The hypocrisy of the Black community concerning its GLBT children has always been a sore spot wth me.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard Reverend Bigbucks from the Humongous Baptist Church and his like-minded clones rail about GLBT peeps from the pulpit, then after that rousing gay-baiting sermon will point to his gay choir director to rock the sanctuary.
The Black community will flock to the theaters to see Tyler Perry in drag but got issues with the transgendered sistah or brotha they see out and about living their lives in the 'hood.
You have the 'hard' wannabe hip-hop thugs who say they hate fags but are doing more things on the down low to their behinds than wiping them with toilet paper.
Case in point. I found it funny that the recent homophobic incident involving Busta Rhymes happened near a gay club.
The genetic sisters who befriend us and give us all kinds of help putting our feminine presentation together until the guys start taking an interest in us, then there's drama. They start sniping at us behind our backs, telling the world our business or spouting that 'you ain't a real woman unless you can drop a baby or bleed once a month' line.
I won't even mention the parents who will toss their GLBT child out on the street without hesitation or withdraw their love from them in some instances.
But let Rashan be a frequent visitor of the court system and he gets more support from the family than we do. Mama will be on the six o'clock news loudly proclaiming her child's innocence to every television camera in sight
The refusal of the larger African-American community to openly embrace us, talk about GLBT issues and have frank discussions about sex has hurt our community. The explosion of HIV/AIDS cases is a symptom of that. It's also depriving the African-American community of our talents at a time when we are sorely needed to help us overcome some vexing problems. This is happening simply because some people can't get beyond their personal prejudices. The bottom line is that we exist and y'all need to deal with it.
We share the same heritage and African roots that you do. We get jacked with for being Black. With a government in power that hates ALL of us it's even more imperative that we band together to come up with strategies and solutions for dealing with the problems in our community and fighting those forces that still oppose our advancement as a people.