Throughout the presidential primary process, American voters have heard from the candidates on gay issues in increasing fashion and focus on race has also been a primary issue, being that one of the frontrunners is in fact African-American. What about black gay issues? The subject has often been overlooked, even during the history making "gay debate" which aired Aug. 9 on LOGO Network. At least 85,000 black same-sex couples live in the U.S. however, based on a survey by the National Black Justice Coalition and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. That's some 14 percent of all same-sex couples who identified themselves on the Census.
South Carolina in itself has been seen as an essential state in the presidential primary process. In a recent statement by the National Stonewall Democrats, Executive Director Jon Hoadley points this out: "Of all the early presidential states, it (S.C.) is the only one with a significant LGBT African-American population. We decided to use that as an opportunity to deepen our organizing within the LGBT community." NSD began organizing ahead of the South Carolina presidential primary nearly two years ago. "I think presidential candidates expect to encounter our community at black-tie events on the Upper West Side, but not necessarily on historically black college campuses in Orangeburg, South Carolina," added Rev. Dr. Keith L. Riddle, President of the S.C. Stonewall Democrats, in the same statement issued by the organization.
In a national effort to raise awareness of black LGBT issues in the 2008 elections, journalist / blogger Jasmyne Cannick pulled together "It's a Black Thang: The Black LGBT Vote '08" on January 23 in Los Angeles. The event brought together a panel of African-American LGBT activists, business owners, academics and people in the entertainment industry to discuss what they think are the defining issues for black LGBTs and which candidate they feel will best address them.
According to Cannick, the issue of marriage, which is at the heart of many LGBT activist organizations, isn't the biggest issue for African-American LGBT voters. Cannick and many on the panel see day-to-day concerns more important - job security, healthcare, the AIDS epidemic, homelessness and the economy. "While the thought may be that gays are only concerned about gay marriage," Cannick stated on her blog, www.jasmynecannick.com, "when you're black and gay, marriage may not be the defining issue for you in comparison to putting food on the table and having a roof over your head." Panelist Jeffery King, founder of In the Meantime, a Los Angeles group for black gay men, agreed at the forum stating that "same-sex marriage . . . isn't in the top five concerns for me, as a black gay man." "The folks leading the gay rights movement have traditionally never cared about anything other than that," Cannick added at the event. "They are nowhere to be found on bread-and-butter issues which same-gender loving people who happen to be minorities are dealing with."
The National Black Justice Coalition is also trying to change this. It hosts town hall meetings across the country to gauge the concerns of black gay men and lesbians, and is in the process of preparing "America's Black LGBT Political Agenda." An early draft of the agenda ranks improving access to health care and eliminating economic racial disparities as the top two objectives, followed by ending homophobia in black neighborhoods and institutions and realizing civil rights for LGBT people.
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT civil rights organization, has been one of the primary advocate organizations that has often overlooked its black constituents. In an effort to change its practices HRC has started "Equality Forward," a comprehensive listening project to learn more about the lives of African-American, Latino and Asian Pacific Islander LGBT people. Cuc Vu, HRC's Chief Diversity Officer told Atlanta, Ga.-based Southern Voice, the main LGBT newspaper in the Southeast, "what we heard from African-Americans is that their sexual orientation is not their No. 1 identity, which is very powerful to understand as an LGBT organization. What it means is our mission of equality must be broad and inclusive, and can't be limited just to LGBT issues."
According to black gay voters, neither can this election.
Until next week, have fun and be safe.
-Chris Rudisill, Weekly Surge