Music for the Queer Black Soul

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Cross-posted at Not Your Average Feminist

I have been told all of my life that communities of color, specifically the black community, are far more homophobic than “American” (used far too often interchangeably with white) communities. Now, I know and hopefully you know, that this is total bullshit. As a person who identifies as Jamaican, I know exactly where these attitudes come from.

And while homophobia, heterosexism, and anti-queer violence may be more socially accepted in some areas or communities, NO culture is free of these experiences. The issue should not be who is more homophobic, because then folks who think their communities are far superior will become complacent with heterosexism. No one is at that level. Not to mention that there are queer people of color! To write any one country, ethnicity, cultural group, or even city block off as being homophobic and hence unsafe to interact with, the larger queer community is being fractured. For example, I’m not going to sacrifice my Jamaican identity or my love for hip hop music just because I’m queer. Instead, I want to name and dissect the heterosexism and misogyny in the communities I come from so that we can have the tools to change things for the next generation.

This is why I love this video:

POWERFUL (despite the use of alternative lifestyle)

When B.E.T. premiered this video, they edited out any scenes of the two men kissing. The small amount of media coverage this story got called B.E.T. and the black community (because there’s just one big one you know) too homophobic to run the video as is. Yet not in one story did writers ask why MTV or VH1 hasn’t aired the video at all. Just something to think about.

What are your thoughts?

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