Interesting Clay Cane post

He makes good points in this post:

From: http://claycane.blogspot.com/


WHITE GAY RACISM VS. BLACK HOMOPHOBIA

read somewhere that white gay racism is worse than black homophobia ... I thought about it for a moment. What has a larger effect on my life? What seems to have a larger effect on the lives of black LGBT people - black heteros or white gays? I grappled with the question, tossed it around, did a shimmy, did a shake ... I realized that on my list of the negative effects on the black LGBT community in order of most destructive would be black homophobia, our internalized homophobia and then white gay racism.Many may not agree, but hear me out ... many black LGBT people are angered when the white LGBT community ignores us, however, I rarely hear any gripes toward our own community. We seem to just shrug our shoulders to the black church, toss our hand to homophobia in music (sure, we are going after Beenie Man, which is fantastic, but why not Beyonce, Donnie McClurkin and many of our American artists? You can still go to a black gay club and hear more than a few Beenie Man songs!), take a deep sigh at black businesses that don't support us ......... if GLADD doesn't nominate Noah's Arc for an award some are upset -- BUT is anyone questioning why the NAACP/Image awards are not handing out nominations for Noah's Arc? Of course NEITHER should be tolerated, but I want more of a reaction to the black community. For example, in the Michael Sandy case -- many of us were appalled at the white gay press, including myself, for waiting so long to acknowledge this hate crime, but why nothing to the black press -- who I think have more accountability. Al Sharpton said little to nothing and we seemed to not care ... if Michael Sandy was hetero and had his straight girlfriend at the crime scene screaming in tears and rolling around on the Belt Parkway -- Al and Jesse would've been storming the streets of New York City within twenty-four hours. If Amadou Bailo Diallo (unarmed 23 year-old African who was shot and killed by four NYC cops in 1997) would've been gay would the black press have cared? Probably not ... If Abner Louima (Haitian who was sodomized with a plunger and brutally beaten by NYC cops in 1999) was bisexual would the black press have given it any attention? I doubt it ... both cases were media firestorms because of the black press -- even SUSAN SARANDON got involved with the Louima case.Let's not forget, many black LGBT folks are not concerned about the presence of whites, straight or gay. For example, I know people who will hold their boyfriend's hand in a white gay club, or even a white straight club, and not give a fuck ......... but they wouldn’t dare do it in a black hetero club, and neither would I. I've heard many say, "I don't care what these white folks think!” or "I am black before I am gay!" Then why are we looking for white gays to support us more than black people? We are in shock when so many black men date white men, or feel more embraced by the white gay community. I've heard criticsm toward James Baldwin for exclusively dating white men -- well, good-God I would be dating white men too if in the 1950's the only people that had the nerve to be openly gay were whites.Racism is a part of our daily lives. I've grown up with that all of my life, and I do understand a basic mistrust of white people. Nonetheless, in my experiences (could be much different for every other person reading this) -- white gay folks tend to be a bit more progressive than white heteros, and sometimes even black straights. At this point in time – not being HETERO is more of a threat to American standards than being black. This is not to say white gays don't have white-skinned privileged, surely they do -- but many black LGBT people are passing the buck to white gays when we should be dissecting ourselves. There are many black LGBT people who don't agree with gay marriage because they feel it's rooted in "whiteness" ... ? Then they think it is ridiculous when black straights think that homosexuals came to Africa from Europeans.We seem to have forgotten the power of boycotting ... the power of protest ... I remember reading when the HIV/AIDS epidemic first exploded in the early '80's white gays went on a rampage to OUT other white gay men. White gays are still outing hypocritical evangelists and congressmen, which (believe it or not) had an effect on a whole election. Why aren't we doing that? We are in an epedemic too! Shouldn't we be outing the leaders of the black church and gospel music who idly sit by and watch black people die? Who also pass the buck of women being infected with HIV/AIDS to men on the “DL.” Yeah, blog entries and rambling off stats from the CDC are great, but why aren't we going to the CORE of our problem? Are we afraid of the black church? Afraid of hip-hop? Afraid of Beyonce? Afraid of the barbershop? Afraid of Islam? Afraid of ourselves? The more black people come out of the closet – the more black people will stop living life on the DL – the more black people will start putting on condoms -- the more black LGBT people say NO MORE, YOU WILL RESPECT US … if we can say it and demand it from white gays well, why can’t we say it to our community? Until we get better with ourselves and demand more from our own community nothing will change … do we harp on the white gay community because we know that they MIGHT at least listen, or is it that we still need affrimation from whites?