singer Billy Porter, the self-proclaimed “Black Broadway Bitch.” Events opened Wednesday with a reception and are scheduled to conclude Friday, Sept. 23, with an awards ceremony and fund-raiser.

Organizers planned the summit to coincide with the Congressional Black Caucus’ annual legislative conference. During the legislative conference, attendees discuss policy issues with the Congressional Black Caucus.

“While the issues that are being discussed during CBC weekend are important to us as African Americans, there are very few discussions that are gay-related,” said H. Alexander Robinson, executive director and CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition. “This is an opportunity for us as GLBT people and our allies to hone our own message, develop a consensus about the needs of our own community, but at the same time do it at the time and context that the weekend provides.”

Organizers for the Congressional Black Congress’ annual legislative conference could not be reached for this article. A schedule of this week’s events, however, revealed no planned discussions on gay-related topics.

“I think one of our challenges is that black gays and lesbians from those districts demand that their representatives be more responsive,” Robinson said.

Ray Daniels, director of communications for the National Black Justice Coalition, said he considered unification a primary goal of the summit.

“One of the things that our opponents have done very well is their messaging,” Daniels said. “They have consistently sent out the same message. We hope that the African-American LGBT community will speak with one voice.”

Robinson said discussion on how other African-American groups can include black gays and lesbians will be an important issue for the summit to address.

“We do have individuals coming in from the NAACP, from Rainbow Push Coalition, we have the representatives from the HRC to talk to us during our dialogue,” Robinson said. “In order to reach our population, they might have to go looking in places that historically may not be accepting, but what we’ve identified in the past clearly is that African-American gay and lesbian people are very much a part of the cultural and social fabric of black communities.”

Robinson said he sees issues of isolationism, loneliness and identity as serious concerns for black gays and lesbians, but he considers AIDS and marriage as two topics the summit especially needs to address.

“On two major issues there continues to be a challenge, one is HIV/AIDS,” Robinson said. “Quite frankly, we need some new thinking on the issue and some new solutions. I think the marriage debates have opened up some divisions and created some conflict that was not currently there. It has tested some alliances that had seemed to be strong.”

Boykin said he considered the black church the biggest obstacle black gays and lesbians have yet to overcome.

“There are so many people that are just really hurt and alienated because of their churches,” Boykin said. “I always say the black church is the most homophobic and homo-tolerant community in the black community. The homophobic is usually from the minister, but if you look behind the minister, there’s the choir members, the music directors, the organist. There’s gay people throughout that church.”

Friday’s scheduled events begin with a prayer breakfast at 7:30 a.m., and finish at 10 p.m. with the dinner and fund-raiser. Both events are open to the public.