Why you should read this blog.

Let me be the first to welcome you to The Next Write Thing. Whether you got here through a personal invite, random link, or word of mouth, I hope you find this a place worth coming back to.

Some of you may be asking yourselves why this site exists. In an online world where millions of blogs and websites compete for people’s limited attention, why start another one?

Simply put, like all writers, I write because I have something to say.

Specifically, I was inspired by listening to a program on Public Radio International that used gay marriage to discuss tensions between African-Americans and the gay community. While the guests included the requisite homophobic black preacher, antigay activist, academic, and white gay man, I noticed there was nobody on the panel to discuss the topic from a black gay perspective.
This is something that occurs quite frequently, the erasure of black gay voices. Willfully ignored in discussions on “the black community,” as seen most recently in CNN’s Black In America 2, the lack of media representation for black gays lends credence to the notion that we exist apart from “the community,” when in fact we are very present in churches, social organizations, historically black colleges, and our families, doing everything from taking care of our parents to providing financial and emotional support for relatives, including raising children.

Yet to hear the mainstream media tell it, we’re either creeping on the down-low, or, if we’re out, have jettisoned any contact with black folks to chase the media portrayals of gayness typified in Queer As Folk or Will and Grace, neither of which featured black people with any regularity. This simply isn’t true. We’re involved in civil rights. We are entertainers. We run for political office.

The mainstream gay media also silences us with their tendency to promote white upper middle-class people as the “face” of the movement. This is a strategy that plays well with advertisers and activists who believe in presenting the most benign image of gays in hopes of convincing people to support gay rights, but it also has the effect of silencing and ignoring black gays.

A classic example of this was when the Advocate placed gay Australian Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham on its cover instead of Wanda Sykes, who gave her first extensive interview since coming out in the same issue. I think Sykes has more name recognition than Mitcham, and has more to say, yet they chose to feature the (stereo)typical gay man instead of showcasing diversity. Too often, interest in black gays seems limited to porn or HIV statistics.

So I’m here to add my voice to the chorus of black gay media in making a claim to be heard. We are much more than commonly believed. Our experience can provide solutions for fighting racism and homophobia, yet our talents are often unused, like a gift that is never opened. I hope this site inspires people to expand their notions of what it means to be black and gay. Happy reading!