The struggle of gay black men and women in the LGBT and Black communities.

The recent reports of an alleged hate attack on openly gay actor Jussie Smollett, the unfolding of the circumstances surrounding the incident, and the somewhat extreme investigative turnaround of moving Smollett from victim to accessory in his own attack has shined a light on many open wounds in American society and the effect our nation’s most powerful political leaders may have on everyday citizens. From the Empire star and his allies claiming the investigation would not have turned if he were white to his critics claiming Smollett orchestrated the attack as a publicity stunt to save his character on the hit television show Empire, the alleged attack has reignited a spark on the topic of LGBT rights and safety, race relations, and political rhetoric in the United States in a short period of time. We are, however, going to refrain from talking about those issues, and are definitely going to refrain from talking about the case (as many democratic presidential hopefuls should have a la Kamala Harris) itself as the circumstances and evidence surrounding the events are still unfolding. Instead this article is going to use that attack as a seg-way to point to the identity issues that gay black men often face, and the hardships they encounter from both the LGBT community and the black community.

Research into the topic of Black LGBT identities will find one common question among scholars: “is it possible to be both Black and Gay in America?”. More exhaustive research will yield an exasperated yes with a myriad of caveats and qualifiers. Black LGBT men and women are excluded from both communities that they would call their own often facing racism in the LGBT community and homophobia in the black community. In fact, the Stonewall charity found that as many as 51 percent of racial or ethnic minorities have faced discrimination in their local LGBT communities. The LGBT community has constructed the “white queer male” as the quintessential representative of the community. From gay Hollywood to local clubs, white men seemingly dominate the community where they set beauty, attitude, and mannerism standards. Leaving Black LGBT persons who are unable or unwilling to reach these standards out of the group. Because they are often seen as other even within their own LGBT community, the support system this community provides is not always available to them. One respondent in a study conducted by the Stonewall institute recounts a time during pride when she was bumped into by a white queer male and upon seeing she was black said “ew” and appeared to “Wipe her off of him.” That is in stark contrast to the actual meaning of Pride which is supposed to celebrate diversity and inclusiveness. The problem is because the LGBT community is a minority and POC are a minority within that minority, the transgressions against them are too often ignored and pushed under the rug as the gay community celebrates itself for how diverse and inclusive it is. No support system leaves LGBT+POC without the support system and safety net that has been able to catch so many other LGBT members who are not POC. This leads to increase HIV and sexual health risk due to lack of effective sexual health from their local LGBT communities out fear or feelings of being unwanted or unwelcome, less financial stability or support from LGBT friendly business and charities that may help young LGBT people who have been facing hardships based on their sexual identity, less emotional and psychological support from members of the community following sexual assaults or hate crimes due to the perceived racism in the community, and the list of real and potential problems go on and on.

In addition to the hardships facing POC in the LGBT communities, many still face homo-/trans- phobia in their homes and racism in larger society. Often POC face unique issues when coming out to their family and many end up ostracized by their families or home communities. LGBT POC face increased violence and criminal injustice from larger society as well. The Human Rights Campaign reported that Black LGBT victims of hate crimes were 1.4 times more likely to face threats or intimidation and 1.3 times more likely to experience police violence than their non-black counterparts. This has the potential to lead to under-reporting and effective fights against hate crimes in black and other minority communities.

I desperately hope Smollett is exonerated of all charges. Not for the sake of Smollett himself but because, if true that he faked his attack, the set back for not only the LGBT community but specifically people of color in the LGBT community will be swift and could become extreme. This case could lead to an undermining and place suspicion on actual LGBT victims of hate crimes and make their ability to gain meaningful justice will be severely hampered. However the Jussie Smollett case plays out, I hope we use this spotlight on hate crimes against LGBT people to shine a light on the ever present discrimination and hardships the LGBT+POC face from the very communities they believe would protect them, this includes, most of all, the LGBT community itself.

https://www.hrc.org/resources/being-african-american-lgbtq-an-introduction

https://www.hrc.org/resources/resource-guide-to-coming-out-for-african-americans

https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/59qx93/stonewall-survey-lgbtq-racism-uk

https://www.stonewall.org.uk/our-work/blog/challenging-racism-lgbt-community

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.585.1724&rep=rep1&type=pdf

https://www.hrc.org/blog/we-must-address-violence-targeting-lgbtq-communities-of-color