By Faith Cheltenham
“Gays should protest black people! The new conflict is gays vs. blacks, and blacks vs. gays. And black gays vs. themselves. It’s gonna be great.” — Stephen Colbert
I’ve been waving a sign on street corners since H8 passed: “Black Queers.” Responses have varied — from honks of support to looks of disapproval from blacks and whites. A black woman came up to me at a rally and asked me if I didn’t think the sign was offensive to black people. She looked around as if there were a person in charge of things like this, someone who could head-nod in disagreement.
I said, “It’s who I am, and people should know,” flipping it over to reveal another slogan: “We Do Exist.” When I carry the sign in the middle of a crowd, it faces in and then out, equally interchanged — a message to my communities.
. . .
I need my LGBT community to support my efforts, while it understands at the same time that there are discriminations that only people of color face. Perhaps we’ve all spent too long creating separate “safe spaces.” We need to get uncomfortable in our skin so we can grow new ones fully free of internal bigotries. It’s been unfortunate to see “Gay Is the New Black” and similar signs springing up during rallies. Or hearing comments like “What is this? A Latino rally or gay rights? Why are they chanting in Spanish?”
The truth remains: People of color have fought for civil rights in the past and still fight. People of color have the most experience changing hearts and minds over generations, and the same must happen for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community — so why not find the overlapping pieces as key to solving the puzzle?
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