Research
shows
opinions
stubbornly
unchanged
despite
growing
mainstream
acceptance
Next
week:
How
gay
activists
are
working
to
engage
blacks
and
win
their
support. |
|
There’s
a
typical
response
H.
Alexander
Robinson
hears
when
he
talks
to
black
people
about
gay
rights.
“There
are
those
in
the
community
that
continue
to
say
the
whole
gay
agenda
is
about
special
rights,”
he
said.
“In
lots
of
segments
of
the
community,
I
feel
like
we’ve
addressed
that
and
moved
on
from
that
question.
But
I
still
feel
like
it’s
being
framed
in
that
way
by
certain
African-American
ministers.”
Robinson,
executive
director
of
the
National
Black
Justice
Coalition,
said
he
and
other
gay
activists
thus
are
pitted
against
religious
and
political
influences
as
they
work
to
win
support
from
black
Americans.
And
those
influences
are
strong.
The
Pew
Research
Center
found
in
July
2006
that
52
percent
of
black
Protestants
consider
homosexuality
“just
the
way
that
some
people
prefer
to
live.”
According
to
the
survey,
22
percent
of
white
mainline
Protestants
say
the
same.
The
survey
also
found
that
20
percent
of
black
Protestants
say
homosexuality
is
something
people
are
born
with,
and
60
percent
say
that
homosexuality
can
be
changed.
By
comparison,
52
percent
of
surveyed
white
mainline
Protestants
say
people
are
born
gay
and
22
percent
say
homosexuality
can
be
changed.
Positioned
near
the
sensitive
intersection
of
religion
and
politics,
gay
rights
can
prove
a
volatile
topic
for
many
audiences.
But
Rev.
Larry
Brumfield,
a
black
pastor
at
Westminster
Church
of
the
Brethren
in
northern
Maryland
and
a
gay
rights
supporter,
said
some
of
his
most
heated
discussions
on
the
topic
have
been
with
fellow
blacks.
“I
think
religion
plays
a
large
role
in
it,”
he
said.
“I
think
it’s
because
of
miseducation
in
the
pulpit.”
Brumfield,
who
is
straight,
said
black
congregants
too
often
are
wrongly
told
that
gays
choose
their
sexual
orientation.
“They
see
it
as
a
choice,
almost
as
a
manipulative
choice,
rather
than
a
natural
order
of
things,”
he
said.
“And
if
it’s
a
manipulative
choice,
‘They
are
not
doing
this
just
because
they’re
sinful
and
lustful
and
out
of
control
people.
They’re
doing
it
to
get
a
leg
up
on
us
as
a
group,
as
black
people.
They’ll
get
the
job.
They’ll
hire
them
before
they
hire
us.
And
they’ll
get
this
privilege
before
us.
And
they’ll
be
competing
for
a
scarcity
of
rights
and
privileges.’”
Robinson
said
part
of
the
problem
gay
activists
face
in
countering
such
misconceptions
is
that
many
black
congregants
accept
without
question
what
they’ve
heard
from
the
pulpit.
“Lots
of
individuals
have
not
been
forced
to
consider
another
option,”
he
said.
Cuc
Vu,
chief
diversity
officer
for
the
Human
Rights
Campaign,
said
education
therefore
becomes
essential
to
securing
new
support.
“The
reality
is
that
many
members
of
the
African-American
community
believe
you
can
choose
to
be
gay,
but
you
cannot
choose
to
be
black,”
Vu
said.
“We
need
to
create
safer
spaces
for
African-American
GLBT
people
to
come
out
and
challenge
the
perception
in
the
African-American
community
that
there
are
no
gay
black
people.”
Brumfield
said
such
steps
could
help
diffuse
the
us-versus-them
“siege
mentality”
that
exists
in
some
black
churches.
“I
think
that
we
as
a
group,
as
a
community,
after
we
get
certain
rights
and
privileges
prescribed
to
us,
we
put
our
arms
around
them
and
hoard
them
and
say,
‘You
can’t
have
them,’”
he
said.
“Some
of
my
brethren
preachers
from
the
pulpit
target
this
as
a
competitive
position,
or
position
this
whole
concept
as,
‘Gays,
lesbians
and
transgenders
are
in
competition
with
black
folk
for
jobs,
rights,
privileges
and
those
things,’
which
is
totally
nonsense
to
me.”
A
complicated
dialogue
But
no
matter
the
legitimacy
of
such
concerns,
gay
activists
said
the
dialogue
they’re
working
to
develop
with
black
Americans
is
complicated.
Robinson
said
activists
must
be
particularly
careful
to
avoid
referencing
any
“hierarchies
of
oppression”
that
might
present
the
struggles
of
one
group
as
more
difficult
than
those
of
another.
“The
first
thing
is
that
we
just
need
to
call
it
out,”
he
said,
“and
be
very
clear
that
when
individuals
are
discriminated
against,
regardless
or
whatever
the
logic
or
the
reason
given,
we
all
have
to
stand
against
it.”
Robinson
said
such
steps
also
are
important
because
surveys
show
that
discussing
gay
issues
with
black
Americans
in
a
civil
rights
context
can
be
problematic.
Four
years
ago,
black
voters
generally
agreed
that
they
had
“a
historical
responsibility
to
fight
discrimination
in
all
its
forms.”
The
assertion,
presented
in
a
March
2004
survey
for
HRC
as
one
of
several
“arguments
about
gay
marriage,”
asked,
“How
can
we
as
African
Americans,
who
have
struggled
and
died
to
expand
freedoms
and
rights
in
this
country,
support
denying
any
group
of
people
their
human
rights?
As
a
community
we
have
a
historical
responsibility
to
fight
discrimination
in
all
its
forms.”
According
to
that
survey
of
600
black
voters,
72
percent
found
the
argument
somewhat
or
very
persuasive.
Another
22
percent
said
the
argument
was
not
persuasive.
Respondents
also
made
clear,
...
