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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 2001)
february IS. 2QQ1 30 T always have found the colorful subcultures that result from the mixing of various other groups— African American queers, for exam ple— to be quite fascinating and complex. Their trials and tribulations are explored within the pages of the recently published anthology The G reatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities edited by Delroy Constantine- Simms. This collection immediately joins Alan Johnson, Colin Robinson and Terence Taylors Other Countries: G ay Black Voices, Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua’s This Bridge C alled My Back, Essex Hemphill’s Brother to Brother and Joseph’s Beam’s In the Life, just to name a few, as an in- depth exploration of vari ous perspectives within the African American queer community. The scholarly tone of The G reatest Taboo is set with the foreword by one of the country’s leading black intellectuals, Henry Louis Gates Jr. “All prejudices are not equal,” he writes. “But that doesn’t mean there’s no comparison between the predicaments of gays and blacks.... The reason the national conversation on the subject has reached an impasse isn’t that there’s simply no comparison; it’s that there’s no ‘sim ple comparison.’ ” O f course, it should not come as a surprise that Gates offers a wonderfully eloquent intro duction to this anthology by clearly understand ing the finer points to be made about the differ ences between the oppression of African Amer I Conflicting cultures A new book analyzes the dynamics of being black and gay by icans and queer folk. W hat amazes me the most is that he’s able to do such a great job within five pages. Gates writes, “More broadly, attitudes towards homosexuals are bound up with sexism and the attitudes towards gender that femi nism, with impressive— though only partial— success, asks us to re-exam ine.” Even though one might acknowledge his words still represent the “tip of the iceberg” as far as all that could be said about the subject, it is refreshing to see such clarity of thought in print. s an African American gay male, I have been very much aware of the major question that just about every black queer will have to endure at one or another: W hich is the great est cross to bear— being black or being gay? T he dynamic of that question differs from the question posed in Gregory Conerly’s essay “Are You Black First or Are You Queer,” one of many thought-provoking subjects tackled in Taboo. A ng black or being gay? R upert K innard He writes: “Ultimately, choosing a primary community when you do not have access to one that accepts both your racial/ethnic and sexual pref erence identities is an intensely personal decision that, for many, centers around these ques tions: W hich do you find more oppressive or important politically, racism or heterosexism? W hich identity is more important in your social life: racial/ethnicity or sexu al preference?” O f course, the answers to these questions will | continue to evolve with each generation. The G reatest Taboo exam ines a number of topics under such chapter headings as “Sex uality and the Black Church,” “Homosexuality in Africa,” “Homosexuality and Hetero sexist Dress Codes,” “Iconic Signifiers of the Gay Harlem Renaissance,” “Homosexuality in Black Literature” and “The W Silent bilei Mythology Sur rounding A ID S and Public Icons.” ® [Müf© ® j ) (LC 3 ® FEBRUARY 20-25 (503)241-1802 or (503)790 0815 iW t e y r Rrmtiwav IJlv /C lv lV V C lj' Tickets available at eft *«•*». < s03> 2 ‘>’ " > o r outlets. w w w .p o rtla n d cp ere.o rg - www b r o e d w a y s e r ie s .c o m lTirm, ^ p W February 2 2 - March 2 4 / A Delta Air lines Call for sh ow tim es 5 0 3 - 2 3 2 -7 0 7 2 I found myself being drawn to Jason King’s essay “Any Love: Silence, Theft and Rumor in the Work of Luther Vandross,” which is fea tured in a chapter called “Heterosexism and Homophobia in Popular Black Music.” Howev er, I hardly could have imagined that such a seemingly fluffy subject could be approached in such a scholarly manner. King draws parallels between “Lonely House,” a classical opera piece with lyrics by i angston Hughes and music by Kurt Weill, and Vandross’ rendition of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “A House Is Not a Home.” The discus sion of the singer’s performance takes up almost half of the 25-page essay. King then goes on to explore the rumors of Vandross’ sexuality. He writes, “I would argue that Vandross stood apart from his peer artists in the 1980s partly as a result of his ambiva lence to disclose his sexuality— heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual— and through his asso ciation with discourses conventionally associat ed with femininity.” King also examines Vandross’ brand of mas culinity and the gay rumor mill, which brings to mind the many discussions we’ve all had about those celebrities we just seem to know are gay. I found this piece to be one of the more provocative essays in the collection, pri marily because I expected the least from it. W ith questions like “Does homosexuality remain the greatest taboo in black culture?” and “Is homosexuality a European cultural imposition on Africans?” adorning the back cover of The G reatest Taboo, this collection could not help but be provocative. That makes it a refreshing and intriguing book to recom mend during Black History Month— or any month. ■ m