The power and influence of Black churches in the Black community is well known. And that influence is growing, according to recent studies. Racial and ethnic congregations are bucking a trend toward decreasing vitality in American congregations, according to a new study published by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.
What's less well known, but becoming more clear, is that Black churches - not unlike white Evangelical Christian churches - have been, to put it mildly, less accepting of homosexuality. This has become a problem for Black LGBT men and women, who would like to feel a part of those churches, and who might like to come out in their communities. And staying in the closet creates many problems, in addition to negative self esteem and risky behavior that can lead to HIV and other STDs.
The debate of thether Black churches should "come around" and be more welcoming is gaining more traction these days, mostly pushed by GLBT activists:
Some LGBT advocates say the black church is so interwoven in the fabric of the African American psyche that convincing black Americans that religion has nothing to do with homosexuality will be a futile endeavor. Black people and the church are “inextricably linked,” says Pastor Joseph Tolton of Rehodoth Temple Christ Conscious Church in Harlem.
“The church still has so much influence and they continue to use influence in a negative way,” Pastor Tolton says. “So that you’ve got people being driven further and further into the closet.
But other activists, like Sharon Lettman-Hicks, Executive Director and CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition in Washington, D.C., prefers taking the emphasis off of religion because, she says, faith has nothing to do with ensuring every American has equal protection under the law.
“At the end of the day, discriminating against LGBT people because of your own social prejudice is just wrong,” says Sharon Lettman-Hicks.
“One thing people have to realize is that LGBT black people are black people too,” says Sharon Lettman-Hicks. “When we look at the conversation of resistance in the African American community, we have to look at in context.”
That context, some LGBT advocates say, encompasses issues that have nothing to with homosexuality at all.
Pastor Tolton mentioned how black women can be manipulable by conservative interpretations of the Bible. For example, many black women in America find it daunting to find black man with whom they they share the “trifecta” of intellectual, emotional and financial security.
Sixty-seven percent of black women are college graduates as compared to just thirty-seven percent of black men. Additionally, as black women move through graduate school and join the professional ranks, their chances of finding a black man plummets even further.
Add to the mix the perceived fear that more black men will be lost to homosexuality if women do not oppose gay rights in the pews and at the ballot box, a black woman may be less inclined to lend her support to a cause she may feel drains her already dwindling mating pool.
“You’ve got single black women doing very well, who for every one black man with a graduate degree in this country, has five black women,” says Pastor Joseph Tolton. “You’ve got that whole class of 35 and 40-year-old women who are well-educated and cannot find a black man. So you’ve got that population that’s frightened.”
Three years ago Barack Obama cruised to victory, carrying California by a huge margin. At the same time, Prop 8, which rescinded the right of same sex couples to marry, also passed by a large margin. Many people, including the No-on-8 campagn, wondered what the hell happened. "Black people should be on our side! They're discriminated against too!"
Sure, but many Black people, and those who belong to Black churches, don't see the struggle the same way. For those who want to see more pro-gay Black churches, maybe it's time to better understand where people are coming from, first.
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