African-American LGBT community

LGBT (also seen as LGBTQ) stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer. The LGBT community did not receive societal recognition until the historical marking of the Stonewall Riots in 1969 in New York at Stonewall Inn. The Stonewall riots brought domestic and global attention to the lesbian and gay community. Proceeding Stonewall, Romer v. Evans vastly impacted the trajectory of the LGBT community. Ruling in favor of Romer, Justice Kennedy asserted in the case commentary that Colorado's state constitutional amendment "bore no purpose other than to burden LGB persons".[1]

Advancements in policy, discourse, and knowledge assisted in the progression and coming out of many LGBT individuals. Statistics show an increase in accepting attitudes towards lesbians and gays. A Gallup survey shows that acceptance rates went from 38% in 1992 to 52% today.[2] However, when looking at the LGBT community from a racial lens, the black community lacks many of these advantages. Research and studies are limited for the black LGBT community due to resistance towards coming out, as well as a lack of responses in surveys and research studies; The coming out rate of blacks is less than those of European (white) descent. The black LGBT community refers to the African-American (black) population who identify as LGBT, as a community of marginalized individuals who are further marginalized within their community. Surveys and research have shown that 80% of African Americans say gays and lesbians endure discrimination compared to the 61% of whites. Black members of the community are not only seen as "other" due to their race, but also due to their sexuality, making them targets for discrimination from whites and their own people.[3] While marginalization happens from external factors such as systematic and social injustices, the black community creates disparities and division within its own community. Furthermore, religion also hinders progression within the black community for its LGBT members.[3] The wedge created by colonization and the black through the use of religion makes the future unclear for black LGTBQ members. The major disparities, however, that will affect the mobilization of the black LGBT community are systematic and social injustices.

History

Pre-Stonewall riot

Harlem Renaissance

During the Harlem Renaissance, a subculture of LGBTQ African-American artists and entertainers emerged, including people like Alain Locke, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Wallace Thurman, Richard Bruce Nugent, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Moms Mabley, Mabel Hampton, Alberta Hunter, and Gladys Bentley. Places like Savoy Ballroom and the Rockland Palace hosted drag-ball extravaganzas with prizes awarded for the best costumes. Langston Hughes depicted the balls as "spectacles of color." George Chauncey, author of Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940, wrote that during this period "perhaps nowhere were more men willing to venture out in public in drag than in Harlem."[4]

During the first night of the Stonewall riots, LGBTQ African Americans and Latinos likely were the largest percentage of the protestors because those groups heavily frequented the bar. Homeless black and Latino LGBTQ youth and young adults who slept in nearby Christopher Park were likely among the protestors as well.[4]

Post Stonewall riot

In 1983, after a battle over LGB participation in the 20th anniversary March on Washington, a group of African American leaders endorsed a national gay rights bill and put Audre Lorde from the National Coalition of Black Gays as speaker on the agenda. In 1984, Rev. Jesse Jackson included LGB people as part of his Rainbow/PUSH.[5]

In 1993, Dr. William F. Gibson, national Chairman of the Board of NAACP, endorsed the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation and repealed the ban on LGB service in the military.[6]

On May 19, 2012, the NAACP passed a resolution in support of same-sex marriage.[7]

First African American LGBT holders of political offices in the United States

State legislature

Rhode Island

  1. Gordon Fox (D)

Georgia

  1. Rashad Taylor (D)

Massachusetts

  1. Althea Garrison (R)

Nevada

  1. Pat Spearman (D)

North Carolina

  1. Marcus Brandon (D)

Texas

  1. Barbara Jordan

Mayoral

California

  1. Ron Oden (D)

New Jersey

  1. Bruce Harris (R)

Legislative

New York

  1. Keith St. John (D)
    • 1st gay African American public office holder
    • 1st gay African American member of the Albany Common Council Alderman of the 2nd ward

Judicial

Federal

  1. Darrin P. Gayles (D)

Economic disparities

The current federal law, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, prohibits employment discrimination. The federal law specifies no discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. The current federal law does not specify sexual orientation. There is legislation currently being proposed to congress known as the ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act) that would include hindering discrimination based on sexual orientation too. However, current policies do not protect sexual orientation and affect the employment rates as well as LGBT individual’s incomes and overall economic status. The alone Black people in the United States of America as of the 2010 consensus is 14,129,983 people.[8] Out of that, it is estimated that 4.60 percent of the black population identify as LGBT.

Within the Black LGBT community many face economic disparities and discrimination. Statistically black LGBT individuals are more likely to be unemployed than their non-counterparts. According to the Williams Institute, the vast difference lies in the survey responses of “not in workforce” from different populations geographically. Black LGBT individuals, nonetheless, face the dilemma of marginalization in the job and economic market. As of 2013, same sex couples income is lower than those in different sex relationships with an average of $25,000 income. For different sex couples, statistics show a $1,700 increase. Analyzing economic disparities on an intersectional level (gender and race), the black male is likely to receive a higher income than a female. For males, statistics shows approximately a $3,000 increase from the average income for all black LGBT identified individuals, and a $6,000 increase in salary for same-sex male couples. Female same sex couples receive $3,000 less than the average income for all black LGBT individual and approximately $6,000 less than their male counterparts. (Look at Charts below) The income disparity amongst black LGBT families affects the lives of their dependents, contributing to poverty rates. Children growing up in low-income households are more likely to remain in the poverty cycle. Due to economic disparities in the black LGBT community, 32% of children raised by gay black men are in poverty. However, only 13% of children raised by heterosexual black parents are in poverty and only 7% for white heterosexual parents.[9]

