February 16, 2001

A far-reaching look at the conflict between black and gay identities

THE GREATEST

EXUALITY COMMUNITIE CANTINE-SIKINS

From an examination of biblical

law regarding all sexual taboos,

to a look at the exemplification of

the black mother embodied by RuPaul, this book covers almost

everyone and everything.

The Greatest Taboo:

Homosexuality in Black Communities by Delroy Constantine-Simms Alyson, $16.95 trade paperback

Reviewed by Anthony Glassman

There is a view, however unjust, that the black community is more homophobic that its white counterpart. This may be because of the visibility of homophobia in hip-hop music, or prominent African-American athletes making fools of themselves preaching before the Wisconsin legislature.

Whatever the reason, the perception is there.

Black gay men and lesbians present a final frontier of discrimination and bigotry, despised both for their skin and their

hearts.

There is an everyday struggle for black queers: am I a gay black man, a black gay. man, an Africandescended lesbian, woman then black then gay, or gay then black then woman?

There has also been rather a dearth of aca-

demic material on this subject. Many anthologies will

Delroy Constantine-Simms

have stories or essays by black writers, and black writers are becoming better known for their gay fiction. James Earl Hardy's B-Boy Blues even examined the conflict between black identity and gay identity, albeit in a fictional setting.

Delroy Constantine-Simms is changing all that with The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities.

The choice of subtitle was a political statement in and of itself, trying to dispel the myth that the "black community" is a single, monolithic organism. The experience of African-Americans can be very different from that of their cousins in the Caribbean, or Suriname, or the Netherlands, or England. The treatment of people of African descent has varied widely from place to place, and even in Africa, the results of European colonialism have had differing effects on the population.

For instance, South Africa has been poised to become the first country to have specific protections for gay men and lesbians in its constitution, a move welcomed by many in the former resistance movements. After living with apartheid, many South African leaders strive to ensure that no one is given secondclass citizenship.

However, many Afrocentric writers insist that homosexuality is an affection, as well as an affliction, foisted upon the black population by European culture. The fact that many of these writers use arguments based in Eurocentric Christianity seems to be lost on them, but not on the essayists whose work is included in this volume.

From an examination of biblical law regarding all sexual taboos, to a look at the exemplification of the black mother embodied by RuPaul, this book covers almost everyone and everything. African, European, American, it's in there.

This sweeping collection examines gay and lesbian relationships among slaves, as well as those had by their ancestors in Africa. There are essays on the Harlem Renaissance and homophobia in hip-hop music; Magic Johnson's revelation of his HIV status and the results; lesbianism in the African diaspora and the cultural significance of Luther Vandross.

If you are black, this book is a valuable resource to see where you and your people have been, where you are now, and where you are going. If you're white, this volume can illustrate the struggles that go on beyond you, which do not affect you per se, but the ramifications of which are very much a part of your life. And, considering the marginalization of Latino and AsianAmerican gay men and lesbians, any other group in a position to be discriminated against should look closely at this anthology as well.

What we learn from the struggles of others can be applied to our own struggles, a lesson well learned. This book is probably the best collection of those struggles to come across my desk thus far, and I'm very glad it did.

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

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