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Maliqua West
Professor Sipin
English 211C
3/18/2015

Black Homosexuality: The Ultimate Curse

For my exploratory narrative, I chose a topic that is very near to me: Homophobia in the
Black community. Not just because it affects me personally, but because as the world changes
around us and more people come to terms with their racial and gender identities, their sexuality
is often put on the back burner and is less likely to be accepted or understood. Even with
numerous celebrities and rising stars openly identifying with the LGBTQ+ community, the
general public still considers that which isnt heterosexual to be wrong. People who are not
cissexual/cisgender and also of color experience this lingering feeling of denial by their racial
and cultural groups more severely.
As a Queer Black female, I can tell you that my experiences havent always been pretty
or that I have truly accepted myself, but I will say that the road I am on most certainly isnt one
that is less traveled. In fact, a survey conducted by Gallup.com reported that 4.6 of Blacks
responded yes when asked if they identified with the LGBTQ community (Anderson). Because
this survey was conducted between June and September of 2012, it isnt a reach to suggest that
this percentage has grown exponentially in the past two and a half years.
Being that 87% of Blacks living in America are affiliated with some form of religion, it is
no surprise that many Black men live on the "down-low (Black). As defined by Wikipedia,

down-low is a Black slang/AAVE term that refers to a Black man, who most often identifies as
heterosexual, that has sex with men (Down). Though Christianity has largely disconnected
Blacks from spirituality, it remains prominent in our communities and churches are often times
the safest places in poverty stricken neighborhoods. Unfortunately, due to harsh gender roles in
churches, a hyper masculine environment has been created (Ward). The concept of Adam and
Eve, not Adam and Steve prevails and although Black churches are not directly homophobic,
many practice shunning and ceremonies that restore heterosexuality, as if natural fluidity is too
complicated to understand.
Homophobia in relation to the Black Church has many harmful effects; not only on
LGBTQ Black me, but straight Black men and women as well. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS is
between seven and eight percent in predominately Black areas versus percentages as low as less
than one percent in predominately White areas (Green). Due to lack of education and
encouragement of safe sex, 51% of new HIV infections in 2010 were among MSM, or men have
sex with other men (Green). As many as half of all gay and bisexual Black men under 24 could
be infected with the HIV/AIDS virus and not even know it (Green).
This barely scratches the surface of what it truly means to be Black and LGBTQ, but it
does give insight on how homosexuality is perceived in our community. We are largely
influenced by Christianity and other Monotheistic belief systems that tend to be antihomosexual. Many LGBTQ Black youth live in poverty and are unable to receive proper
education, counseling, and medical testing to prevent the spread of HIV and open the closet
permanently.

Works Cited
Anderson, Jessica Cumberbatch. "Black Gays Make Up Largest Share Of LGBT Community,
Survey Shows." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Oct. 2012. Web. 18
Mar. 2015.
"The Black Church." BlackDemographicscom. BlackDemographics.com, n.d. Web. 18 Mar.
2015.
"Down-low (sexual Slang)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
Green, Emma. "Homophobia in Black Communities Means More Young Men Get AIDS." The
Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 22 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
Ward, Elijah G. "Homophobia, Hypermasculinity, and the US Black Church." JSTOR: Culture,
Health &Sexuality. JSTOR.com, Sept.-Oct. 2005. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.