Comparatively looking at gender, race, and sexual orientation, black women same sex-sex couples are likely to face more economic disparities than black women in an opposite sex relationship. Black women in same-sex couples earn $42,000 compared to black women in opposite sex relationships who earn $51,000. That is a twenty-one percent increase in income. Economically, black women same-sex couples are also less likely to be able to afford housing/property together. Approximately fifty percent of black women same-sex couples can afford to buy housing compared to white women same-sex couples who have a seventy-two percent rate in home ownership.[10]

Black transgender

Black transgender individuals face higher rates of discrimination than black LGBT individuals. While policies have been implemented to inhibit discrimination based on gender identity, transgender individuals of color lack legal support. Transgender individuals are still not supported by legislation and policies like the LGB community. New reports show vast discrimination in the black transgender community. Reports show in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, black transgender individuals along with non-conforming individuals, have high rates of poverty. Statistics shows a 34% rate of households receiving an income less than 10,000 a year. According to the data, that is twice the rate when looking at transgender individuals of all races, and four times higher than the general black population. Many face poverty due to discrimination and bias when trying to purchase a home or apartment. Thirty-eight percent of black Trans individuals report in the Discrimination Survey being turned down property due to their gender identity. Thirty-one percent of the black individuals were evicted due to their identity.[11]

Black transgender individuals also face disparities in education, employment, and health. In education, black transgender and non-conforming persons face brutish environments while attending school. Reporting rates show 49% of black transgender individuals being harassed from grades kindergarten to twelfth grade. Physical assault rates are at 27% percent and sexual assault is at 15%. These drastic high rates have an effect on the mental health of black transgender individuals. As a result of high assault/harassment and discrimination, suicidal rates are at the same rate (49%) as harassment to black transgender individuals. Employment discrimination rates are similarly higher. Statistics show a 26% rate of unemployed black transgender and non-conforming persons. Many black trans people have lost their jobs or have been denied jobs due to gender identity; Thirty-two percent are unemployed and forty-eight percent were denied jobs.[11]

Health disparities

Black LGBT individuals face many health risks due to discriminatory policies and behavior in the medical sphere. Due to lack of medical coverage and adequate medical treatment, many are faced with heath risks further diminishing the Black LGBT community. There is no current legislation fully protecting LGBT individuals from discrimination in the public sphere concerning health care. President Barack Obama, has recently written a memo to the Department of Health and Human Services to enact regulations on discrimination of gay and transgender individuals receiving Medicare and Medicaid, as well as to permit full hospital visitation rights to same-sex couples and their families. The United States of Housing and Urban Development proposed policies that would allow access and eligibility to core programs despite sexual orientation and gender identity.[12] The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is currently working to be inclusive as courts have recently passed interpretation of the ACA to prohibit discrimination transgender individuals and non-conforming persons. Regardless of the few legislative policies, black LGBT individuals encounter health care discrimination.

One of the greatest concerns in the Black LGBT community is sexually transmitted diseases. One of the greatest STDs affecting the Black community is HIV/AIDS. The black race account for 44% of the new HIV infections both adults and adolescents. Black women account for 29% of new HIV infections. For black LGBT men identified individuals, 70% of the population accounts for new HIV infections for both adults and adolescents. The rates of HIV for black LGBT men are drastically higher than their racial counterparts (white men, Latino men, and black women).[13] It is approximately seven times higher. Factors that contribute to higher rates of STDs like HIV/AIDS are lack of medical access. It is not practices of unsafe sex rather limited supply of antiretroviral therapy in non-white communities.[14]

African American LGBT culture has been depicted in films such as Patrick Ian Polk's Noah’s Arc and Punks, as well as Barry Jenkins' Moonlight, which not only has the main character as a gay African American but is written by an African American and is based on a play by black gay playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney.[15]

Notable people

Gay and bisexual men

Lesbian and bisexual women

Transgender

References

  1. ↑ "Movement Analysis: The Pathway to Victory, A Review of Supreme Court LGBT Cases" (PDF). National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  2. ↑ Newport, Frank. "American Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Continue to Become More Tolerant". Gallup. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 Gecewicz, Claire (October 7, 2014). "Blacks are Lukewarm to Gay Marriage, but Most Say Businesses Most Provide Wedding Services to Gay Couples". Pew Research Center. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Dis-membering Stonewall
  5. ↑ Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, Volume 1
  6. ↑ NAACP’s Long History on LGBT Equality
  7. ↑ NAACP endorses same-sex marriage, says it's a civil right
  8. ↑ "Households and Families: 2010" (PDF). CB. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  9. ↑ "LGBT Families of Color: Facts at a Glance" (PDF). National Black Justice Coalition. January 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
  10. ↑ Dang, Alain; Frazer, Somjen (December 2005). "Black Same-Sex Households in the United States" (PDF). National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute National Black Justice Coalition. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  11. 1 2 Grant, Jaime; Mottet, Lisa; Tanis, Justin; Harrison, Jack; Herman, Jody; Keisling, Mara (2011). "Injustice at Every Turn" (PDF). National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  12. ↑ Burns, Crosby (July 19, 2011). "Gay and Transgender Discrimination Outside the Workplace". Center for American Progress. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
  13. ↑ "HIV Among African Americans" (PDF). Centers for Disease Control. February 2013. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  14. ↑ Oster, A.; et al. (2010). "Understanding disparities in HIV infection between black and white men who have sex with men in the United States: data from the national HIV behavioral surveillance system". International Aids Society. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  15. ↑ Gilbert, Sophie. "The Symbolism of Water in Barry Jenkins's 'Moonlight'". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2016-12-28.
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