Over the weekend, The State newspaper, based in Columbia, SC, published an op-ed from our good friend, Alvin McEwen. He runs the blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, where he consistently exposes the fraudulent right wing "research" used to attack gays. Alvin is relentless and cuts through lies and falsehoods.
Alvin's op-ed is titled, "Society needs reminders about black gays and lesbians." Here's an excerpt:
Gays and lesbians of color are being pushed in a psychological closet and muzzled by our own community. We are treated like dog dirt on the front lawn of black America, something to be avoided or eliminated with the utmost efficiency.It's a very powerful piece from Alvin. And, it's great to see Alvin and his message getting picked up by the traditional media. It's a post that is as relevant in South Carolina as it is in Washington, D.C.
Young gays and lesbians of color suffer the most from this treatment.
In his classic novel Native Son, African-American writer Richard Wright demonstrated, through the turbulent life and death of his protagonist Bigger Thomas, that when society works against building the self esteem of youth, it usually creates criminals and those who engage in negative behavior.
In layman’s terms, when young gay and lesbian African-Americans are not given social and psychological support and are constantly bombarded with images of weak, oversexed, pathetically funny or disease-ridden images of themselves or no images at all, how can anyone expect the outcome of their lives to be anything but negative?
Someone must stand in the gap for our gays and lesbian children of color, even if our mainstream African-American leaders won’t.
Whether the rest of the black community approves of gays and lesbians of color is, in the long run, irrelevant. We deserve acknowledgment and respect because homosexuality is a black issue.
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