Challenging Homophobia in African-American Communities

A 1995 survey of black heterosexual's attitudes towards lesbians and gay men found that while homophobia is no more prevalent among blacks than among whites, the survey's directors concluded that in the African-American population "negative attitudes toward homosexuality are widespread".

There are limitations to the belief that people who have experienced oppression will be more sympathetic to others who have also been oppressed. While homophobia has been challenged by some African-American political leaders and prominent individuals, expressions of anti-gay sentiment within African-American institutions and among many individuals are not at all uncommon.

Homophobia is ingrained in our psyches through myth and media, church and state, politics and perception, and it is created and re-created within every system of public discourse. Yet homophobia in African-American communities also has its own unique flavors and sets of consciousness. This paper will examine these interlinking confluences with an emphasis on the role of the black church.