African Americans are a strange dichotomy. Predominantly African American cities tend to be very liberal politically, because African Americans tend to vote Democratic. On the other hand, African Americans tend to be very traditional. I believe, for example, they are more religious than the average American.
Anyways, my reason for starting this thread is how most African Americans voted on Prop 8 in California–the anti-gay marriage proposal. I believe most voted in favor of it. Now, gay marriage is a very controversial issue no matter what your political convictions. For example, I tend to be very liberal. But I do not support gay marriage presently–I support gay civil unions instead.
So my point is, where do African Americans typically stand on other gay rights issues: discrimination in the work place, equal access to housing, equal treatment with adoptions, etc? (I thought of Googling this, but wasn’t sure how exactly to phrase it on a search to narrow it down to what I wanted.)
My only evidence is anecdotal (including vague memories of people quoting statistics), but my very clear impression is that they are just as divided on the subject as whites, with much the same break-out of conservative religionists, liberal religionists, social requirements for macho-ism, the influence of having gay friends or family members, etc. – all the components that make up the variant groups of whites.
Many leading black clergy oppose gay rights, feeling homosexuality is sinful. Coretta Scott King was, and Julian Bond and Desmond Tutu are, strong advocates of gay rights. The President-elect is by and large a moderate supporter of gay rights. Some leading black sports figures have been outspoken against them, notably Reggie White. And so on. The point, I believe, is that the spectrum of American reactions to gay rights is mirrored in the black community.
I was thinking about this thread and googled the one word hypermasculinity and got several hits on the first page referring specifically to hypermasculinity and black culture, and even “black hypermasculinity, and its attendant homophobia.”
ETA: I know that gangsta culture <> black cultural overall, but I wonder if the former’s rising influence (as well as the unfortunately disproportionately high exposure of the black community to prison culture) doesn’t have a significant impact on this question. I tend to think homophobia in this context isn’t so much about religion or even about sexuality per se, but about power.
“Hypermasculinity” and power issues don’t necessarily lead to homophobia. These same factors exist within the gay community itself, more specifically in BDSM culture.
With very few exceptions, homophobia can be traced back to religion.
IIRC, homosexuals have traditionally had a very hard time of it in Communist countries, such as the U.S.S.R and China to name two, which are officially atheist. Further, homosexuals have until very recently faced bias, repression and even violence from within virtually every culture on the face of the earth, regardless of which religion dominates.
I think it’s inaccurate to blame religion for the difficulties faced by homosexuals in the main - though certainly religion has been a major stumbling block to gay rights legislation in this country; rather, the problem seems to be an aversion to homosexuality (the so-called ick factor, as I’ve seen it referred to here) that appears to be intrinsic to human nature and requires exposure and education to overcome. In other words, it’s something that people have to be trained or conditioned to accept, whereas disdain for it or disapproval of it is not. I think it’s difficult for gays and gay rights proponents to face the issue of the ick factor squarely because the mere fact of its existence can lead to feelings of hurt and disenfranchisement, so religion bears the brunt of the blame while the real issue goes largely ignored.
I’m not bringing this up so much as to defend religion as I am to try to put the focus on the real crux of the problem. The longer that religion is vilified and made the bogeyman in the struggle for gay rights, the longer it will take for the real issue to be dealt with, and dealt with effectively.