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ePaper created 2015-02-22, 17:33:25 | version 1.33.01
44 URBANSOCIALITES.COM Black gay men creating institutions, preserving culture and building a movement...You cannot walk down a street in the “Black Gay Mecca”better known as ATL without running into at least one Black Gay man.The prides and MLK weekends are infamous, and naturally one might assume the Black Gay community has to be strong in this place. However once the pomp and circumstances of building up“pride”through club-life is done where else can Black Gay (BG) culture be found? Is it possible that the only culture Black Gay men have aspired to is the culture club? Sure a community’s culture includes shared spaces but also shared language, and written or recorded history.You’d be hard pressed to identify an active, thriving community that hasn’t preserved its own culture. LGBT persons of color have lived through great adversity and persecution throughout the world and the preservation of Black Gay culture has been stalled by the inability of BG men to have a controlling stake in what we create, where we live, and what we value.From a historically Black cultural context, we’re familiar with notorious religious-based homophobia in Black communities that left many LGBT groups to fend for them- selves and fear that all those who support homosexuality would be hell-bound.The lives of BG men were not nearly as important to politicize as marriage equality, which should have been a clear indication to the Black community that BG men would not find refuge in ourWhite Gay counterparts. More recently there’s been the exploitation of stereotypicalBlack Gay images in mainstream reality shows, where elements of our culture are hijacked by heterosexual“allies”used to make them pseudo celebrities while BG men ride the sidelines as sideshow sidekicks or the latest accessory. It is our duty to interrupt these patterns and coordinate our own movement by addressing at least three crucial factors:1) Black GayVisibility:The absence of BG presence makes it difficult for us to be counted, to build community and preserve culture. If the BG community is going to have to choose between being Black and being Gay anyway, we might as well create our own space where we can be both.We must be present in our own communities and divest in being accessories on the arm of others who undervalued our contributions. Being visible and valuing the presence of one another beyond the club and secret hook-ups is paramount in building community and preserving culture. 2) Black Gay community is more then HIV: We can no longer be characterized by HIV/AIDS. Despitewhat appears to be a popular belief, HIV/AIDS is not synonymous with BG men. Black and Gay needs to become synonymous with inspirational WE NEED A RESOLUTION.MICHAEL AND AUNSHA HALL-EVERETT OF INTIMACY & COLOUR, LLC