Thought and Opinion

I pose this topic because as black LGBTQ+ men we have more shared experiences, strengths, hopes, and joys than we sometimes take the opportunity to discover. There is more community to be experienced than we allow ourselves to feel. And at this moment; when the anti-black racism, homophobia, and transphobia that reelected Donald Trump have its jackboot on our throats, fellowship and connection are all the more lifesaving. So let’s engage two black LGBTQ+ men and hear how their journeys may reflect something of ours.

No one ever said that being out is gay. If you listen to all the noise that bombards you, being gay and out can be … overwhelming. How do you come out? What about finding community? And then there’s dating. And discovering who you authentically are, now. So let’s cover the bases and get some clarity. We’re talking Gay 101 on Thought and Opinion with special guest Glen Lawrence. 

I pose this question because as love and happiness are sharedhuman desires, I have essentially always heard black gay and queermen say that they want a “masculine” man. Their presentationnotwithstanding, a large number of black gay men have mademasculinity their standard for love; and thereby, have attached muchof their happiness to something that – many would say – is largelyexternal and performative. That begs the question what is invaluableor superior about masculinity? What gives masculinity its privilege?And importantly from what power structure or binding source have somany of us gotten that perception of masculinity from?

I pose this question because I wonder if black gay men have allowed heteronormative expectations to standardize how we define ourselves. By various means America deemed gay and queer identity as partly synonymous with femininity. Have some black gay men unknowingly allowed that standard to seep into their thinking? For example: The traditional image of gay or queer black men in tv, film, music, etc. has usually been a more feminine-based presentation or spectacle Commonly used lingo of gay black men (sis, girl, bitch, read, yasss, the tea, Judy, the gods, etc.) present as feminine-basedThose popularly referred to as “gay icons” are usually women (e.g. Cher, Patti Labelle, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Judy Garland, Diana Ross, Beyonce, etc.)Presenting with flamboyant or feminine-based mannerisms is seemingly expected by some black gay men Black gay men have often prefer dating “masculine” men Therefore, I ask Do Some Black Gay Men See Themselves Through a Feminine-based Lens? To help us navigate this sensitive and complex topic, I am joined by (intro the guests) 

I pose this question because President Donald Trump’s second term has been a manic cycle of corruption, greed, and cruelty. So much so, that many Americans have been shocked into thinking that this is unlike any presidency in US history. But I am reminded of the wisdom of James Baldwin in Notes of a Native Son. Mr Baldwin said that “the past is all that makes the present coherent”, and America’s past makes clear that President Trump’s anti-black racism and nativism – animosity aimed at perceptions of alien contamination by minority and immigrant groups – are well known to American history. Said differently, Donald Trump’s ilk of white man is not new to the presidency. So please take a brief walk with me as America’s past makes our present coherent.  To understand why Trump’s hate is on-brand for the presidency we will briefly look at race through the eyes of Presidential giants George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. Then, we’ll see racism in public policy by looking at the immigration policies of, again, President’s Jefferson and Lincoln and Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower.  

I pose this question because in 2021, the city of Santa Clarita – the 3rd largest city in LA County and its last traditional republican stronghold – was sued for violating the CA Voting Rights Act. The CVRA lawsuit alleged that due to electing its City Council on an at-large basis, Santa Clarita“dilutes the votes of Latino citizens, suppresses the ability of their communities to recruit and support candidates for public office, and prevents them from aggregating their votes to elect those candidates in single-member districts.” The result is, the lawsuit continued, that “large geographic areas with minority communities are chronically underrepresented.” In 2022, Santa Clarita agreed to settle the Voting Rights Act lawsuit. It agreed to transition from at-large to district-based City Council elections with one district being a majority-minority district where the majority of the eligible voters in that district are 45% Latino with another 15% being African-American and Asian-American. The question becomes why did it take the threat of litigation to persuade Santa Clarita’s leadership to become serious inclusion? Did Santa Clarita want inclusive city leadership? My guest today was one of the plaintiffs in the CVRA lawsuit.